By Kelly Cornelius and Don Moniak
August 6, 2023

Project Pascalis was an epic failure on the part of Aiken City officials. To quote Aiken resident Lisa Smith in a recent interview with WFXG-Fox News’ Lauren Young: “It went down in a flaming ball.”

Concerned Aiken citizens actually shot it down by packing public forums, writing letters to the editor, organizing a petition drive, posting anti-Pascalis yard signs across the city, and filing lawsuits and ethics complaints.

The failed Project Pascalis was also a hot topic at a recent Mayoral Forum where, according to the Aiken Standard, Mayor Osbon said the project “got too big.” During the discussion the Mayor distanced himself from any responsibility in the project, other than to say “it was good for the city to control something so important” as the Hotel Aiken. (32-34 minute mark).

As the Mayor’s race heats up down the stretch, the fate of several small businesses on the Pascalis properties remains uncertain, and the historic Hotel Aiken in that too-big $9.6 million investment continues to stand neglected, deteriorating, hollow, and vacant, Mayor Osbon’s leadership role in Project Pascalis warrants renewed scrutiny.

While Project Pascalis was presented to the public as the brainchild of the now-dissolved Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC), public records show Mayor Rick Osbon was involved from inception to implosion, and the size of the project reflected his vision for downtown Aiken.

Timeline of Mayoral Involvement in Project Pascalis

March 17th, 2021: Project Pascalis was announced. (Among the details that would remain secret for more than eight months was that Aiken Attorney Ray Massey had helped negotiate and prepare contracts for what would become the Project Pascalis properties. Massey, who is one of Aiken City Attorney Gary Smith’s law partners, was working on behalf of WTC Investments, LLC.)

March 22nd, 2021: Aiken City Council unanimously approved  Resolution 3222021B, which adopted the City of Aiken Master Economic Development Plan, also known as “The AECOM Plan.” The Plan authorized the AMDC to, in part, acquire property and execute contracts for clearance and preparation of land for resale. Mayor Osbon presided over the meeting.

March 25th, 2021: The AMDC entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the first Project Pascalis developer, GAC, LLC.

March 29th, 2021:  Mayor Osbon sent a letter to the Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC), following through on Council’s March 22nd resolution. Mayor Osbon’s letter outlined an action plan that also described the just announced, though still secretive, very large Project Pascalis: 

• A conference center with a capacity for 500 people and “first class lodging” to accommodate that many attendees.
• Government intervention to assist in redeveloping the Hotel Aiken property.
• Consolidating “sufficient” private property to “create more urban-scale residential condo and apartment inventory within the downtown area.” 
• A parking garage, or “structured parking solution,” in support of the proposed redevelopment. 

The entire letter can be viewed here. Note that the cost-sharing agreement between the AMDC and the developer was already signed some four days before the Mayor sent the letter. 

April 13th, 2021:  The AMDC held its monthly meeting. According to the meeting minutes, Commission Chairman Keith Wood cited the Mayor’s action items and the AECOM plan as AMDC guiding documents:

“Mr. Wood asked the Commission members to look at the five key areas that the Mayor noted. He pointed out that those five items are where the MDC’s efforts should be. He pointed out that funds from the $200,000 from the City (to the Commission) would be allocated for some of these five items. He pointed out that tying the Mayor’s letter with the five key areas in the letter and the document adopted as the Strategic Plan gives a clear vision as to where the MDC’s focus should be. He said he wanted to call this to the attention of the MDC members.”

Again, the AMDC had already signed the cost sharing agreement with GAC, LLC nineteen days earlier. Two weeks after the AMDC meeting, Weldon Wyatt backed out of the arrangement, and the first version of Project Pascalis collapsed.

May 3rd, 2021: According to an AMDC memo entitled “recent deal flow notes,” Mayor Osbon met with Weldon Wyatt, (who was associated with both GAC, LLC and WTC Investments, LLC) about the future of the project and the Pascalis properties that were under contract to WTC. (Three weeks later the Aiken Chamber of Commerce would take assignment of the properties in order to hold options for the AMDC to later purchase the properties, and the AMDC began to pursue a new developer.)

August 9th/ August 23 2021: The first and second readings for a bond ordinance was unanimously approved by City Council to obtain the  $9.6M bond, which eventually enabled the AMDC to purchase the Pascalis Properties. Mayor Osbon presided over both hearings, voted to approve the bond, and signed the ordinance.

Sept 22, 2021: The Mayor attended an AMDC “Meeting” at Vic’s (Victors Restaurant, a fine dining establishment in Hotel Florence) in Florence, SC. Also in attendance were Attorney Ray Massey, (who, recall, had already cobbled together and had under contract the Pascalis properties for WTC Investments, LLC) and Raines Group members who would soon comprise, along with Massey, the RPM Development Partners group awarded the chosen developer for Project Pascalis on Dec 3rd, 2021.

November 3rd, 2021: The Mayor signed the paperwork to issue the $9.6 million bond for the Pascalis Properties to be purchased by the AMDC.

November 10, 2022: The AMDC closed on the sale of the Pascalis properties.

Dec 3rd, 2021: RPM Development Partners, LLC was announced as the chosen developer for Project Pascalis. This occurred before the required RFP (request for proposals) had even been put out. As later revealed in the Aiken Chronicles, the contract with this winning developer (represented by the City Attorney’s law Partner Ray Massey) was for nearly $ 5 Million less than  city taxpayers paid for it a mere 24 days earlier when the AMDC via the city bond purchased the properties. (Nov 10th, 2021).

January 4th, 2022: Some of those very same “Vic’s” attendees, including Mayor Osbon, dined at Aiken’s swanky steak joint, Prime Steakhouse. Officials charged taxpayers the $620.49 cost for their top-shelf get-together. The dinner was the final touch to a day of private “influencer meetings.”

Feb 25th, 2022 An invoice from Capstone Services named Mayor Osbon as a Project Pascalis meeting attendee. The invoice also lists AMDC Executive Committee members as present, however, there is no mention of this meeting to be found among the minutes or agendas on the city’s website. 

March 28th, 2022 and May 9th, 2022:  Mayor Osbon presided over both votes to give RPM Development Partners a portion of Newberry Street for Project Pascalis; and then signed the ordinance. (Later, in November 2022, and after much public backlash, City Council took back Newberry St from the would-be developer).

July 26, 2022: In a letter to Aiken Historic Foundation (HAF) president Linda Johnson, then-chair Keith Wood of the now-dissolved AMDC wrote, in part, that the commission first pursued the purchase of the Hotel Aiken, and those properties adjacent to it, at the behest of the Aiken City Council. (There is no documentation of this decision in City of Aiken records.)

Feb 13, 2023: Ordinance 02132023B was approved. Aiken City Council, including the Mayor, voted to take over the AMDC—which also made them the landlord of Warneke Cleaners. Below is a portion of that ordinance — the flaming ball portion.

May 8th, 2023: Mayor Osbon presided over the final vote to dissolve the embattled and now-failed AMDC, which made the City the landlord of the Project Pascalis properties, including the parcel on which Warneke Cleaners sits atop as a long-time tenant.

Summary

From inception to flaming freefall, Mayor Osbon was involved in Project Pascalis. While he sometimes recused or distanced himself — as occurred with fanfare during the January 2023 announcement of the proposed downtown Savannah River National Laboratory office building, the latest incarnation of Project Pascalis — the Mayor participated in the now-failed project at quite essential times.

Project Pascalis “grew large” “and got too big” because the AMDC followed Mayor Osbon’s guidance and vision. If the project had proceeded and succeeded, the Mayor would have embraced it as his legacy. One year after the project failure, Mayor Osbon has chosen to distance himself from any Project Pascalis leadership role.