AUGUSTA, Mo. — Years ago, the town of Augusta had three bakeries. But for a long time until recently, it had none.
Now this quiet town of fewer than 300 people has a bakery again. And a gift shop. And a high-end fashion boutique. And an elite-level, destination restaurant that serves such dishes as steamed beef dumplings in miso butter-fortified broth and trout mousseline.
Augusta is in the heart of Missouri’s wine country; the no-stoplight town has two wineries nestled in its town limits of less than one square mile. It’s beautiful country, with a unique microclimate that makes it especially conducive for growing grapes.
It is because of the beauty and the wine that the changes have come so rapidly to this town. Most, though not all, of the metamorphosis has come about through the efforts of Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate, a Clayton-based firm owned by a company out of Naples, Florida.
The company was founded by Washington, Missouri-native David Hoffmann, who recently retired and turned the company over to his son Greg. It is the elder Hoffmann’s stated goal to turn the Missouri’s bucolic wine country into the Napa Valley of the Midwest.
The development’s rapid pace, combined with a perceived lack of information about the its plans, led to some initial grumbling in the community, according to Don Simon, Hoffmann’s CEO of Missouri Operations.
“We started off on the wrong foot because we started doing a lot of stuff fast,” Simon said.
Since then, the company has been communicating more with residents, he said, including addressing town board meetings about the company’s plans.
These efforts have helped, but many in the community view the company with distrust.
“These are very, very conservative people. They don’t want to hear ‘Here’s what’s going to happen to your town, and you’re going to become the next California,’” said John Alsop, a local carpenter, stone mason and musician.
“I welcome anyone who wants to come to my tiny little town and open a business. However I think their approach was wrong.”
Alsop considers himself in the middle of the road about the changes brought by Hoffmann. The town looks better, he said, though the colors are a little garish for his taste. He appreciates the effort that is being made, but he thinks David Hoffmann and his company went about it the wrong way.
“I think he bought a town, yet did not understand the culture,” he said.
Alsop suggested that Hoffmann could bring more residents over to his side by doing something that would benefit the entire town and not just the company.
The Hoffmanns’ plans have been far-ranging and extravagant: A resort-like lodge and spa, with 60 rooms, conference rooms, a wedding venue, a yoga studio and a pool. A 12-hole golf course, complete with an annual tournament to draw visitors from around the world. A mini-golf course. A 500-seat amphitheater. Horse and buggy rides. A zipline. A five-star restaurant to be called The Italian Laundry. A more casual restaurant to be called The Augusta Bistro & Fine Dining. A hostel. An art gallery.
None of those proposals has yet been brought to fruition, which has led some residents to suspect they are merely pipe dreams and wishful thinking.
Judy Hennessey, a writer from nearby Defiance, said the company has not been developing properties as much as buying buildings and sprucing them up.
Company spokesman Chris Armstrong disputed that assessment. The amphitheater is nearing completion, he said, creating an intimate setting for local and national acts. A nail salon is coming. A bistro, the White House Café, should open before the end of the year.
“Something new is going on every 60 to 90 days. We see that for the foreseeable future,” he said.
The changes that have already been made have had an impact on the close-knit town.
In the $100 million project’s first year, the Augusta Emporium gift shop opened, selling food, wine and spirits, candy and gifts. Bronze statues, some with Native American or pioneer themes, were placed in public spaces to create a 21-sculpture statue walk. Buildings, many of them dating back to the 1800s, were given a fresh coat of paint.
In the second year, which has just completed, the pace of change has accelerated. The Miss Augusta, a 150-passenger riverboat, has begun cruising the river from nearby Klondike Park. A classic car exhibition tent, with perhaps 10 vehicles ranging from a Model T to a Corvette, has taken up residence across from Mount Pleasant Estates winery.
A self-service gas station has opened, the first one in town in 60 years and on the general site of the previous station. Five cottages for overnight stays are now available — collectively called the Hoffmann Guest Collection — and other private homes in the area have become bed-and-breakfasts.
David Hoffmann’s wife, Jerri Hoffmann, opened her own clothing boutique, the Augusta Clothing Company. The store sells the type of fashionable clothes Hoffmann wears herself; on a recent weekday, she happened to be in the store wearing a leather-and-linen jacket, a sweater and a chain belt all sold there.
Most of the buildings that have been repurposed by the Hoffmann company were empty before being renovated, but a few were occupied. The company recently bought Gallery Augusta, a furniture, art and design store that primarily sells custom furniture crafted by Amish and Mennonite artisans. Much of the art it sells is by local artists.
Ann-Renee Gargrave’s parents bought the store in 1984 and sold it to the Hoffmann company last month. Gargrave will continue to work at the store as an employee.
As the centerpiece of its operations here, the company has also acquired four of the area’s wineries — Augusta Winery, Balducci Vineyards, Montelle Winery and Mount Pleasant Estates — along with several of its vineyards.
And the company’s interests have expanded beyond the immediate Augusta area. According to its website, it now owns 58 properties across Missouri’s wine country.
Hoffmann bought a deli and a biker bar in Defiance, and a nursery in Marthasville. In Washington, Missouri, it owns a medical industry headquarters and showroom, a fleet of tour buses, a florist and nursery, and a bakery, which also provides the baked goods for the Augusta bakery. In Marthasville, it has an airport hangar to house the helicopter it plans to use to give tours of the area.
Even so, the town of Augusta maintains a placid pace. Hennessey said the promised crowds have not materialized.
The idea for the Augusta-area transformation came about more or less by accident. The Hoffmanns, who have a house across the Missouri River in St. Albans and are originally from Washington, were on a drive through the area.
“David will tell you he was cooped up during COVID, watching ‘Yellowstone’ and wondering what to do next,” Jerri Hoffmann said.
They happened upon a property for sale that had a vineyard on it. David Hoffmann had always talked about wanting a vineyard, his wife said, so they decided to buy it.
“We drove through this town and everything was empty. If there was a pulse, it was hard to detect it,” she said.
The Hoffmann Family of Companies had already developed and restored the Beaver Creek resort area in Colorado, and parts of Winnetka, Illinois and Naples, Florida. They decided to make Augusta their next project.
Whether the effort succeeds or fails may depend on the proposed resort hotel is key, Hennessey said. Without a local hotel, there will be no place for overnight visitors to stay.
Armstrong, the company spokesman, said the Hoffmann company has an agreement with a hotel brand to run the hotel, but that the name of the brand will not be announced until all the plans for the hotel are completed. He said everything should be in place by the end of the year.
But Hennessey said, “Have you seen a bulldozer? Until he builds a resort, nothing will happen.”
Armstrong said the company expects to break ground on the hotel in the spring. Construction should take 18-24 months, he said.
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