Aiken business owners talk Project Pascalis impacts
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Aiken city leaders are working on finalizing plans for Project Pascalis.
This project will change the landscape of downtown Aiken. Here’s the latest on the project’s progress and how one local business owner feels about its impact.
Lionel Smith Limited has been on Lauren’s Street for more than four decades.
“I’ve owned the store since ‘92, but my father started it in ‘76. We have been here going on 47 years,” said Van Smith, owner.
The store is just down the block from Hotel Aiken, the focus of Project Pascalis, meaning they will feel some construction impacts.
“We are going to be impacted by construction because obviously, it’s going to make some problems with traffic flow,” he said.
But for him, the traffic impacts are a small price for a big payoff.
“We’re going to end up a lot busier, a lot more people in town, a lot more bodies, to come by and shop. Get to know some new people,” said Smith.
The plan is to renovate and add to the hotel, parking, and apartment complexes nearby, which will impact small business owners who will have to move.
Tim O’Briant, City of Aiken economic development director said: “We’ve been working with them individually, and I’d say, for the most part, most of them have some pretty good plans in place.”
They have to figure out how to pay for it, but because plans are not finalized, they do not have a total cost.
“The state budget for the plutonium settlement raised $20 million specifically for downtown re-development,” he said.
The rest of that funding will come from the nearly $1.8 million raised in hospitality taxes.
“Those are the resources we know we will have available. The cost is more complicated because we haven’t decided what the plans are,” he said.
There is no timeline yet for the project, as leaders say it is still a work in progress.
O’Briant says they are working on plans based on public input and is hopeful to continue hosting more public forums.
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