The Real Estate Adventures of City Officials are Hazardous to the Financial Well Being of Aiken’s Taxpaying Citizens
There are two groups of people that are primarily at the helm of the shipwreck that Project Pascalis has become – (1) Aiken City Council, including the mayor, and (2) members of an organization that the Council established known as the Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC). These groups {“city officials”) have been freely and carelessly spending tax revenue. A particular aspect of that spending is the subject of this piece.
by Don Moniak August 6, 2022 (Updated June 29, 2025)
In September 2021 Aiken City Council approved the sale of two undeveloped parcels of city-owned property in Kalmia Hills, running adjacent to the railroad tracks on Norfolk Southern Railroad property and east of its two acre Kalmia Hills City Park. The two parcels totaled four acres and were deeded to the City by the estate of Mattie C. Hall in 1973. No land or timber appraisal was conducted and the property was not put up for bid. The property was sold to a single offeror, Scott and Adrienne Patterson. Mr. Patterson is a lawyer employed by Smith, Massey, Brodie, Guynn, and Mayes; which was also the city’s agent for the sale of the property. Aiken City Attorney Gary Smith, who is a partner in Smith, Massey et al, was responsible for the preparation and review of the ordinance and purchase and sale agreement required for approval of the sale. The city sold the properties for $150,000, and today it is divided into four lots being offered for a cumulative $700,000.
(Update: As reported in The City of Aiken’s Law Firm: “although the sale was approved in September 2021, a title dispute created by a “scrivener’s error” prevented the closing until June 2022. During that time, Mr. Patterson represented the City of Aiken in court proceedings to rectify the title situation. In June 2023, half of the property was sold for $280,000; yielding a $130,000 profit in one year; with the western two-acre parcel still on the market.)
Deja Vu All Over Again
As reported in “How Aiken City Council Got Taken to the Cleaners by the Wyatt Family,” (1) in January, 2020, Aiken City Council approved the sale of property housing its former finance and administration building at 135 Laurens St, SW and parking lot/drive-up at 130 Pendleton St, SW. The sale was a no-bid deal, pursued by the city when Weldon Wyatt’s WTC Laurens, LLC offered $1.2 million dollars. Before voting to approve the sale for the increased, negotiated price of $1.3 million, Council person Kay Brohl stated that one lesson learned was “that everything we do should go out for bids.”
A month after the deal was finalized, WTC Laurens sold the 135 Laurens St parcel to SRP Credit Union for $1.3 million. In May, 2021, WTC Laurens sold the Pendleton Street parcel to R and O, LLC (Agent: Rick Osbon) for $500,000. Mayor Osbon had recused himself during the sale process from November 2019 to January 2020 due to the proximity of his business and property to the city’s property.
Two months after the Wyatt family realized a $500,000 return on this sale at the City of Aiken’s expense, another sole offer was presented to the Aiken City Council for city property — the Mattie C. Hall parcels.
The Mattie C. Hall Parcels in Kalmia Hills
On July 12, 2021, City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh wrote to council in a supporting memorandum:
Scott and Adrienne Patterson have approached the City about purchasing two parcels owned by the City of Aiken located on Summit Drive and Burgundy Drive. The two parcels are TPN 105-05-15-002 containing 1.9747 acres and TPN 088-08-20-001 containing 2.0348 acres.
The Pattersons intend to purchase the approximately 4 acres to construct their residence on the property. They have offered $150,000 for the property. After discussion with Parks, Recreation & Tourism Director, Jessica Campbell, we would subdivide and maintain a portion of this property for future parking for the park.
If Council approves this transaction, it is recommended by staff that the net proceeds from the sale of this property be placed into the General Fund.
For Council consideration is first reading of an ordinance to sell approximately 4 acres on Summit Drive and Burgundy Drive to Scott and Adrienne Patterson for $150,000. (1)
The two parcels are within the relatively affluent Kalmia Hills subdivision, extending from the intersection of Summit and Burgundy Drive. The western boundary and part of the northern boundary are bounded by Summit Drive. The rest of northern boundary fronts on Laurel Drive and Highland Park Avenue. All of the land is backed to the south by the railroad, with much of the terrain relatively steep. All of the land is heavily forested with a loblolly and longleaf pine overstory. The tall Kalmia shrubs that give the area its name are scattered throughout the understory.
The two Mattie C. Hall-Kalmia Hills parcels, approx. 2 acres each, sold by the City in June 2022. Click photos for larger view,
In the July 12, 2021, agenda packet was the proposed ordinance prepared and reviewed, as customary, by City Attorney Gary Smith, who is also a partner in the law firm of Smith, Massey, Brodie, Guynn, and Maynes. One of the purchasers, Scott Patterson is an attorney in the same law firm. (3) According to his Linked In profile, Mr. Patterson has been an associate lawyer at Smith, Massey et al since 2008.
Also in the July 12th agenda packet was the purchase and sale agreement (PSA), also the responsibility of the City Attorney. The PSA required a $2500 earnest deposit with the “Agent,” Smith, Massey, et al and contained the following disclosure:
(d) Disclosure Regarding Escrow Agent: Purchaser is aware that Agent serves as counsel to Seller in this and other transactions. Purchaser agrees that the duties of Agent here under are ministerial in nature and shall not disqualify Agent from representation of Seller in connection with this Agreement or any dispute that may arise hereunder.
The minutes of the July 12, 2021 public hearing (4) note that “the Pattersons had reached out to (City Manager Bedenbaugh) some time ago,” and that “the City has owned this property since the early 1970s. The deed basically says the property may be used for residential or recreational purposes.”
Mr. Bedenbaugh did not disclose that the property had been deeded to the City of Aiken by the estate of Mattie C. Hall (1885-1961). In addition to being one of the original developers of the Kalmia Hills subdivision, Mattie Chafee Hall was a prominent local citizen, antiques dealer, businesswoman and realtor who gave generously to the Aiken community throughout her life. She is perhaps best known for the million dollar trust she left to the Aiken County hospital to fund indigent patient care, her trust ultimately going to a new nursing home for Aiken County — the Mattie C. Hall Nursing Home, (now Pruitt Health) on Laurens Street North.
Specifically, the deed for the Kalmia Hill parcel from Mattie C. Hall’s estate reads:
This real estate is conveyed subject to the restrictions that same is sold for recreational use or residential use only and shall not be used for any commercial or industrial purpose.
Click image for larger view.
The only significant issue was raised beforehand by the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, which sought to keep some of the parcel to expand parking at Kalmia Hills Park. The seller and purchaser eventually agreed to the city keeping 0.12 acres for parking purposes.
No Appraisals, No Bids
Two council members spoke on the matter. Ed Woltz asked if the property had been appraised, and in response, according to the minutes:
Mr. Bedenbaugh stated it is an offer based on the value the Tax Assessor has for the property. The Tax Assessor has it valued at $120,000. The Pattersons offered more than the value listed by the Tax Assessor. He felt the offer was fair.
It is unclear where this figure derived. According to County Assessor records, the appraised property value for the easternmost property in 2020 was $80,000, which rose to $492,500 in the 2021 assessment. (5) The westernmost portion, which is narrower and steeper, has been valued by the assessor at $48,960 since 2019. (6) The rise in value of the eastern parcel may be related to the $210,000 sale in January, 2021 of a nearby 1.6 acre parcel, on Dibble Road on the south side of the Norfolk Southern property and also adjoining the tracks.
According to the meeting minutes, Council Member Ed Girardeau spoke to these higher land values, stating:
he was very familiar with the property, as he grew up in the area. He noted the best part of the property is where it is proposed to put the parking lot He pointed out that the property is very thin in the area between Laurel Drive and the railroad track. He pointed out that an area near there flooded in 1969 as there was not proper drainage in the area. He pointed out the area is in a flood zone. Mr. Bedenbaugh stated the Pattersons are aware of that. Councilman Girardeau stated he had looked at the sale of some lots in the area and some have sold for $160,000 an acre.
In spite of this knowledge that the city was selling its Mattie C. Hall gifted land at one quarter of the values he described, at less than $40,000 per acre, Girardeau made the original motion to approve the sale. Council voted unanimously to approve the sale. On September 13, 2021; Council voted unanimously again at the second and final hearing on the sale, following a motion again made by Girardeau and minimal discussion. (8)
No members of the public spoke at either meeting, and no councilmember suggested the city keep the property for recreational use to compliment adjacent Kalmia Hills Park.
The city did not close on the sale until June 23, 2022. On July 1, 2022, the properties were listed by the Carolina Real Estate Company and for sale signs were posted along their length.
While the land itself is not on the land page of the carolinacompany.com website, it is referenced in numerous real estate sites, including Zillow, Remax, Coldwell Banker, and Weichert. They all show the two properties have been further subdivided into four properties with a cumulative sale price of $700,000. (See Table 1)
Table 1: Subdividing a $150,000 sale into $700,000
Each listing states “Beautiful lot with mature trees. Build your custom dream home.”
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Investigation into the details of the sale, the property appraisal, the “flood plain” claim, and deed restriction continue.
The Aiken Chronicles appreciates citizen tips, leads and insights into investigations. Information is held in strict confidence. Appreciation is also extended to the hardworking team of proofreaders and fact-checkers.
FOR REFERENCE
(1) The Cleaners: How the Wyatt Family Took Aiken City Council to the Cleaners.
While the exact origins of Project Pascalis are unknown, the first prominent actor was local developer Weldon Wyatt. Here is a brief update, with new information provided by Aiken County via a FOIA request, on how Wyatt burned the City of Aiken not once, but twice, which raises serious questions about the judgment behind Project Pascalis decision making.
The “First Home Run for the Community” Lands in Foul Territory
On February 5, 2019, Mayor Rick Osbon wrote to Aiken County Council Chair Gary Bunker to endorse the sale and development of the county’s old hospital and administrative building to Wyatt Development Company (which had actually dissolved in 2013). Osbon, who had met with Weldon Wyatt and his son, Tom, four days earlier described their vision as “compelling” and urged a collaboration between county and city:
I hope the City of Aiken and Aiken County can collaborate on this project; one that promises to create an exciting and engaging property at a critical gateway to Our Downtown.
Two months later the County and the latest Wyatt firm, WTC Investments, LLC, reached a purchase and sale agreement for $1.1 million with Aiken County. WTC then pursued a plan for the old hospital that included a 100 room hotel, conference center, 400 space parking deck/garage, and a 150-unit apartment building.
After the City of Aiken Planning Commission approved the concept in May, 2019, WTC Manager Tom Wyatt told the Aiken Standard: “We think this is a home run for the community, for the city.”
After much discussion, we will not be moving forward with contract on the old hospital. We still want to move forward on old county office building with no conditions as we discussed.
The decision took county officials, who were still negotiating in good faith with WTC, off-guard. As County Attorney Holley wrote to Aiken County Council:
We were surprised to learn late Sunday through a very brief email to me from WTC’s attorney that WTC had decided to end the Agreement.
While Massey did not divulge any rationale for the withdrawal, Holley speculated to Council that:
We believe the factors that contributed to WTC’s decision were its failure to obtain economic incentives from the City of Aiken for its original hotel/apartments project; how the revised plan to build apartments only impacted the project; the length of time needed to remove the SCETV tower; the possibility other competing apartment projects could surface in the meantime; its desire to engage in demolition of the Hospital Building and other site improvements before the SCETV tower is removed; and the likely poor reception of Council to its proposal for the County to repurchase the Hospital Parcel, purchase the Council of Aging site, and pay most of WTC’s costs if the SCETV Tower was not removed in the time frame of November 2020 to January 2021.
Fool Me Twice….
One year later Weldon Wyatt and Attorney/Investor Ray Massey were back in the hotel/conference center/apartments/garage business, this time in downtown Aiken.
Their second foray came just four to five months after the announcement of a $600 million Plutonium Settlement between the State of South Carolina and the U.S. Department of Energy, of which Aiken officials soon sought $30 million for Downtown and Northside redevelopment. For a man who had reportedly chased $12.5 of city funds for his old hospital misadventure, this must have been an alluring prospect.
On March 18, 2021, the Aiken Municipal Development Commission announced Project Pascalis, describing how its chair Keith Wood and Aiken Economic Executive Director Tim O’Briant were authorized by to execute an agreement with an unnamed, “experienced and well-capitalized” private developer that had been “identified and recruited” by the AMDC. We now know that developer was a combination of Wyatt firms, GAC, LLC and WTC Investments, LLC (although the first WTC dissolved in January 2021, a second one was registered in May 2021).
Not coincidentally, Attorney Ray Massey’s Aiken Alley Holdings also closed on a deal to purchase 200 and 210 The Alley for $2 million just three days before the Project Pascalis announcement.
Once again, two months after a grandiose Wyatt plan to change Aiken for the better was announced or approved, Wyatt withdrew without providing a motive. Unlike his exit during the old hospital fiasco, this departure was never announced or reported by the AMDC.
Why did the City of Aiken pursue a major redevelopment project with Weldon Wyatt just one year after he and his associates abruptly withdrew from another major project and left Aiken County high and dry? And why did the City of Aiken and the AMDC choose to keep secret the details of his latest plan?
Why did the Aiken Chamber of Commerce and the AMDC choose to bail out WTC Investments, which stood to lose $135,000 in nonrefundable earnest money, instead of pursuing public input while renegotiating with the Hotel Aiken and other property owners?
Aiken officials can answer these questions, but have chosen not to, even as the decision to continue to do business with Wyatt, and now Ray Massey,has already left Aiken taxpayers indebted to the tune of $10 million plus.
