AUGUSTA, GA – When it comes to the development of the trade, exhibit and event center, it has been a long road for Barry White and the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In fact, almost a full decade has past since the TEE Center was first proposed.

During the first meeting of the Augusta Commission’s subcommittee on the TEE Center last week, the president and CEO of the CVB told commissioners that talk of building the facility first began back in 2001 after the city realized it was losing millions of dollars in convention business each year.

“So we decided to do a feasibility study and, by 2002, that study was completed,” White said, adding that the commission was presented the results of the study in 2003.

In order to make the TEE Center a reality, White said the CVB initially asked the city for $27 million for the construction of the center and the cost of the property. But the commission only approved $20 million in 2005.

“And that is what the voters approved,” White said, referring to the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) vote in 2006. “We knew at that time that we were $7 million in the hole.”

Barry White, president and CEO of the CVB

But the city moved forward with bonding the project in 2006 and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) agreed to bond $5 million to help pay for developing parking at the facility, White said.

By 2007, the commission determined the best location for the TEE Center would be the Reynolds Street site, which is adjacent to the existing convention center and attached to the Marriott Hotel.

At that time, the commission approved having the center managed by Augusta Riverfront LLC, an entity owned by William S. Morris III, publisher of The Augusta Chronicle.

Meanwhile, the project manager and architect of the TEE Center estimated the cost of the facility to be approximately $38 million, White said.

From then on, the proposed project began to slowly lose steam.

During his presentation to the subcommittee, White did not bring up the fact that the $38 million TEE Center has been tied to an agreement commissioners struck in 2007 that would provide the Laney-Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods $750,000 a year for revitalization via the $1 hotel-motel fee.

He also did not discuss the arrest of retired Augusta attorney David Fry, who has been charged with two counts of bribery involving the TEE Center.

Fry is accused of offering Augusta commissioners Alvin Mason and Corey Johnson a bribe involving the operations of the proposed parking deck that would be built next to the center. Mason and Johnson were allegedly offered a cut of the profits from the operations of the parking deck if they would consider changing their vote and supporting the $38 million TEE Center.

Mason and Johnson went to the sheriff’s office and reported the alleged bribe to authorities.

The arrest of Fry and the revitalization agreement have put the brakes on the proposed TEE Center.

That delay has also prompted a developer who proposed building a $25 million Hyatt hotel near the Augusta Common to consider walking away from the deal if the city does not move forward with the center.

As a result, Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver formed the TEE Center subcommittee as an attempt to get the project back on track.

During White’s presentation to the subcommittee, he discussed a long list of the sites that were considered for the construction of the proposed TEE Center, including the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame site on the river, a location near the Ramada Plaza Hotel on Broad Street, a site in North Augusta, a location off Wheeler Road near I-20, the pension property on Reynolds Street, a site along Riverwatch Parkway and I-20 and the property next to the James Brown Arena.

But out of all of those properties, White said a study indicated that 64 percent of those surveyed in the convention and event planning industry stated they would either be “highly likely” or would definitely host their event in Augusta if the TEE Center was constructed next to the existing convention center by the Marriott.

“We found meeting planners prefer exhibit space under one roof,” White said, as he displayed a slide stating there were no “cons” for the Reynolds Street site.

Johnson immediately questioned how the Reynolds Street location could have absolutely no “cons” because the city is already aware that there is an issue of a lack of parking at that site.

White recognized that parking would be a problem if the TEE Center was constructed on the Reynolds Street site because the city would lose the current parking deck attached to the Marriott.

But near the end of the meeting, Copenhaver tried to stress the need the city has for a TEE Center.

The mayor used the example of the recent Ironman 70.3, otherwise referred to as a half-Ironman race that includes a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run, which was held on Sept. 27.

“The economic impact of that event was $4.7 million,” Copenhaver said, adding that more than 3,400 people were registered for the event, but an estimated 9,000 people came to town for the race. “They are looking to grow that event and bring more people back. But the only complaint I heard about having it here in Augusta was the exhibit space was not adequate.”