by Don Moniak 

December 21, 2022

The City of Aiken Planning Commission will likely open business in 2023 by recommending approval of a new convenient store and a new 76-unit apartment complex on Whiskey Road. A public notice (1) was published this past Monday, December 19th, announcing a January 10, 2023, public hearing before the commission for: 

• An application for a utility request at Whiskey Road and Dominion Drive by Cranston Engineering Group;
• A concept plan approval request by Drayton Parker Companies for a property at Whiskey Road and Stratford Drive; and 
• An annexation request for 1804 Pine Log Road near Hound’s Lake. 

Parker’s Kitchen, Southside

The concept plan application from Drayton Parker Company is for a Parker’s Kitchen convenient store and eight pump service station to be located at the junction of Whiskey Road, Stratford Drive, and Powderhouse Road. This is the second Parker’s Kitchen planned for Aiken. The first one, on Richland Avenue below Sam’s Club, gained approval from Aiken City Council in May, 2022. Parker’s Kitchen is presently a chain of seventy convenient stores concentrated in the Savannah, Charleston, and Statesboro areas. 

Unlike the Richland Avenue location at the long vacant, former Dick Smith auto dealership, the second Parker’s Kitchen will necessitate clearcutting and grading an undeveloped 2.6 acre forested tract that is 300 feet east of the Springstone Villas neighborhood. The company estimates a volume of more than 1,000 vehicles at their new location.

The parcel is one-quarter of a 11.6-acre area purchased in 2019 for $1.4 million by Lulu’s Holdings of South Carolina, LLC (agent: Robert Black), and later subdivided into four lots. 

The other three lots are: 

• A 2.7 acre tract fronting Whiskey Road where a Lulu’s Car Wash is under construction.
• An undeveloped, forested 5.3 acre tract presently providing a 275-foot wide buffer between Springhouse Villas and the two properties fronting Whiskey Road, but could be developed next.
• A 1.1 acre “right of way,” appraised by the Aiken County Assessor for $514. 
  

The Lulu’s Car Wash was approved as part of an annexation and Planned Commercial concept plan for the entire 11.6 acres. After rejecting the first concept plan, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended a revised version on July 14, 2020, in spite of a petition drive in the Springhouse and Stratford Hall neighborhoods that garnered more than 200 signatures.  City Council followed suit with a unanimous approval.

A subsequent lawsuit was dismissed when the judge ruled the city had not acted outside of its authority and the plaintiffs had not proven the decision was arbitrary and capricious.

Whiskey Road Apartments 

Just under one mile to the south of the developing Lulu’s commercial complex are newly planned apartments. The Whiskey Road Apartment complex city services application shows a 76-unit, three building apartment complex planned on a 6.64 acre parcel across from the junction of Talatha Church and Whiskey Roads, adjacent to the Cornerstone residential neighborhood. (The public notice contained no mention of the busy Talatha Church intersection, opting to list the location only as “Whiskey Road and Dominion Drive.” )

The property is in unincorporated Aiken County, and the developers are only requesting city water and sewer services, and not annexation. Plans show a trio of three-story apartment buildings surrounded by 114 parking spaces, with an entrance via a new spur road located approximately 325 feet south of Talatha Church Road. 

Although the current apartments application lists South State Bank as the property owner, county records show that South State Bank sold the property on October 26, 20222 property for $425,000 to Cornerstone Aiken LLC (2) at 742 Trailhead Lane, Fort Mill, SC. This is the same address used by the developer,  Ishvan Realty, LLC (Agent: Venu Parapelli), a SC company incorporated on October 15, 2022. 

In 2020 a new Duke’s Bar-B-Que  Restaurant was proposed on the property. The Planning Commission heard and unanimously approved that application on the same day as the Lulu’s hearing.  There were no objections to the proposal, which was later withdrawn. Unlike the current proposal, the Duke’s application included a traffic study.

Since 2015, other developments within a half- mile of the proposed Whiskey Road Apartments include Summerton Village, the Townhomes at Chukker Creek, a new Dollar General, and the Lotus Park Senior Living Apartment Complex presently under construction.

Footnotes

(1) The public notice in the Aiken Standard on December 19, 2022. 

(2) Cornerstone’s registered agent is LegalInc.  Registered Agents, Inc of Charleston, whose agent in turn is United States Corporation Agents, Inc. at the same Charleston address.  The firm’s registered agent is Northwest Registered Agent of Charleston, whose agent in turn is Registered Agents, Inc. at the same Charleston address, who is turn are represented by Northwest Registered Agent. From there the trail remains on a circular path.