UPDATE: During yesterday’s July 13, 2026 City Council meeting, a scheduled executive session was held. (Click here to see the July 9, 2026 notice for the executive session). After the executive session ended, City Attorney, Gary, H. Smith III asked Mayor Milner to “pass a motion to authorize the City of Aiken to enter into contractual discussions with attorney, Lauren Martell [Mr. Kumar’s attorney] and to notify the tenant at 213 Richland Avenue West that he is required to vacate the premises in 20 days, and/or authorize the city to move forward with the appropriate legal action.” Mr. Smith’s full statement can be viewed here on the City of Aiken meeting video.

Part Two of a Three-Part Editorial

Prior to two confused actions by the City this summer — the first one listing the successful Taj Aiken restaurant building as abandoned; the second, opening the door to partial demolition of the building — there were four years of relentless back-and-forth. Plans were made, then changed; assurrances were given, then forgotten; promises were made and not honored. The recounting of this four-year history is not to open old wounds or re-plow old ground, but to give context to this summer’s events and perhaps incentivize a different way going forward.

The Pascalis Footprint

In November 2021, Alokkumar “Kumar” Akse, along with numerous other small business owners in the central downtown block, were informed that their buildings were to be demolished to make way for the Project Pascalis redevelopment project. They would need to move. Over the course of the next 56 months, this plan would change numerous times.

All of the business owners in this footprint were impacted. Disparities in the addressing of these impacts has been a feature. Some tenants were given five-year leases. One was given the option to purchase their building. Others were given funding to relocate. At least one described being effectively driven away.

Business partner Stacy O’Sullivan of Art and Soul, a successful, well-loved gallery and studio space for local artists, told some of their story for the Aiken Chronicles article Project Pascalis Includes the Alley. [Clarification: Stacy O’Sullivan and her business partner, Kim Rising, were part of the original Pascalis footprint, but never tenants of the City]. She also told the story in a July 2022 WJBF television news interview. telling Shawn Cabbagestalk, “We were invited to leave.” Citing issues of roof leaks, wood rot and unaddressed maintenance, she explained, “I think they would prefer for us not to be here because they would prefer to make three times the rent, and they’ve made that very clear to us in the beginning.”

Stacy O’Sullivan also described the City’s “disheartening” lack of communication and the fact that the huge redevelopment project didn’t take into consideration the small business owners who had already invested much “just by being there and conducting business.” Her words resonate today in the story of Taj Aiken, which has invested much, yet been left to spend the past four years in a state of perpetual limbo.

Irregularities

In June-July 2022, as irregularities in Project Pascalis began to surface, the demolition hearings were abruptly cancelled. The collapse of the entire project followed. With demolition no longer on the table, Mr. Kumar hoped to either buy his building from the City or sign a long-term lease.  

Nearly half of Aiken’s central City block was consumed by the Pascalis footprint in 2021, with the hearings for demolitions scheduled in July 2022. Among the buildings scheduled for demolition was the historic McGhee Block, Warneke Cleaners, and Newberry Hall (pictured above), along with State Farm, Alley Holdings, Holley House, Hotel Aiken, Ginger Bee, Vampire Penguin, Beyond Bijoux, and the old Aiken Standard building..

In November 2022, as detailed in the article, PU Funds Con Game? the City requested and later received a $26.2 million allocation of the State of South Carolina’s $600 million Plutonium Settlement funds. There were a number of irregularities cited in the City’s application, among them, the mischaracterization of the Pascalis properties — from Newberry Hall, to Taj Aiken, to Vampire Penguin — as “blighted.” City Council then approved spending $9.6 million of the plutonium funds to pay off the Pascalis general obligation bond debt for the original purchase of the Pascalis properties.

In January 2023, the City announced that the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) had plans to build a 45,000 square ft lab in the Pascalis footprint using $20 million from separate Plutonium Settlement funds that had been allocated to SRNL. Mr. Kumar was assured by City officials and by SRNL director, Dr. Vahid Majidi, that Taj Aiken’s future in that location was secure. As Mayor Pro Tem Ed Woltz described in his January 2023 State of the City address:  

”The plan is to preserve the existing businesses on the Block, leaving Newberry Hall    untouched, relocate Warneke Cleaners to the buildings at front of Richland Avenue. These retail buildings on Richland Avenue will be renting and upgraded  as part of the project and the Thai restaurant [the councilman was referring to Taj Aiken, which features Indian cuisine] would remain on Richland Avenue.” — Mayor Pro Tem Ed Woltz, January 2023

Believing that he now had sound basis for hope, Kumar began making improvements to Taj Aiken.

Promises

Kumar’s hope was bolstered by promises delivered in June 2023 from an Aiken Standard newspaper guest column penned by then-Mayor Rick Osbon. Addressing the fate of the small business owners in the footprint of this large project, which he enthusiastically supported, Osbon wrote:  

“All involved in these initial planning stages have been clear that any local businesses potentially impacted, if the current preferred site being considered as selected, will be fully protected and made whole. Those highest of priorities include the Taj Aiken Restaurant, Warneke Cleaners, Newberry Hall, and the preservation of the C.C. Johnson Drug Store building at the corner of Richland Avenue and Newberry Street.”  — Mayor Rick Osbon, June 2023

In October 2023, with the SRNL’s commitment to the project mysteriously evaporated over the months, plans changed. The size of the building, the footprint of the building, the name of the building, and, even the location of the building — all changed. At one point, Kumar was told that he would need to move, after all, as the project would need some of his space. When plans changed again, with the  SRNL project now moving a block to the north on Newberry Street, Mr. Kumar’s hopes were renewed for an extended lease or option to purchase the building. 

In February 2024, in response to Mr. Kumar’s request for a lease similar to the ones recently extended to other tenants in the Pascalis footprint, City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh created a 5-year lease for Kumar to sign, which he reportedly did in front of both Bedenbaugh and Mayor Teddy Milner. Paradoxically, the City did not sign the lease and, instead, advised Kumar to check back with them — which he did on a monthly basis.

Fourteen Months Later

In April 2025 — fourteen months after he’d signed the lease — Mr. Kumar attended a City Council meeting requesting that City officials sign the lease, just as they’d done with other tenants in the Pascalis footprint. A transcript of Mr. Kumar’s statement can be read in the article, “An Aiken Institution: Taj Aiken….” His statements can also be heard in the video clip from the meeting, beginning at minute 39:45, linked beneath the screenshot below.

Clip from April 14, 2025 City Council meeting

Following Mr. Kumar’s statement was an exchange between Councilwoman Diggs and Jacob Ellis, a local citizen and former City Council candidate, who, describing Kumar as a pillar of our community, advocated for fair treatment of the restaurant. Councilwoman Diggs described her own witness of Mr. Kumar’s generosity as she watched him help out an elderly couple in the dollar store parking lot. Neither the Mayor nor the City Manager responded to Mr. Kumar’s questions on his lease.

Two Weeks Later

On April 28, 2025, Mr. Kumar returned to City Council chambers. Having received no response from the City on signing his lease, he inquired about the possibility of buying some of the buildings in the Pascallas footprint. He was prepared to do this. Mr. Kumar’s statement can be viewed here on the City of Aiken meeting video.

The responses to Kumar’s statement from others in attendance can be viewed in this same video at minute 46:15, linked here. Citizens Lisa Smith and Kelly Cornelius spoke, with Ms. Cornelius’ statement likely expressing the thoughts of many who had been following the story of Project Pascalis and the small business owners in its footprint:

“I think all of you know how passionate people were about saving those buildings, but it wasn’t just about saving the historic buildings. It’s about the small businesses that were housed in those buildings. And so, I would urge you to do whatever you can to keep somebody like Kumar in this community. And I would have that handled before you bring that sale forward. I mean, he asked why not give him a seat at the table. And why not give him a seat at the table? 

“I don’t know if you’ve seen the online comments, but he has an amazing support group in this community. He’s just an outstanding member of this community and I would hope that you would see him for that. And that’s exactly the kind of business that we want to have downtown. And so I would hope that you would give him a seat at the table.” — Kelly Cornelius, April 28, 2025

Mayor Pro Tem Ed Girardeau responded at length in discussion with Lisa Smith, with some of his words responding to the concerns Ms. Cornelius had just articulated:

“I can’t imagine if one of these developers actually goes forward and does this that he won’t be included in that. He’s a successful businessman, a successful restaurant. That’s what they want. They’ll work it out. But I’m sure that Mr. Kumar will be included in all of this in some way, shape, or form.” — Mayor Pro Tem Ed Girardeau, April 28, 2025

Fourteen Months Later

On June 8, 2026, Mr. Kumar returned to City Council chambers, this time to bring his concerns regarding a Resolution that the City was bringing to the table that evening. With this Resolution, the City was prepared to certify 20 building units in the Pascalis footprint as abandoned properties. Included were 113 Newberry Street and 213 Richland Avenue, the address of, respectively, Warneke Cleaners and Taj Aiken. After four years of this, it should come as no surprise that the City of Aiken landlord had apparently not communicated this latest change with their tenant at 213 Richland Avenue.

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NEXT:

Part Three: The events of June and July 2026 as the successful Taj Aiken restaurant at 213 Richland Avenue is listed as an abandoned property, then not abandoned, then approved for partial demolition.