Project Pascalis was first announced in March 2021. The City of Aiken secretly gained control of the Pascalis project properties in May 2021. Since May 2021, there have been three redevelopment proposals that failed to move forward on the downtown properties. The City of Aiken is due, in the next few weeks, to announce a selection of a new developer.
by Don Moniak
May 27, 2025
Updated June 11, 2025
In May 2021, Aiken city officials secretly decided to gain control, via the use of the Chamber of Commerce as a surrogate holding company, of the seven downtown properties that formed the footprint of the $75 to $100 million demolition and redevelopment plan known as Project Pascalis.
Four years later, only one of the properties, Newberry Hall, has been resold; but a major announcement is pending on the fate of the six remaining Project Pascalis properties (Figure 1) that have been offered for sale and redevelopment as a single block. At the present time, the future alternative plans for the properties are officially known only to an unofficial selection committee; as Aiken City Council has not announced any recent closed-door Executive Sessions to discuss the findings of the committee.
Also in question is the future of any sales proceeds, which include the $1.15 million already earned through the sale of Newberry Hall. The properties were acquired through a $9.6 million general obligation bond, and that bond was paid for by SRS/Plutonium Settlement funds legislatively allocated to “Downtown Aiken and Northside Hwy 1 Corridor Redevelopment and Development Funds.” Rightfully, any sales proceeds would be returned to their original purpose.
This upcoming decision will constitute the sixth major announcement involving the properties since March 2021.
March 15, 2021: The First Pascalis Announcement
The existence of a Project Pascalis was announced by the Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) with some fanfare but few details in mid-March of 2021.
During that same month, City Council approved the Strategic Economic Development Action Plan, aka The AECOM Plan, which contained this justification for the Pascalis project:
“One of the major barriers to new development/redevelopment in downtown Aiken are the small parcel sizes and fragmented property ownership. This makes it difficult for both public and private entities to assemble land for larger-scale redevelopment.“
The project was described as a public-private partnership involving an “experienced and well-capitalized” private developer that was “recruited and identified” by the AMDC. Though not disclosed until nine months later, the Pascalis effort began with negotiations by WTC Investments, LLC to sign contracts to purchase six properties owned by the Shah family—and later one property (Newberry Hall) owned by the Anderson family.
By mid-April 2021, a redevelopment concept plan was completed that included properties in The Alley— but that plan was never made public by city officials.
Instead, this first rendition of Project Pascalis collapsed during the first week of May 2021 when the experienced and well-capitalized developer backed out of the project. During the next two weeks, city officials scrambled to preserve the project by gaining control of the seven properties. After that, an effort was made through an informal Request for Letters of Intent process to secure a developer for the properties and salvage Project Pascalis. The general public remained in the dark.
Three months later, Aiken City Council approved a $10 million general obligation bond issuance on behalf of the AMDC. At that time, it was known by numerous city officials, but not the general public, that the properties in question were the Shah and Anderson parcels. However, the City Manager’s supporting memorandum masked that fact by describing the bond as supporting purchases of properties within the much larger “Parkway District.”
November 9, 2021: The AMDC Purchase
After the AMDC failed to find a buyer for the property, and with the deadline for purchase nearing, the Commission, with the general obligation bond funds in hand, purchased the seven properties on November 9, 2021, for $9.5 million. A public announcement was made and the second rendition of Project Pascalis finally began in public view.
In a February 2022 email from AMDC Commissioner David Jameson to other AMDC members and staff, he implied that the city admittedly paid a higher than market value in order to “keep the project alive.” (Figure 2)
December 4, 2021: The Purchase and Sale Agreement with RPM
Just under a month after the AMDC purchased the properties for $9.5 million, the Commission signed a contract with RPM Development Partners to sell the properties for $5 million and pursue a master development plan and cost-sharing agreement.
Ten days after the contract was signed, the AMDC released an RFP (Request for Proposal) for the properties, a post-dated act that eventually was a contributing factor, if not a root cause, to the cancellation of the project.
Two amendments to the Purchase and Sales Agreement (PSA) were made in 2022, that added a penalty clause of up to $150,000 if the AMDC withdrew from the contract without good cause.
September 29, 2022: Cancellation of Project Pascalis
In September 2022, the PSA was terminated by RPM, and then two weeks later by the AMDC. The cancellation occurred almost three months after the filing of a lawsuit to stop the project.
Over the next three months, the AMDC and City of Aiken received several letters expressing interest in the Hotel and other Pascalis properties. These included a letter from Tommy Tapp of Colliers Real Estate to City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh expressing an interest to market the property.
January 22, 2023: The National Lab Announcement
Within a month of the Project Pascalis cancellation, the City Manager and Economic Development offices secretly moved forward with a salvage effort for some of the properties. This effort involved locating a T-shaped, $20 million workforce development office building for the Savannah River National Laboratory on two of the properties—Warneke Cleaners and the Holley House motel. At that point, any effort to redevelop the Hotel Aiken was put on hold; and stayed on hold.
After holding two closed-door meetings in December and early January, City Council waited until late January 2023 to announce the new plan, albeit without any catchy project name. During the same “State of the City” public address, Mayor Rick Osbon promised that a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Hotel Aiken would be forthcoming within a few months. A draft RFP was completed by April, but it was never issued.
For the next eight months, the future of the properties was held hostage by the lack of decision-making on the lab project. In September 2023, the Aiken Corporation recommended locating it on their property on Newberry Street, NW. After Aiken City Council declined to formally approve the location, the recommendation stood as a decision. By this time, the project was termed the “Aiken Mixed-Use Building,” a bland moniker that has remained to this day and continues to indicate the project is more of a “spec” building for the Aiken Corporation (built with no specific buyer or lessee in hand) than a facility for SRNL’s contractor.
December 2023: The Divestment Decision and the Ensuing Colliers Contract.
As reported in City of Aiken to Move Forward on Pascalis Properties, on December 2023, City Manager Bedenbaugh sought approval for a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for real estate and marketing services for four of the properties- the Hotel Aiken, Holley House, Taj Aiken, and McGhee Building (old drugstore). Warneke Cleaners was added to the mix at the behest of Council.
Bedenbaugh’s proposal had one caveat: that if an entity sought ownership of the Hotel and motel only, that would be acceptable. That caveat was absent, however, in the RFQ that was issued just one week later by the city’s procurement department. (Figures 3 and 4). Thus, the AECOM Plan’s recommendation to consolidate properties and avoid small downtown inholdings continued to guide the process.
(Figures 3 and 4 above. Proposed offering presented to City Council and public (left) vs proposed offering in RFQ. Click to enlarge)
The City received two responses to the RFQ, and in April 2024 City Council approved the Colliers’ contract (pages 110-116) to serve as the city’s realtor for the Pascalis properties.
Colliers then began to market the properties as a single entity. Anybody wishing to purchase only a portion of the properties, such as the Hotel Aiken, was told that only bids for all the properties would be accepted.
Meanwhile, in January 2024, the City Manager’s office brought forth to Council a proposal for a five-year lease for the three tenants in the Beckman Building. The first lease proposal included a right to purchase clause, but this option was shot down by Council. Two months later, Council approved the leases.
In June 2024, the City Manager’s office announced to Council that Colliers had requested that the Beckman Building also be added to the sale package. Council agreed to the request.
For the next several months, Colliers interviewed and hosted tours for prospective buyers. Appraisals were made, but the City has declared them to be exempt from disclosure under FOIA (Figure 5)
In November 2024, Colliers representative Tommy Tapp provided a status update to Council; he described how more than twenty parties had expressed interest, and eleven tours of the properties for highly interested potential buyers and developers had been completed.
According to the meeting minutes, Tapp stated that, of the twelve parties that were interested enough to request tours, half were hotel developers, and half were apartment/condo developers; with all of them interested in harvesting historic tax credits. He told Council that the prospect of tax credits “is what is driving the project and the numbers.” (At the time, Congressional appropriations of historic tax credit funds did not appear to be in jeopardy, as they are now .)
Tapp added that “one of the common questions, even from phone calls, is about parking in Aiken. The number one question that everybody has—what about parking and how much parking is available…Everybody is interested in talking about parking garages. That is a common theme that has come up.”
A Request for Offers was then issued by Collier’s, and offers were due on December 23, 2024. According to Tapp, he would “collect the offers and review them to see if there is anything significantly missing or anything confusing and ask for clarification.” Once done, he would turn those over to the City Manager, with the offers being specified as “for the city’s eyes only.”
Tapp had also stated, at the 16:40 mark of the meeting, that this need for discretion was due to “another concern, is their bid going to be kept secret? They don’t want it shopped around in the press or made public because one of the criteria is ingenuity and creativity, and what they can do with the project.”
Six offers were submitted by the December 23rd deadline, and the committee of unknown origin was formed to select a preferred developer; no effort has been made to adhere to Freedom of Information Open Meetings provisions.
According to the Colliers’ offer package, the submissions would be evaluated based on eight criteria (Figure 6).
However, according to information obtained via a FOIA request, the interview portion of the selection process was based on a somewhat different set of evaluation criteria and rankings, one which added purchase price and parking plans as concrete criteria (Figure 7).
In addition, the committee used a set of nine interview questions to help formulate the rankings (Figure 6).
In mid-April, the City announced that the six developers had been reduced to two finalists; who were then charged with updating their proposals by April 30th.
On May 16th, the selection process took a turn for the strange when one of the spurned developers, Winter Colony Development Group, issued a public plea for support, stating in the comment section of a You Tube video that:
”City Hall is about to vote to turn the historic Aiken Hotel into a budget hotel without enough parking. If you prefer the alternative of Downtown Family Living with Shopping, Dining and Live Outdoor Entertainment, call Aiken City Hall at 803 642 7600 and demand the Winter Colony Proposal be chosen. Thank you for your support, and tell your friends!”
A second You Tube video, this time a musical arrangement, was circulated on social media that directly appealed to the citizenry of Aiken, stating in a twangy song, “if it speaks to what you feel, call the City. Let’s make it real.”
On May 19th, the City informed the Aiken Standard that the Winter Colony group’s proposal was no longer under consideration.
The June 9, 2023 Announcement
On June 9, 2025, Aiken City Council held a 1.5 hour closed-door Executive Session to discuss the proposed sale and redevelopment of the group of properties.
Following the Executive Session, Council voted 6-1, with Councilwoman Andrea Gregory in dissent, to approve a Motion “that the staff and City Attorney work with the Oliver Group for the sale and redevelopment of the Hotel Aiken and adjacent downtown properties.” (25 minute mark)
Interestingly, the vote came four years and one day after another Executive Session regarding the same properties, one in which the potential developer remained a secret.
On June 8, 2021, following an Executive Session, the Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) unanimously voted, in regard to Project Pascalis, to “authorize the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Municipal Development Commission to enter into negotiations with a potential developer related to Project Pascalis. The motion was unanimously approved.” (Page 5 of Meeting Minutes)
That negotiation process took six months before a tentative agreement with the AMDC’s “preferred developer,” RPM Development Partners, was reached in early December 2021.
Four months into that process, City Attorney Gary Smith unofficially stepped aside due to possible conflict of interest due to his law partner’s involvement in the project; and was replaced as the AMDC’s attorney by the law firm of Pope and Flynn. Since there is no real or perceived conflict involving the Oliver Group, Smith will again play an active role in the sale and redevelopment process.
Likewise, City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh, who was also involved in the 2021 negotiations, will play a prominent role in these negotiations.
There is no timeline for the upcoming negotiations. If an agreement is reached with the Oliver Hospitality group, there will be a seventh major announcement–likely one involving a conceptual plan and purchase price. At a minimum, City Council will then have to conduct two public hearings to approve any property sales, and the city’s Design Review Board will have to approve any proposed demolition and all concept plans.
(Update, June 27, 2025: Th e City publicly disclosed an April 2025 appraisal completed by Colliers)
