Who is responsible for the Lake Olmstead stadium fix?

AUGUSTA

The Augusta Development Authority has filed a civil suit in the Superior Court of Richmond County against C4 Live, the organization responsible for the Lake Olmstead stadium’s redevelopment. The authority is seeking in excess of $1 million.

According to the authority, C4 Live has failed to live up to the terms of their sub-lease agreement, citing failure to make multiple annual operational payments, refusing to make the necessary improvements at the stadium after it was “abandoned” last year, and failure to surrender the stadium and its parking areas in good order and repair.

In 2020, C4 Live agreed to lease the stadium and its land from the

City of Augusta. It seemed like a good deal in that C4 was responsible for and paying for the total renovation of the stadium, turning what used to be the Augusta GreenJackets old playing field into a state-of-the-art venue space. In exchange, Augusta would not pay a dime, but give C4 the event space for 10 years worth of events.

The first event was scheduled to be XPR Augusta, a multi-night performance featuring headliners Nelly, Blake Shelton, Pitbull, Tim McGraw and Jimmy Buffett. The show was scheduled to kick off during the Masters Tournament last year, but was canceled days before it was to begin.

C4 reported at the time that the problem came up when they found the soil to be unstable, but the development authority claims they knew this the whole time. It was reported in 2019 during the Papa Joe’s Banjo-B-Q Music Festival when a truck was observed sinking into the dirt.

In the wake of the canceled event, there have been multiple failed attempts to reach C4 Live for comment and no activity has been or heard out of the historic stadium.