Also: Still no appraisals of Pascalis Properties, and City of Aiken continues to block release of Pascalis properties records.
by Don Moniak
December 6, 2023.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request (1) the City of Aiken has disclosed nine documents and reports from 2023 that are related to the Project Pascalis properties, including the Hotel Aiken, the Taj Aiken Restaurant, and the McGhee Building; aka as CC Johnson Drug Store. In total, work expenditures came close to $100,000 in expenditures; incurred in addition to the $250,000 contract between the City of Aiken and Aiken Corporation.
Most notable is the September 2023, Hotel Aiken Stabilization Report, from Bennett Preservation and Engineeering. The purpose of the analysis was, in part, to analyze two options for future use:
“In the first scenario, the structure is reused as a hotel or as a light residential structure without significant changes to either the use or the general construction. In the second scenario, the building is either reused for a heavier use classification, such as office use, or it is reused for residential use, but with significant weight increases, or with a need for significantly stiffer floor systems, such as might be required to support brittle finishes.”
The overall conclusion by Bennett is:
“We conclude that, overall, the building is relatively lightly framed, but if areas of deterioration are addressed and specific areas are strengthened, the building could be used for a residential reuse similar to that for which it was originally designed.
If, on the other hand, the use of the building were to be changed, for example to office use, or even a modern, relatively heavy hotel use with significant weight in the guest rooms and brittle finishes and tile floors in the bathrooms, strengthening or supplementing of the floor framing and vertical load carrying systems would be appropriate, as would additional perpendicular shearwalls within the building to carry the additional seismic load.”
Also within the records disclosure are “as built” laser scan illustrations of the Hotel Aiken and adjacent Richland Avenue buildings; and the contractual letters of agreement for all the project work.
The documents released are in the table, with links, below:
| 0654_001.pdf, MPS Summary of Bennett |
| 2023-05-03_201-213 Richland Ave_As-Built.pdf, showing As-Built laser scans for the McGhee Building and Taj Aiken Building |
| 2023-09-21 Hotel Aiken Stabilization Report.pdf, A 53-page Report on Structural Stabilization of the Hotel Aiken by Bennett Preservation and Engineering, dated September 9, 2021 |
| 2023-03-27 Hotel Aiken SDs Proposal (002).pdf , Bennett’s proposed agreement from March of 2023, estimated as $24,785. |
| QRC Service Proposal – 100 Laurens St SW Aiken SC – McMillan Pazdan Smith.pdf, the Quality Reality Capture proposal for laser scans of the Hotel and other Richland Ave buildings. |
| 230323 _ Aiken Proposals – w DM Signature.pdf, MPS/City of Aiken letters of agreement from March 2023 , first reported in $148,000 for What…. |
| 201-213 Richland Ave Restaurant Space Analysis_R21.pdf, an analysis of Richland Avenue properties for use as restaurants. |
| 2023-05-03_Hotel Aiken_As-Built.pdf, showing some results from the QRC laser scan. |
| QRC Service Proposal – 203 Richland Ave W – McMillan Pazdan Smith.pdf, a second QRC proposal. |
No Appraisals.
In response to a request for appraisals of Pascalis project properties, the City of Aiken reported there are no appraisals to date. (Figure 1)
Still exempt.
In response to a request for unredacted version of the May/June 2021 comparison table for Pascalis properties proposals and copies of all amended Purchase and Sale Agreements with RPM Development Partners,LLC, the City of Aiken declared the records as still exempt under FOIA regulations (Figure 2). The original Purchase and Sale Agreement from December 2021 was discovered being mistakenly online in the City’s document repository in November 2022, and subsequently released in Downtown Aiken Half-Price Sale.
(1) FOIA Request #364-2023 was filed on October 30, 2023, and asked for:
“Pertaining to the three McMillan Pazdan and Smith agreements all made on March 26, 2023 1. Re MPS Project 023160.00 a. A copy of the Laser scan report, summary, or any other documents relative to the delivery of services. B. The computer model of the Hotel Aiken C. The proposal from Quantum Reality. 2. Re MPS 023160.00 a. The report by MPS regarding the Hotel Aiken. 3. Re: MPS 023173.00 a. The same items as with #1 of this request: the laser scan report or summary, The computer models for Richland Ave buildings and b. The report for recommendations for partial building demolition. Placing this information on the city’s website in a user friendly format is s a sufficient response.”