Three recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the City of Aiken regarding the ongoing downtown demolition and redevelopment endeavor known as Project Pascalis yielded either no documents or incomplete documentation. But the paucity of documentation functions, in these cases, as good information shining more bad light on the vagaries of Project Pascalis.
The following information is good to know:
- The City of Aiken has not compiled an account of questions and answers from its Project Pascalis public meetings of April 20th, 2022, and one of its meeting transcripts (which it has yet to release) omits all public comment. (1)
- An offer was made to purchase the Aiken Antique Mall in March, 2021 as part of a larger land consolidation effort during the earliest stage of project development (2). The Aiken City Attorney’s law firm billed Weldon Wyatt’s investment and development firm WTC, Investments, LLC for the effort.
- There is no contract yet between the City of Aiken and Newberry Hall’s operators for the management and operation of the proposed city-owned conference center. (3)
The City’s Listening Skills Are Not on Display
The City of Aiken’s website includes a five year old page titled “City of Aiken Revitalization Project.” This was the “Downtown Renaissance” project that included some elements found in the Project Pascalis proposal, but was more dispersed and did not involve demolishing a substantial portion of downtown Aiken. On that page, the City declared:
Downtown revitalization takes initiative, courage, and vision to look at what makes for a vibrant, walkable, livable center that fosters community vibrancy while creating economic opportunity. Aiken is no different. Our history of downtown revitalization is strong and the City stands ready to face the next chapter of downtown development. (4)
Although the “Downtown Renaissance” plan became mired in controversy and faded into recent history, the city did document citizen concerns in great detail. The revitalization project website features twenty pages of “Questions submitted from the public,” and links to other documents containing more than one hundred pages of comments and questions.
In contrast, the City of Aiken has no similar record of public input for Project Pascalis. The two transcripts from the April 20, 2022 public meetings, when the city promised to have transcripts the next day, are poor and incomplete records of that event:
a. The morning meeting “You Tube” transcript is painfully difficult to read and does not identify speakers; and
b. The evening meeting transcript ends when public comment begins.
Until now, no transcript has ever been released to the public.
When asked for a copy of a question and answer document similar to the one found for the “Downtown Renassaince,” the city came up empty. No efforts to document citizen questions and comments has occurred. Listening is not on the city’s agenda for Project Pascalis.
The Antique Mall Was Targeted as Part of the Original Project Pascalis
The ownership of the Aiken Antique Mall has not changed hands, and there is no proposal to demolish it. But it was part of the aggressive effort to consolidate downtown property ownership to facilitate a major demolition and redevelopment project.
This consolidation effort is encouraged by the city’s “master economic development plan” completed by AECOM corporation in 2021, which cites “fragmented property ownership” as one of the “challenges for large-scale redevelopment.” This “fragmented property ownership” issue was cited by City Council in August, 2021 as a key justification to issue $10 million in bonds for the AMDC to purchase Parkway District properties.
An offer (or offers) was made on the Aiken Antique Mall, and Weldon Wyatt’s investment and development firms had enough confidence the property would be obtained to include it in the first concept plans completed in April, 2021 by The Boudreaux Group. (5)
In response to a FOIA request for the Antique Mall purchase and sale offer, the City of Aiken declared there is no responsive document. In response to a follow-up question, Aiken Economic Development Director and designated FOIA officer Tim O’Briant wrote:
WTC/GAC made an offer on the referenced property in the same timeframe that the firm(s) secured contracts on the other adjacent parcels. These discussions and agreements were in place prior to them approaching the City/AMDC about a public-private partnership and before the parties entered a cost-sharing agreement.
Since the contract on properties collectively referred to as “the Shah property” was secured on March 2, 2021 and the cost-sharing agreement was finalized on March 23, 2021, an offer on the Antique Mall was made during that period. It was then included in the planning process. Whether the developers had the consent of the owner to include their property in any plans is unknown at this point.
What is known is that the Aiken City Attorney’s law firm billed WTC Investments, LLC for $6,800 to “prepare contracts and negotiate contracts for purchase of hotel, purchase of Mrs. Anderson’s property and purchase of Antique Mall.” (6)
Another unknown is the status of the land consolidation effort that attempted to encompass the Antique Mall. The City of Aiken’s official economic growth strategy discourages “fragmented property ownership patterns.”
The Aiken Antique Mall property with its facade of flaking paint could be portrayed as crumbling and blighted by another slick public relations campaign targeting more properties for demolition and redevelopment. What is to stop it?
Newberry Hall: No Contract, Yet.
Newberry Hall is a private business catering to conferences, meetings, and weddings. It is a common venue for groups hosting political leaders. The influential Aiken Republican Club holds its monthly breakfasts there, which in June 2022 featured U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson.
Newberry Hall’s website includes numerous favorable reviews, such as this one from City of Aiken public information officer Chris Ceasar:
Newberry Hall is one of the premiere catering facilities in Aiken County. Whatever your dining pleasure, they can and will accommodate. The staff is very professional. The cuisine is most delectable. The facility is gorgeous. Try Newberry Hall. You will be pleasantly surprised!
Newberry Hall accurately describes its property located at 117 Newberry Street, SW as follows:
Newberry Hall is on a tree-lined and beautifully landscaped city street in the heart of downtown Aiken. Walk through the front doors of Newberry Hall and enter the perfect environment for your social or corporate event.
In March 2021 the development team led by Weldon Wyatt and Ray Massey sought to demolish this fixture of downtown Aiken life and the surrounding landscaping and replace it with a larger conference center connected to a new hotel. Eventually they signed a contract with the owner, Myrtle Anderson, to purchase the property for $2 million.
This negotiation was no cakewalk. Newberry Hall collectively negotiated favorable terms for the owner/operators of the Newberry Hall business, Patrick and Natalie Carlisle, and an “Agreement for Regarding Lease and Option” was added to the purchase and sale agreement and signed by Ms. Anderson and Weldon Wyatt. This agreement, first finalized on April 15, 2021, was retained by the Aiken Municipal Development Commission after the contracts were transferred to it via the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, which took “assignment” of the property from WTC Investments, LLC on June 3, 2021.
The lease and option agreement included options for Newberry Hall to purchase the new building, operate the new city owned conference center, and be compensated for lost income during the construction period. The agreement states:
C. The development of the Project contemplates that the improvements on the Property would be demolished and replaced with a larger conference center and kitchen and that Carlisle would be compensated for loss of income during interruption of Carlisle’ s business and would lease the replacement conference center and kitchen pursuant to a replacement lease and operating agreement, the terms of which are under discussion but are not finalized (the “Operating Agreement”).
D. Section 5 of the Lease provides Carlisle with a purchase option (the “Option”) that would be triggered by the closing of the Purchase.
E. Anderson and Carlisle desire to that Commission close the Purchase without triggering the Option and have requested that Carlisle grant a one-time waiver of the Option to allow Carlisle and Commission more time to attempt to finalize an Operating Agreement.
In its response to the FOIA request for the contract to operate the future conference center, the The City of Aiken “determined that no contract as described has been considered for approval by Aiken City Council or the AMDC and to date no such instrument has been executed by the parties referenced.”
The city did not provide any more information, yet, no followup questions have been posed. The fact that “no such instrument has been executed” implies that such an instrument is still under negotiation, and would arguably be exempt from disclosure by SC FOIA law due to being a contract under negotiation and not a final product.
If Project Pascalis survives legal challenges and citizen outcry, downtown Aiken will endure a minimum of three years of major demolition followed by construction. By comparison, reconstruction of The Alley took sixteen months and the Hotel Aiken has been vacant for four years. The Wedding parties, meetings, conferences, breakfasts, and other events routinely held at Newberry Hall will be held elsewhere. How much of a loss to downtown businesses will this inflict?
Commentary
Prying information from any government body that selectively spoon feeds the people its version of the truth can bring to mind former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld’s famous musing about information, a series of concepts so complex that even he tripped over them during later interviews.
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“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”
— Donald Rumsfeld
The secrecy and intrigue surrounding the $100 million downtown Aiken demolition and redevelopment endeavor known as Project Pascalis pales in comparison to the world of international nuclear insecurity that Rumsfeld was in part referring to that day. But the concept of information confusion is relevant to any process plagued by secrecy.
The details of Project Pascalis were kept secret for eight full months in 2021, and the AMDC met in closed door executive session more than fifty percent of the time since the project was announced in March, 2021, primarily to discuss the project. (8)
My wife describes ‘transparency’ as “something you can see through,” while ‘openness’ means “listening to and talking about what people see on the other side.” The City of Aiken likes to talk about being transparent, but continues to disregard the more important character trait of openness during this process.
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(1) A FOIA request was filed on July 6th for “1. A transcript of both April 20, 2022 public “design workshop” meetings held at 214 Park Avenue W. The meetings were also was held on Zoom, and during the 530-700 pm meeting, and during this Zoom call participants were asked if they wanted a transcript of the meeting. 2. All comments and questions submitted to the Zoom moderator. 3. Any compilation of questions and answers by City of Aiken and/or AMDC staff from the April 20, 2022 meetings. If they exist, these documents should be readily available with minimal search time.”
The City responded the same day with three documents:
a. A You Tube transcript for the morning session lacking identification of speakers and disrupted with time notifications.
b. An orderly transcript of the afternoon/evening session that omits all public comments.
c. Screen shots of the Zoom comments.
No compilation of questions and answers from the meetings were provided, and none exist.
(2) A FOIA request was filed on July 11th for a “copy of the purchase (agreement) of the Antique mall referenced in the attached invoice. Since this was a part of the public-private cost sharing agreement between the AMDC and GAC, LLC, this should be available from the City of Aiken.”
The city replied there was no “responsive record,” meaning the record may exist but they do not possess it. The city did confirm “discussions” to purchase the property:
“The City replied determined the invoiced charge was related to initial discussions with the owners of the referenced parcels by GAC, LCC. No agreement was struck, the property was never placed under contract with nor purchased by GAC, LLC, the City of Aiken nor the AMDC. Therefore, there is no responsive record.” (1)
In a subsequent answer to a followup question, the city replied:
“WTC/GAC made an offer on the referenced property in the same timeframe that the firm(s) secured contracts on the other adjacent parcels. These discussions and agreements were in place prior to them approaching the City/AMDC about a public-private partnership and before the parties entered a cost-sharing agreement. Therefore, no documents related to the earlier unsuccessful offer on the referenced property were ever shared with either the City or the AMDC. If such a record were available within the City’s possession and control, I’d be happy to provide it. There simply isn’t one.”
(3) A FOIA request was filed on July 8, 2022 requesting:
“A copy of The contract between the City of Aike or AMDC and the owners and operators of Newberry Hall for Rental and operation of the proposed City of Aiken conference center.”
The city responded:
“The City of Aiken has determined that no contract as described has been considered for approval by Aiken City Council or the AMDC and to date no such instrument has been executed by the parties referenced.”
(4) https://www.cityofaikensc.gov/aiken-revitalization-project/
(5) Details of the first Project Pascalis conceptual plans are at:
(6) Invoice obtained through Freedom of Information Act.
(7) The purchase and sale agreement and lease agreement between WTC Investments and Newberry Hall’s owner is available at:
The document was first released to Kelly Cornelius via a FOIA request prior to the AMDC posting it to its “transparency” page.
The final PSA and lease agreement involving the AMDC is at:
The lease agreement begins on page 39.
(8) Three previous reports and letters regarding openness can be found at The Aiken Chronicles:
A June 21, 2022 letter to the Design Review Board
A May 27, 2022 report “Did the AMDC Violate Open Meetings Laws?”
A report “Project Pascalis Transparency Index,” updated July 1, 2022:
Oh well, if you want to kill the charm of downtown Aiken this is the way to go. As a military leader onboard a U.S. Navy ship where I worked as a civilian contractor would say, ALPHA HOTELS.
Mr. Frantz. I would have to relocate it, but one city official described the sought after crowd as “rock and rollers.” He of course is in his 50s but can evidently define what the young people want today.
Also, 67 pages of Navy slang and no reference to ALPHA HOTELS. Plenty of others but not in this seemingly definitive guide.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://goatlocker.org/resources/nav/navyslang.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj1r72kroj5AhUkTjABHSwNCyM4ChAWegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw2wnIfmNJxLyrZT4WQCYHHl