Preserving the Past, Building the Future in Downtown Guyton

By Gail Parsons

In small towns, it often takes just one building—and one person with a vision—to spark new life downtown. In Guyton, that spark may come from a stately 1907 brick building that once housed Citizens Bank and now stands at the center of Josh Austin’s plan to create a vibrant gathering place for local businesses and the community they serve.

For Josh, the project is more than another real estate investment. The historic building had been on his radar for years, partly because he owned property next door, and partly because he could see the potential hidden behind its aging exterior.

Over time, Josh developed a relationship with the building’s previous owner, Peggie Nelson, who had already begun the difficult work of stabilizing the structure after purchasing it in poor condition. One room had become so overgrown after part of the roof collapsed that she jokingly called it the “Jumanji room,” filled with plants and wildlife.

Still, Nelson had done the hard work of making the building structurally sound, and Josh admired the effort she had poured into saving it.

“I give her a lot of credit,” he says. “She took it from being really run down to bringing it up to where it was structurally in a good position.”

After years of conversation and more than one discussion about whether she might ever sell, the two finally reached an agreement. Josh officially purchased the building, opening the next chapter of its long history.

Inside, the building still holds many of the details that first captured his imagination: towering ceilings, ornate tin panels, original ironwork, and the massive bank vault that once safeguarded the town’s deposits.

“These are things you just don’t see in buildings today,” he says. “Buildings now are built around maximizing profits. Places like this were built with character.”

Josh’s goal is to bring that character back to life while transforming the building into something Guyton has never quite had before, a hub for local businesses and a gathering place for the community.

A Hub for Local Businesses

While restoring the building’s historic elements is important, Josh says the real heart of the project is the community impact.

Upstairs, he plans to create a business hub with 12 private offices, a shared conference room, and a media studio. The ground floor is where Josh hopes the community will gather.

He envisions a locally owned coffee shop occupying the corner space where the bank once operated, with the original vault remaining as a centerpiece of the design. Surrounding spaces could include small boutiques, a barber shop, or other micro-businesses that give the building a lively, walkable feel.

“I want the community to be excited about what goes in here,” he says. “So many times when we see new construction going up, everybody asks what it’s going to be, and it turns out to be just another storage facility or something like that. I want people to feel thrilled about what’s happening here.”

Reviving Downtown Energy

Josh points to nearby Springfield as proof of what’s possible. Investors there have restored historic buildings and brought new energy to the downtown, an effort that helped spark his own vision for Guyton.

Josh hopes the city is just getting started.

During his planning process, he attended a local Development Authority meeting to gauge whether the community would support a project of this scale. The response, he says, was overwhelmingly positive.

“Every single person I talked to, from council members to the mayor, has been excited about it,” he says. “That encouragement really gave me confidence to tackle this.”

He sees himself less as an owner and more as a temporary steward of the building’s legacy.

“A hundred years from now, I’m not going to own this,” he says. “Maybe my grandchildren will. But I just want to be a good steward of it while I have it, and for it to be a blessing to the community.”