News Conference

Luke Mrozek

Mayor Girtz speaks in a press conference about the renovations to The Classic Center on Dec. 1, 2023, in the Fine Arts Building. The new Classic City Arena is projected for completion in August 2024. (Photo/Luke Mrozek)

The Classic Center renovations are expected to bring economic growth to the city, higher wages for jobs within the center and roughly 600 new jobs, according to Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz, generating $33 million in annual economic impact. 

Mayor Girtz highlighted some of the economic benefits coming to the city through The Classic Center Arena at a press conference on Friday at the University of Georgia Fine Arts Building. He said that the wages for the service jobs in The Classic Center would rise to the living wage calculated by M.I.T.

“We wanted to see the arena be a foundation for higher wages for people in the service sector in Athens,” Mayor Girtz said.

The mayor also said that the new arena will also bring a positive economic impact to East Athens, a part of the city that has historically been unserviced. Mayor Girtz mentioned that this was being done through the way the tax allocation district was drawn. The Mayor hopes that the tax allocation district will raise property values, and create more revenue that can be used to benefit the district.

“East Athens has suffered from a deficit of affordable housing and we’re gonna be able to provide more affordable housing in East Athens,” said Girtz. 

“It’s not just gonna be an arena and it’s not just gonna be the concourse that immediately surrounds it, but really it’s gonna be in every direction some new vitality that surrounds it,” said the mayor.

Among other things, the mayor also claimed that around 600 new jobs would be created by way of The Classic Center’s renovations. This comes through the addition of the hockey arena that will host the Ice Dawgs and a professional hockey team. 

Logan Joiner, a first-year law student at the University of Georgia, raised concerns and excitement for the renovations.

“I think it’s a double-edged sword. I think it’d be great for the community to get more business and get more things going for it,” he said. “However, downtown is already hectic as it is, the streets are usually very congested, especially on the weekends.” 

The Classic Center is located on N. Thomas Street in downtown Athens. The renovations will include a hockey arena, and more capacity for trade shows, concerts and other family events. The renovations are expected to be completed in August 2024. 

Renovations, multi-purpose center, economics, development

Why I Wrote the Story:

I wrote this story to inform readers of the Mayor’s Press Conference on The new Classic Center renovations. It is an important story topic as the renovations are said to have a positive economic impact on Athens.

Beat Q&A

Luke Mrozek

From the moment Reid Finnegan graduated from the University of Georgia in May 2022, he dreamed of opening a coffee shop with his friend Nick Alliston. Just over a month after they opened Sunroof Coffee on the edge of Athens’ Tracy Street arts district, Finnegan reflects on his journey and the foundations of his business.

Q: How did you meet your co-owner Nick?

A: Freshman year at UGA, we lived in the same hall in Russell. We ended up in the same small group. And then we ended up in the same campus organization, Phi Slam, and then that led to us living together for the next four years.

Q: What role does he play in this journey?

A: It’s kind of funny, he didn’t drink a lot of coffee at all before coming to college, and I barely did. When COVID hit, and we were both home all the time, we both were bored, and wanted a hobby and wanted to learn about something. He’s a huge researcher, he will find out anything there is to know about that thing. So I took him to a couple of coffee shops, and he’s like, “This is awesome.” From that point on, he and I would just, like, dream about owning a coffee shop. 

Q: What gets you out of bed every morning?

A: This is a really fulfilling job, we both feel that a lot of our skills and talents are being used here. Knowing that this is something we’ve created. If we want to see it get anywhere, we have to put in the work to do it, and we trust ourselves, we trust each other a lot with it.

Q: You mentioned trust, what are some other foundations that Sunroof Coffee is built on?

A: We want a strong emphasis on bringing people into good coffee and good speciality coffee that maybe wouldn’t normally try it. We saw an opportunity in the market where there’s a lot of really awesome coffee shops, especially in Athens, but almost feel a little unapproachable to the average consumer. And so if someone has like a really big, or like, likes coffee, and they get their Starbucks or their Dunkin’ every morning, or like make it at home, but then want to go get kind of step up from that, and get a nicer coffee at a shop, that kind of feels like a disconnect. So we kind of feel like a welcoming space that brings those people in.

Q: What is something people assume about this job that’s just not true?

A: There’s nothing, in my opinion, that makes Nick or I more capable than anyone else to start this. I think a lot of people see starting your own business as an intangible thing that was not practical, would cost too much money or would be too risky. Those things are true, but honestly, it’s a lot simpler than people think. It just takes work and effort and research.

Why I Wrote the Story:

I wrote this story to highlight one of my favorite qualities of Athens. Many alumni from UGA will stay in Athens after graduation and contribute to the community. That is exactly what Reid Finnegan did when he started Sunroof Coffee.