Welcome to the Bureau of Economic Development
THE PURPOSE OF THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS TO PROVIDE SERVICES AND PROGRAMS THAT ATTRACT INVESTMENT, ENHANCING THE CITY AS A DESIRABLE PLACE TO LIVE AND CONDUCT BUSINESS FOR ITS CITIZENS.
The bureau is committed to continuous engagement with local businesses to assess and address their needs, managing the city's business incentive programs—including municipal Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and participation in the Community Development Block Grant program—along with other federal and state grants. It also focuses on promoting downtown redevelopment as directed by the City Council, managing tax-acquired properties, supporting new housing development, and advocating for redeveloping sites, like the Kennebec Locke site.
The Bureau of Economic Development operates under the Department of Development Services, overseen by Director Matt Nazar. The Department of Development Services is organized into smaller, specialized bureaus to enhance our effectiveness. This structure allows us to focus on different areas of community service with the required expertise.
Over a ten-year span from 2013 to 2023, over a hundred new housing units were created in the city’s downtown. The conversion of Water Street from one-way to two-way traffic in 2019 revitalized the business district. Commercial vacancy rates plummeted, creating a vibrant new neighborhood with an array of new bars and restaurants just steps from residents' doors. In March 2020, Downeast magazine hailed Augusta as one of Maine’s “Best Places to Live.”
The city's spirit of innovation and resilience shone through during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Augusta Downtown Alliance quickly organized an emergency finance program to support downtown businesses, while the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce provided personal care products and technical assistance city-wide. Restaurants across the city adapted with new menus and outdoor pickup and delivery options, and the city introduced outdoor dining on “dining docks,” which brought a semblance of normalcy and success during those challenging times.
This period of crisis helped solidify a strong sense of community among downtown residents and businesses, transforming it into a thriving neighborhood. As the public health emergency began to wane, new business ventures emerged to fill long-vacant downtown spaces. Augusta saw the opening of a florist, a yoga studio, a top-notch tattoo studio, and the revitalization of the local coffee shop and Whiskey Kitchen. These changes were significant enough to once again earn Augusta a spot on the cover of Downeast magazine, this time highlighting the award-winning cuisine at State Lunch.
The Front Street Resiliency Project, a federally funded Congressional Direct Funding project, is now poised to continue the city’s transformation. The project is designed to raise the elevation of the Front Street Parking Lot to reduce flooding incidents, protecting parking areas and making them more attractive for visitors, residents, and businesses. It also provides additional green space and an elevated deck on Water Street for public events and civic activities.
The downtown’s evolution shows no signs of slowing. More shops, apartment conversions, and an influx of vitality continue to shape the area. The Boys & Girls Club is moving to Water Street, and Merkaba Sol, a local retail bellwether, has expanded its offerings to include chocolates. In May 2024, J. Marie Bakery opened its doors on Water Street, adding to its diverse culinary delights.
Recent developments have also expanded the traditional boundaries of Augusta’s downtown. The announcement of a $1.7 million Congressional Direct Funding award to revitalize the Colonial Theater has injected new energy into the area. New projects continue to push the downtown district further along Water Street. The Downtown Omnibus TIF, established to promote ongoing revitalization efforts, has significantly contributed to these successes by channeling resources into various improvement projects.
In the spring of 2022, the city transferred ownership of the old powerhouse building at Mill Park to Powerhouse Redevelopment LLC, the hospitality group behind Cushnoc Brewery and State Lunch. This landmark building, overlooking the park and Kennebec River, became the popular Sand Hill Bagel Company in 2023.
Augusta has also made significant investments in its infrastructure, with extensive renovations to Market Square Park, a connection to the Kennebec River Rail Trail System, and the establishment of a Farmers Market at Mill Park. These improvements have enhanced the city’s appeal and laid the groundwork for future growth and development.
As Augusta moves further into the post-pandemic era, it does so with a renewed spirit and a readiness to embrace new ideas, investments, and opportunities. The city is poised to maintain its place as Central Maine’s destination of choice for entertainment, business, and residential development. With its historic charm, strategic investments, and vibrant community, Augusta is just getting started.
Overview: Downtown Augusta welcomed 630,700 visits in 2025—a slight increase over 2024's 628,600 visits and the third-highest annual total recorded since tracking began. The data, drawn from Placer.ai's smartphone-based location analytics platform, captures every qualifying visit to the defined downtown district of at least ten minutes in duration across the full calendar year.
These numbers reflect real activity in our downtown: people stopping for lunch, visiting City Hall, shopping, attending events, and exploring the riverfront. The consistency of the 2025 figure, hovering just above 630,000 for the second consecutive year after a peak of 672,600 in 2023, suggests a stable, resilient downtown that continues to draw people from across the region year-round.
How Augusta Compares: Context matters in evaluating these figures. Main Street America, through which this data was obtained, tracks visitation across hundreds of downtown and neighborhood commercial districts nationally. In 2025, Maine Main Street districts averaged approximately 1.6 million visits per district—more than twice Augusta's total. Nationally, the average Main Street district recorded even higher visitation. Augusta's named peers in the Placer.ai comparison are Skowhegan and Ellsworth, which each recorded roughly 1.1 million visits.
Those comparisons deserve an important qualifier. Unlike Skowhegan's Main Street or Ellsworth's downtown—both of which serve as primary travel corridors carrying significant through-traffic—Augusta's downtown district is anchored by Water Street, a destination-oriented riverfront corridor that is not a major arterial route.
Drivers passing through the region on Route 201 or Route 9 are not incidentally counted; Augusta's visits represent people who are deliberately choosing to be there. In that sense, the raw visit totals are not directly comparable, and Augusta's 630,700 figure likely understates the district's regional significance relative to communities where the Main Street also functions as a highway.
With that context in mind, the gap with peer districts need not be read as a performance deficit so much as a structural difference in how the district is configured. The more useful framing may be tracking Augusta's own year-over-year trend—which has remained stable—and identifying targeted opportunities to deepen engagement among the visitors the downtown already attracts.
Looking Ahead : The 2025 visitation data paints a picture of a downtown that is stable, regionally connected, and well-embedded in the daily routines of central Maine residents. The summer peak is real and impressive—a 12,000-visit day on the Fourth of July is a meaningful achievement for a city of Augusta's size—but the broader opportunity lies in building shoulder-season and weekday traffic.
The visitor journey data, in particular, suggests that Augusta's downtown is part of a larger circuit of destinations rather than a standalone anchor. Strategies that leverage that circuit—connecting downtown to the retail corridor, creating reasons to linger longer, and drawing visitors from communities where year-over-year declines have emerged—are likely to be the most effective path to sustained growth.
Full report available here.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Augusta City Hall
16 Cony Street
Augusta, ME 04330
Phone:(207) 626-2336
Fax:(207) 626-2520
Hours of Operation
Monday to Thursday
7:15 AM - 5:30 PM
Director of Economic Development
Economic Development Specialist
