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Alley Series, July 2022, Project Pascalis 2022

Project Pascalis Includes The Alley (A Four-Part Series): Part Three

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The City, Wyatt, Ray and His Group, and Creative Ways

As previously reported, the $100 million plus downtown demolition and redevelopment project named Project Pascalis actually involves two project areas. The unpublicized  second project area is the popular commercial district and gathering spot known as The Alley, which has been a central and not peripheral part of the project. 

One way to think about this is to picture two adjacent construction zones.  

One zone is controlled by the City of Aiken’s Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) and its developers: first Weldon Wyatt’s GAC, LLC, which had contracts on seven properties, and now RPM Development Partners, LLC, which is seeking to purchase the seven properties at a discount from the city. It also involves a public-private partnership with a cost sharing agreement between the two. Because public funds and a public body are involved, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows for better access to information, and a stricter set of rules applies to obtaining project approvals from city boards and council. Specifically, South Carolina Community Development law applies in this case because the AMDC is governed by Chapter 10 of that law. 

The second zone is privately controlled by Aiken Alley Holdings, LLC (Agent: Ray Massey), whose investors have remained silent, and are hereafter referred to as “Ray and his group” or “Ray’s group.”  Aiken Alley Holdings owns four properties in the project area. Because these properties are not part of any public-private cost sharing agreement, their plans and communications are not subject to FOIA and South Carolina Community Development law. 

Between March 2, 2021 and May 20, 2021 the two zones were treated more as a whole. The conceptual designs by the Boudreaux Group (an architectural firm who had signed an agreement with GAC, LLC in March) and its consultants clearly illustrate a seamless development that involved the Shah and Newberry Hall properties (under a purchase contract to Weldon Wyatt’s WTC Investments, LLC in the city’s zone) and properties owned by, or being sought by, Ray and his group.

Between June and November, 2021, the two zones were in limbo after Wyatt withdrew from the public-private project and the AMDC pursued a new developer, with some coordination with Ray’s group. 

Since November, 2021, the AMDC and its developer, RPM Development Partners, have controlled discussion and plans of the public-private zone, while plans for the private zone remain the purview of Ray and his group and have been withheld from public view. 

However, RPM stands for Raines, Purser and (Ray) Massey. At the April 20, 2022 AMDC public meeting, moderator Tim O’Briant stated that each party owns 1/3 of RPM. Ray and his group are a part of the public-private zone, but the AMDC is not a part of the private zone controlled by Ray’s group. If this were a swimming pool, the AMDC is only allowed to swim in the deep end, while Ray’s group can use the whole pool, an arrangement that has serious financial implications for taxpayer liability. 

“Ray and His Group”

The existence of two projects is confirmed in a brief but illuminating June 4, 2021 email exchange between Aiken Economic Development Director Tim O’Briant and WTC Investments, LLC representative Chip Goforth involving the assignment of properties by the Chamber of Commerce, purchase contract earnest money, a cost-share agreement invoice, and the future of the project. 

The two were cleaning house on the remants of the first public-private zone, which had crumbled when Weldon Wyatt’s development company GAC, LLC withdrew from the project in mid May, 2021.  Subsequent to the latest Wyatt exit from a major city project, the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, in coordination with the AMDC, had negotiated the “assignment” of WTC Investments’ contracts for the Shah and Newberry Hall properties. 

This involved transferring the contracts to the Chamber which would hold them for the AMDC to purchase after it procured funds from City Council; and helping WTC Investments salvage $135,000 in nonrefundable earnest deposits for its contracts. Yes, the city devoted administrative labor to insuring Mr. Wyatt recovered his otherwise nonrefundable earnest money. 

The AMDC opted to keep this entire affair secret, as it did with its private efforts to recruit a new developer, an effort that also involved Aiken Alley Holdings, referred to at the time as “Ray and his group.” 

In addition to confirming the two project zones, the exchange also indicates an amiable relationship, in spite of the Wyatt camp’s recent withdrawal from the project, and that Mr. O’Briant provided sympathetic assistance to WTC Investment’s efforts to retrieve their $135,000 in non refundable earnest money. 

In his email, Goforth wrote: 

How was your meeting with Andy Cajka. Thanks for helping get both Contracts assigned, glad we did the way we did and not a creative way. Better to all be on the same page. Will the Invoice attached work for reimbursement of the costs we spent. Let me know if you need anything. Also, sounds like Rays group has a lot of interest in the apartment side of the development. (1) 

O’Briant responded fifteen minutes later: 

The invoice looks fine. I’ll get that processed for you next week. It’s been busy but things are looking pretty good. The meeting with Andy was excellent. I hope to have a half dozen proposals in hand by a deadline next week to compare. Also waiting to see what Ray and his group come up with whatever it is it should be good for downtown. Hopefully we can figure out soon whether there’s a good way to overlap the two projects or if they work best independently. 

I’m really glad we were able to get the contract worked out so we can go ahead and get you the earnest money back and make it all clean. Thanks for your help on that end.

O’Briant-Goforth email
The O’Briant-Goforth email. Obtained via FOIA.

There were two project areas and two projects, one controlled by “Ray and his group” and one controlled by the AMDC and its private partner. In the beginning the private partner sought legal counsel and aid from Ray Massey’s law firm. In the existing stages, it is unknown what role the developers in RPM are playing in the plans of Ray and his group. 

The Wyatt Months: The Two Projects Merged

The issue of overlapping projects versus independent projects led to the creation of several design options in April, 2021; options that were scheduled to be presented to Aiken City Council on April 19th but never made it onto any public meeting agendas. 

In early April Boudreaux had late draft plans, but there was some disagreement over the future of Ray and his group’s recently purchased properties in The Alley. During the discussions, their retail and office buildings in The Alley are referred to as “The Laurens Center” and this designation also appears on some maps. 

In preparation for a meeting between AMDC Executive Director Tim O’Briant, Boudreaux, and Weldon Wyatt, Boudreaux group President Heather Mitchell wrote: 

Tim and Weldon spoke this morning. Weldon has clarified that he wanted to understand the impact of excluding the Laurens Center Alley buildings from the site, however he does want to proceed with developing the plan in accordance with the Option 2 version that includes rebuilding on the Alley (Laurens Center) retail site.

Three options focused mostly on The Alley portion were under discussion at that meeting: 

Option 2 involved retail space in The Alley extending deeper to the north and underneath the proposed parking deck. 

Option 2: “No Alley Building” involved leaving existing Alley retail buildings as is. This was looked at “per Weldon’s request,” and the issue that arose was that not modifying The Alley retail buildings would lead to a smaller hotel and less apartment space. 

Option 2A; “No Alley Building” involved a “reconsidered hotel location. Hotel is at corner of Richland and Laurens which gets it back to 100 rooms.”

In an email, O’Briant wrote that he preferred the second option: keeping the existing retail. 

There is also a set of plans, obtained via FOIA, (see below), that shows a smaller hotel behind the Alley retail, with the lobby of the hotel at the same ground floor as retail. These could be the plans that have been described by Art and Soul co-owner Stacy O’Sullivan in Part Two of this series, and plans to build residential and/or hotel above the existing Alley buildings may still be in the works. 

Ground Floor
Project Pascalis Option for The Alley, April 2021
2nd Floor
Project Pascalis Option for The Alley, April 2021
Floors 3 thru 4 and 5
Project Pascalis option for The Alley, April 2021. Images obtained via FOIA

The decision in the April 19, 2021 Conceptual Design Plans appeared to favor Option 2 .

The Two Projects Separate, But Ray’s Group Swims in Both Pools

Following the end of the AMDC/Wyatt partnership, the city secretly pursued a new developer. In the May 19, 2021 solicitation for Requests for Proposals (2), the AMDC only offered Option 2a, with a new hotel replacing the Hotel Aiken and no activity in The Alley. Apartments and a parking garage would replace the vacant historic Johnson Drug Store and adjacent existing businesses; a conference center would replace Newberry Hall. 

This is also the vision the AMDC and its chosen developer, RPM Development Partners, presented to the pubic between November 2021 and April 2022, when the AMDC unilaterally announced, without any public or even City Council input, a  conference center in the soon-to-be vacated City Hall at 214 Park Ave. W — an issue to be addressed in Part 4 of this series. 

Ray and his group retain control and ownership of the “Laurens Center” retail center in The Alley, as well as the former State Farm building (which it has offered as a “trade” with the City of Aiken in exchange for a portion of Newberry Street). Their plans are not publicly disclosed, but their property is now in the center of the larger Pascalis footprint. 

Ray and his group also sought to purchase part of the City’s municipal building complex in January, 2022. While that offer was tabled, the purchase agreement with the city remains in the files, and Part 4 of this series will discuss how Ray and his group tried to buy city property at a sizeable discount. 

Next: Part 4: Ray and His Group Angle for City Property

Part 5: The AMDC Pulls a Fast One: Old City Hall as a Conference Center. 

For Reference

(1) The invoice referred to the cost-sharing of the Boudreaux Group’s conceptual design. 

Andy Cajka is a member of the Clemson University Research Foundation. According to his bio on the foundations’s website, he is “the founder and president of Southern Hospitality Group, LLC, a hotel management and development company in Greenville, South Carolina. Prior to starting his own business, Mr. Cajka was a managing member of Hyatt Hotels Corporation from 1986 until 1998.” 

(2) The summary of that RFP is posted on the AMDC “transparency page.” Requests for the entire RFP continue to be denied by the city on the basis of a FOIA exemption. However, that exemption does not mandate nondisclosure, it is a choice. 

Click to access Pascalis-summary.pdf

Alley Series, July 2022, Project Pascalis 2022

Project Pascalis Includes The Alley (A Four Part Series): Part Two

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Option 2 Included a Radical Vision for The Alley

by Don Moniak

July 6, 2022

Until now, the AMDC has only revealed Option 2A (1) from its early 2021 deliberations. Option 2A was forwarded to select developers, along with a project “summary” (2) in a private solicitation for a request for proposals for an area only encompassing the “Shah Property” and Newberry Hall — but not The Alley. This solicitation represented a change in the direction of the project management, but not in the overall project vision detailed in the never released Option 2, a vision involving a radical redevelopment of The Alley. 

The Early Days of Project Pascalis: Option 2 Emerges

One week after the Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) announced a major, vaguely defined redevelopment effort named Project Pascalis, commission Chairman Keith Wood and Executive Director Tim O’Briant signed a cost sharing agreement with Weldon Wyatt’s GAC, LLC. (3) As with the Wyatt-Boudreaux agreement, references to “historic preservation” are absent. Demolition was the only consideration, and renovations were not options. 

Boudreaux Group architecture and its two subconsultants moved forward with an aggressive schedule of site visits, workshops, research, and preliminary design. While the Boudreaux Group was working on behalf of GAC, LLC, it was also designing for the Alley property recently obtained by Ray Massey’s Aiken Alley Holdings, and city owned property across from it, although no agreement detailing this arrangement is publicly available yet. 

The week of April 12 passed without the scheduled “presentation to city council and invited stakeholders,” and the AMDC only discussed the project in closed executive session on April 13th. 

On April 15th, Weldon Wyatt and Newberry Hall’s Myrtle Anderson signed a purchase and sale agreement for $2 million and options for the business’ operators to negotiate to repurchase a new building, operate the new conference center, and even be compensated for lost income during construction. 

Four days later the “Project Pascalis Conceptual Plans” were complete and ready for review.  The plan’s aerial view continued to match the description in the Boudreaux-Wyatt agreement, with the Aiken Antique Mall and the east half of The Alley remaining in the project footprint.

(Note: click on images, below, to enlarge views).

Option 2: First-floor view of Project Pascalis footprint

The conceptual plans, obtained on July 2, 2022, via a Freedom of Information Act request, featured “Option 2,” with the Hotel Aiken and Laurens properties replaced by ground floor retail below a three story apartment complex, a “Boutique Hotel” at the corner of Richland and Newberry, a conference center/apartments/garage complex replacing Newberry Hall, and street pattern changes on Richland and Newberry Street. 

Option 2: Five-story “Boutique Hotel” at the corner of Richland and Newberry. To the left is the 5-story conference center/parking garage/apartments complex at the corner of Newberry and The Alley.

Most dramatically, the plan envisioned retail space topped by four stories of apartments on the north side of The Alley; three stories across from it on city owned property, and a three story, elevated, enclosed walkway above the east entrance connecting apartments and providing a pathway to the parking garage. 

These plans were never shared as promised in mid-March by AMDC officials. The plans were shown to some of Massey’s newly acquired tenants. One of them is Stacy O’Sullivan, co-owner of “Art and Soul” gallery in The Alley. In 2019, “Aiken Blend” wrote of her and business partner Kim Rising’s presence in The Alley in an “entrepreneur of the week” profile: 

Art and Soul of Aiken isn’t exactly what you would call a “traditional” gallery. It is a place where local Aiken area artists can display their work in a free spirited and supportive space. Stacy O’Sullivan and Kim Rising established this co-op style business three years ago in a hidden store front on Richland Avenue. Two years ago, the business moved into the Alley. Since then, the two have had nothing but success. (4)

Their success must not have impressed her new landlords. O’Sullivan has described a visit from Massey and investment partner Todd Gaul, during which they revealed conceptual plans for their building, stating “We know this will take permits and such, but The City loves projects like this and it will not be a problem.”

O’Sullivan also describes an effort by Massey and Gaul to “illegally evict” them from their four-year old business home, and their intent to triple the rent, all while paying lip service to serious maintenance issues such as flooding in the recently renovated alley following heavy rains 

 Happy Days End 

While Massey and Gaul might not have anticipated a problem with the city, they should have anticipated one with Weldon Wyatt, especially considering his abrupt and unexplained withdrawal in January, 2020 from a purchase contract with Aiken County for the “old hospital” property at 828 Richland Ave E. 

Between April 19th and May 14th, two things happened. First, the preliminary cost estimates were completed on schedule. The estimates include a total budget of $118,372,104 and ninety eight cents; and total costs for “demolition and abatement” of the “Hotel Aiken, 108 Laurens Street, Holley House Motel, and Retail/Office Richland, Newberry, and The Alley” of $712,248. (5) 

Second, the man described by the AMDC a month previously as an “experienced and well-capitalized” private developer bailed on yet another major development on Mayor Rick Osbon’s wish list. Similar to the unexplained cancellation of the “old hospital” deal, the reason for the Project Pascalis exit remains a mystery. 

Instead of reassessing the project, AMDC officials scrambled to salvage the effort to demolish and reconstruct a major portion of historic downtown Aiken. As previously reported in A Project Pascalis Timeline, on May 14th “The Chamber of Commerce takes ‘assignment’ of the Shah property contracts, while the AMDC seeks funding to purchase them on behalf of the city. This all occurs behind closed doors.” (. ) Not until June 2 would the Chamber also arrange for “assignment” of the Newberry Hall property. 

The absence of a contract continuation with Newberry Hall’s owners did not deter the AMDC from immediately seeking a new developer for both the Shah and Newberry properties. On May 19th the AMDC sent its private solicitations for Requests for Proposals to continue the project—minus the Aiken Alley Holdings property and the Aiken Antique Mall.

There is no known formal agreement between the AMDC and Aiken Alley Holdings, but some form of unwritten agreement must have remained. Six days after the Chamber of Commerce took one for the team by taking assignment of the Newberry Hall property, Aiken Alley Holdings, LLC closed on the purchase of longtime State Farm agent Joseph Harrison’s 121 Newberry Street for $675,000, adding to the holdings in the original Pascalis footprint. 

Just over three months later, Massey was present at a “public meeting” at Victor’s Restaurant in Florence, SC hosted by the Raines Company. Two months later he was the agent for the newly formed RPM Development Partners, LLC; a consortium of Massey and other local, unnamed investors, the developers Rainesco and Lat Purser. In early December, 2021 RPM was named the Pascalis developer, pending a master agreement, although the legal advertisement for RFPs was not submitted until mid December. 

Next up: Project Pascalis Includes The Alley (A Four-Part Series): Part 3: The City, Wyatt, Ray and His Group, and Creative Ways.

For Reference

(1) The AMDC placed “Option 2A” on its “transparency page, but not Option 2; probably because a FOIA or other official request only asked for information pertaining to the AMDC’s private RFP solicitation in May 2021. This is known in some circles as willful nondisclosure. 

Option 2: Project Pascalis Conceptual Plans Presentation 04.19

(2) https://aikenmdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Pascalis-summary.pdf

In the solicitation, the AMDC offers to privatize a part of Newberry Street. The entire solicitation remains secret to this day, withheld under a FOIA exemption by the City of Aiken, despite fact that FOIA clearly states the city “may” release the documents. The AMDC does not deny the solicitation is only for demolition, not renovation of Hotel Aiken and surrounding properties. 

(3) https://aikenmdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Pre-development-cost-sharing-GAC-LLC-pascalis.pdf 

(Released by the AMDC in response to an unidentified FOIA request or other official request)

(4) https://aikenblend.com/2019/04/10/entrepreneur-of-the-week-stacy-osullivan-kim-rising/

(5) Draft Preliminary Order of Magnitude Cost Estimate Analysis. Project Pascalis. Obtained via the SC Freedom of Information Act from the City of Aiken, July 2, 2022. 

Alley Series, July 2022, Project Pascalis 2022

Project Pascalis Includes the Alley (A Three Part Series): Part One

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The Wyatt-Boudreaux Agreement

Recently obtained documents confirm the evolution of the $75-100 million downtown demolition and reconstruction effort known as Project Pascalis. While one of the earliest project descriptions indicated a greater presence on Laurens Street, every conceptual design from the early days includes substantial development in The Alley, and an absence of options for renovating historic buildings such as the Hotel Aiken. 

Today, The Alley is in the midst of the project area, yet city officials have denied or downplayed any plans that may impact the popular gathering area and its businesses, just as officials withheld conceptual designs from 2021—just four years removed from the multi-million dollar renovation that disrupted local businesses for more than a year. 

For example, at the Aiken Municipal Development Commission’s (AMDC) April 20, 2022 public “design review” meeting, the following submitted question was read aloud by the meeting’s Zoom moderator: 

How much more will the Project Pascalis footprint grow? In 2020 downtown redevelopment only included properties fronting Richland and the new municipal building. The most recent online map includes Newberry. Now with the addition of the (old) Municipal building the project (area) has grown threefold and an (private) ownership island occupies the middle. Are there any plans for this existing private property?

The answer from AMDC executive director and meeting moderator Tim O’Briant was: “there are none.” (1) 

One of the earliest Project Pascalis documents is the Wyatt-Boudreaux Group letter of  agreement, recently obtained from the City of Aiken via a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Wyatt-Boudreaux Group Letter of AgreementDownload

On March 12, 2021 Boudreaux Group of Columbia President Heather Mitchell signed an agreement to complete  “Downtown Development Project Conceptual Design Services” on behalf of Wyatt Development (GAC, LLC) (2) for an unnamed project involving a 100 room hotel, 125 unit apartment complex, conference center with a 450 seat capacity, upscale retail space, and a parking garage large enough to complement the development. 

The Wyatt-Boudreaux agreement was finalized ten days after Weldon’s WTC Investments, LLC had signed a contract to purchase three downtown properties—collectively referred to later as the “Shah Property”—for $7.5 million. (3) WTC’s involvement came only one year after it backed out of a similar project at the “old hospital” and Aiken County office complex at 828 Richland Ave E. (4) Its “agent” in both the downtown Aiken deal and the failed old hospital venture was Aiken Attorney Ray Massey, whose law partner Gary Smith has served as Aiken City Attorney for more than twenty years. 

The Wyatt-Boudreaux agreement described the project as encompassing everything from The Antique Mall on Laurens to the Hotel Aiken, wrapping east around Richland Avenue to Newberry Street, south to The Alley, and north up Bee Lane. The description clearly includes buildings in The Alley as well as the eastern portion of the Aiken Municipal Building on The Alley’s south side. 

Aiken Antique Malll
Aiken Antique Mall, Candidate for Demolition in March 2021

Three days after the agreement was signed by Boudreaux and sent to Wyatt for his signature and Tim O’Briant for his records, Ray Massey’s “Aiken Alley Holdings, LLC” moved forward on procuring a key portion of The Alley for the project.  On March 15th his investment firm—registered with the SC Secretary of State only a month prior—closed on a $2.025 million deal for 200 The Alley and 214 The Alley, parcels housing TakoSushi, Aiken Taproom, and several other businesses.  The deal also included a parking area behind 214 The Alley on Bee Lane. 

Three days after the closing, the AMDC publicly announced Project Pascalis. Few details were announced beyond the news of a commission resolution allowing AMDC Chair Keith Wood and O’Briant to pursue an agreement with an “experienced and well-capitalized” private developer the commission had “recruited and identified.” 

In a subsequent interview, Tim O’Briant told the Aiken Standard  “transparency is key” and promised additional pubic information within a few months. The Boudreaux/Wyatt agreement specified a timeline of April 12, 2021 for a presentation to City Council and “invited stakeholders.” The terms “public meeting” and “public hearing” are absent from the agreement. 

That schedule was never met. No public meetings or presentations to council were held in April, 2021.  However, the AMDC did meet behind closed doors in Executive Session on April 13th; a habit the commission would undertake during more than sixty percent of its meetings in the next six months. (5) 

Coming Soon: Project Pascalis Includes The Alley (A Four-Part Series) Part Two: Option 2.

References

(1) April 20, 2021 AMDC “Design Workshop,” 5:30 meeting to 7:00 pm meeting that extended into a scheduled City Council work session. Listen to question/answer at 2:56:07 in the video below.

Review design and parking presentations made Wednesday, April 20

(2) Weldon Wyatt signed the agreement on March 23. The words “Wyatt Development Company” are crossed out below the letterhead and on the signature page, and  “GAC, LLC” is handwritten in their place.  This typo may have foreshadowed Wyatt’s early exit from the project; as well as the general lack of attention to detail that has plagued the project. The last version of Wyatt Development, LLC was actually dissolved in April, 2013. 

(3) From: “Resolution Authorizing Acceptance of Assignments

Adopted November 9, 2021” Aiken Municipal Development Commission: 

“In anticipation of the Commission’s efforts to consolidate ownership of real property in connection with Project Pascalis, the Greater Aiken County Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber of Commerce”) has entered into the following purchase and sale agreeme for the acquisition of such real property: (i) a Purchase and Sale Agreement by and between Myrtle H. Anderson, seller, and WTC Investments, LLC, as purchaser, dated April 15, 2021 (the “Anderson Agreement”), for the purchase ofreal property identified as TMS# 121-21-08-004(the “Anderson Property”) for the purchase price of $2,000,000; and (ii) a Purchase and Sale Agreement by and among Historic Hospitality, LLC, S&N Hospitality, LLC, Shah Enterprises, LLC, and Paresh Shah, LLC, collectively as sellers, and WTC Investments, LLC, as purchaser, dated March 2, 2021 (the “Shah Agreement” and together with the Anderson Agreement, the “Agreements”), for the purchase of real property identified as TMS# 121-21-09-002, 121-21-08- 001, 121-21-08-002, 121-21-08-003, 121-21-08-009, and 121-21-09-001 (the “Shah Property” and collectively with the Anderson Property, the “Properties”), for the purchase price of $7,500,000. (5) Pursuant to a bond ordinance of City Council enacted August 23, 2021, the City issued its $9,600,000 General Obligation Bond, Taxable Series 2021.” 

Click to access Municipal-Development-Commission-Agenda-Packet-Updated.pdf

(4) https://aikenchronicles.com/2022/06/21/project-pascalis-and-the-wyatt-factor/

(5) https://aikenchronicles.com/2022/07/01/project-pascalis-transparency-index/

June 2022, Project Pascalis 2022

A Project Pascalis Timeline

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This is “a timeline,” regarding the creation, promotion, and stealth of the $100 million dollar plus downtown Aiken demolition and redevelopment endeavor known as Project Pascalis from February 2019 through June 2022. 

It is not “the timeline.” Due to the City of Aiken’s continued secrecy surrounding key aspects of Project Pascalis, gaps in knowledge remain. For example, the city still refuses to release its full May 2021 solicitation for a Request for Proposals. 

Therefore, it is unknown whether any option to renovate the Hotel Aiken was offered to prospective developers; although the evidence to date strongly suggests the only option was demolition. The importance of this key issue cannot be overstated: if the solicitation dictated what the city wanted, then Project Pascalis is a homegrown project and its developers are mere contractors undertaking the wishes of its client. 

February 2019 

February 1: : Weldon and Tom Wyatt of “Wyatt Development” (which was dissolved in 2013) meets with Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon to discuss his $1.1 million offer to Aiken County to purchase the 9.3 acre “old hospital” and county administrative building property at 828 Richland Avenue, E. for $1.1 million 

February 5: Mayor Osbon sends letter to Aiken County Chairman Gary Bunker describing his meeting with Wyatt executives and expressing his support for their vision for the old hospital property. 

February 19: WTC Investments, LLC is registered as doing business in South Carolina with the Secretary of State. Attorney Ray Massey is the listed agent. (Unknown: presence of absence of Mr. Massey at February 1 meeting with Mayor.)

April 2019 

April 16: WTC Investments, LLC enters into a purchase and sale agreement (PSA) with Aiken County to purchase the “old hospital” property at 828 Richland Avenue, E. for $1.1 million dollars.  

WTC manager Tom Wyatt, son of Weldon Wyatt, announces plan to demolish existing historic structures and construct a new hotel, apartment complex, conference center, and parking garage. 

August 2019

Ordinance establishing the Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) passed by Aiken City Council and governed by South Carolina Community Development Law. Citizens told Commission will enable increased public input and participation in planning process. 

November 2019: 

Aiken City Council passes rezoning ordinance approving the Wyatts’ concept plan for the old hospital/County complex site. 

January 2020

January 12: WTC Attorney Ray Massey informs Aiken County officials they are withdrawing from the old hospital purchase contract.

May 2020

May 26, 2020 First meeting of the AMDC. Commissioners receive tutorials on the Freedom of Information Act, Ethics, and South Carolina Community Development Law. (In the next twenty four months the Commission, always meeting at 3:30 pm, would enter into closed executive sessions forty percent of their meeting time. During the Pascalis planning and negotiations this figure increased to more than sixty percent.) 

July 2020 

July 15: The Aiken Municipal Development Commission submits a “Redevelopment Plan for Downtown Aiken” to the City of Aiken. The plan does not include properties on Newberry Street currently inhabited by Newberry Hall and Warneke Cleaners. No public hearing is held by the Commission as required by community development law. 

August 2020

August 31. Attorney General Alan Wilson announces a $600 million dollar settlement to more than four years of litigation with the Department of Energy regarding storage of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium at the Savannah River Site. Wilson states that after attorney fees of $75 million, $525 million remains for the legislature to allocate. 

August 2020. Aiken City Council approves first reading of the downtown redevelopment plan. 

September 2020

September 14: Aiken City Council amends the AMDC ordinance, replacing three City Council members with three new voting members, and reclassifying council members as ex-officio. Chamber of Commerce President J. David Jameson, former city councilperson Philip Merry, and Second Baptist Church pastor Douglas Slaughter are added as voting commissioners. 

Second reading of minor redevelopment plan passes. 

September 2020 to December 2020: AMDC discusses plutonium funding lobbying efforts. A letter requesting $30 million for redevelopment purposes is sent to the legislative delegation and other officials. 

January 2021. 

January 4: WTC Investments, LLC dissolves. 

Unknown date in early 2021: WTC Investments, LLC signs contract to purchase Hotel Aiken, and the adjacent motel, 106 Laurens Street, the former Johnson Drug Store, and Warneke Cleaners from Shah Investments and other Shah family holdings. 

March 2021: 

March 15: Royal J. Robbins and Garnett Family Holdings sell 210 The Alley to Aiken Alley Holdings LLC for $2,025,000. Ray Massey is agent for Aiken Holdings LLC. (This property was adjacent to the original Project Pascalis footprint, but is now within it). 

March 18, 2021: AMDC first announces the existence of Project Pascalis. City of Aiken Development Director Tim O’Briant tells the Aiken Standard “Transparency is key” and promises more pubic information within a few months. (Although details are not released, even the initial plan was to demolish Hotel Aiken and surrounding properties and construct a new hotel, apartments, parking garage, and conference center complex similar to that originally proposed at 828 Richland Ave. E, the old hospital). 

O’Briant and Chair Keith Wood authorized by the Commission to execute an agreement with an unnamed, “experienced and well-capitalized” private developer that was “recruited and identified” by the AMDC. (public learns in 2022 that developer was Weldon Wyatt’s GAC LLC; and only in the November 4,  2021 meeting minutes is it revealed that WTC, Investments, LLC was involved with property purchases). 

April 2021

April 13: Aiken Standard reports AMDC meeting behind closed doors to discuss Project Pascalis, indicating it involves downtown properties. 

April 15: WTC Investments, LLC signs purchase and sale agreement with Newberry Hall property owner Myrtle Anderson to buy the property for $2 million. Modified lease agreement provides Newberry Hall business operators options to negotiate repurchase the new building, operate the new conference center, and receive compensation for lost income during construction stages. 

Vampire Penguin opens for business at 106 Laurens Street, while planning to demolish the building proceeds in secrecy. 

May 2021:  

May 5: WTC Investments, LLC re-registered to do business in South Carolina. Agent: Attorney Ray Massey. 

May ?? 2021. WTC Investments, LLC withdraws from its contracts to purchase downtown properties. The Chamber of Commerce takes “assignment” of the property contracts while the AMDC seeks funding to purchase them on behalf of the city. This all occurs behind closed doors. 

May  19, 2021. The AMDC sends solicitations for Requests for Proposals to continue the new hotel/apartments/garage/conference center project to select developers. In the solicitation, the AMDC offers to privatize a part of Newberry Street. (The entire solicitation remains secret to this day, withheld under a FOIA exemption by the City of Aiken, despite fact that FOIA clearly states the city “may” release the documents. The AMDC does not deny the solicitation is only for demolition, not renovation of Hotel Aiken and surrounding properties.) 

June 2021 

June 8: Longtime State Farm agent Joseph Harrison sells his office property at 121 Newberry Street SW—adjacent to Newberry Hall—to Aiken Alley Holdings LLC (Ray Massey, agent) for $675,000. 

July 2021: 

July 12, 2021. AMDC Chair Keith Wood sends letter requesting $10 million in city funds from Aiken City Council to purchase “Parkway area properties” between Morgan and Williamsburg Street. 

August 2021

August 25: City of Aiken approves $10 million in funding for the AMDC to purchase properties in the “Parkway District” bounded by Morgan Street, Hampton Avenue, Park Avenue, and Beaufort Street. Exact properties remain unspecified. 

September 2021

September 20, 2021: AMDC announces it will conduct a fact finding trip to review the redevelopment of downtown Florence. 

September , 2021: AMDC and several officials, joined by Attorney Ray Massey and representatives of Rainesco hold a “public meeting “ at a Florence restaurant. Meeting minutes are noticeably short. 

October 2021 

October , 2021. RPM Development Partners, LLC registers with the SC Secretary of State. Agent: Ray Massey. Key Players: Rainesco and Lat Purser (RPM likely to represent Raines, Purser, and Massey).  Story not reported. 

October , 2021: City of Aiken signs contract with Attorney Gary Pope for assistance with legal counsel. (This agreement cited in May 2021 as evidence of City Attorney Gary Smith’s “recusal” from all things Pascalis, but no such recusal is in document). 

November 2021

November 5: In an Aiken Standard article, Development Director O’Briant again emphasized the need for transparency, and stated the AMDC would soon have a website to share information. 

November 6: Project Pascalis is discussed at a Design Review Board meeting. Responding to a question about the future of Hotel Aiken, City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh states a decision is still pending. 

November 9: AMDC announces the purchase of several downtown properties for a total of $9.5 million, including Newberry Hall and Warneke Cleaners. The information is shared on the AMDC’s website, aikenmdc.org: 

Click to access Municipal-Development-Commission-Agenda-Packet-Updated.pdf

Aiken Standard fails to report involvement of the Chamber of Commerce. 

According to County Records and the AMDC report, the purchases were: 

106 Laurens St SW for $1 Million from Shah Enterprises. 

235 Richland Ave (Hotel Aiken) and 112 Bee Lane/219 Richland Ave (The motel portion of Hotel Aiken) for $4.25 million from Historic Hospitality LLC (which had “purchased” the hotel in 2017 from Shah Enterprises for $5). 

211 Richland Ave West, 203 Richland Ave West, and 113 Newberry Street (Warneke Cleaners) for $2.25 million from S & N Hospitality LLC (which had purchased the properties in 2018 for $ 1 million from Myrtle Anderson). 

111 Newberry Street (Newberry Hall) for $2 million from Myrtle Anderson. 

December 2021

December 3, 2021. RPM Development Partners announced as Project Pascalis developer. Purchase and Sale agreement made between RPM . Aiken Standard reports that AMDC owned properties scheduled to be “razed.” (Document released in April 2021 shows that one developer rejected in part for only offering $1 million for Hotel Aiken). 

December 13 and 20; 2021. AMDC advertises for Requests for Proposals for Project Pascalis, as required by community development law, but after choosing a developer. 

December 26-December 31: At the urging of the AMDC, Rainesco CEO Grey Raines hosts five private meetings organized by Aiken Chamber of Commerce President and AMDC Commissioner J. David Jameson. AMDC Director Tim O’Briant attends every meeting with Commissioner Jameston. (City of Aiken denies the meetings qualify under Open Meetings clause of FOIA). 

January 2022

January 4: : Rainesco engineers conduct structural assessment of Hotel Aiken, even though decision to demolish building was made behind closed doors in early 2021. 

January 22: Aiken Standard reports that “CTR, LLC, a group of local investors led by attorney Ray Massey, has offered $800,000” for two city-owned properties: the east half of the 214 Park Avenue municipal building and the parking lot across from the Hotel Aiken. Council meets in Executive Session to discuss the offer, no results are reported. Attorney Massey’s law partner, City Attorney Gary Smith, does not recuse himself from the proceedings. 

February 2022

Feburary 17: DRB tours Hotel Aiken during a “special work session.” 

March 2022

March 1: DRB approves demolition of Hotel Aiken and 106 Laurens Street by a vote of 6-1. Vice-Chair Lucy Knowles casts sole dissenting vote. (Councilperson Andrea Gregory withdraws support for Ms. Knowles within a month of the vote, and nominates non-resident Laura Blessing to the Board to replace Ms. Knowles at the end of her term). 

March 28: Ten months after AMDC offered part of Newberry Street to interested developers, Aiken City Council conducts first public hearing (reading) of ordinance to privatize  0.6 acres of Newberry Street, in exchange for 123 Newberry St. SW and parking area behind 210 The Alley. Council unanimously approves first reading of ordinance despite nearly 100 percent of comments being against the proposal.  City Attorney Gary Smith acts in usual parliamentarian role. 

April 2022

April 15: Aiken Standard reports unilateral AMDC decision to repurpose soon to be vacated 214 Park Avenue municipal building into the new conference center. Tim O’Briant credits DRB Chairman McDonald Law with the suggestion. (Mr. Law later denies this was an “ex-parte” communication that violates FOIA Open Meetings law). Aiken County Chair Gary Bunker expresses concern about stalled negotiations with city to utilize the building for office space for county judicial functions. 

April 20: AMDC holds first public meetings to discuss entirety of Project Pascalis. RPM Development Partners, LLC and City contractors devote 85% of the scheduled meeting time to presentations before accepting a single comment or question. Public comments at the first meeting is suspended after an hour due to “prior engagements” of Raines representatives. Two AMDC Commissioners, Keith Wood and Chris Verenes, speak in favor of the project without disclosing their affiliation. 

Attorney Gary Pope sits at a city meeting for the first time, in place of City Attorney Gary Smith. Mr. Pope offers the information that Mr. Smith called him at “an early point in the project” to recused himself; but provides no date. (No written recusal documentation is offered in response to subsequent FOIA requests). 

May 2022

May 9: Aiken City Council votes 6-1 on second reading 6-1 to approve Newberry StreetOrdinance, with councilperson Ed Woltz the lone dissenting vote. Among other falsehoods, Councilperson Kay Brohl supports her yes vote by describing The Alley as an unlively place prior to the city’s 2016 renovation. AMDC Commissioner Philip Merry speaks in favor of the proposal without revealing his affiliation. Attorney Gary Pope sits in place of City Attorney Gary Smith. 

May 10: Lawsuit filed by area resident and Aiken property owner Drew Johnson documenting conflict of interest violations by City Attorney Gary Smith due to the role of his law partner Ray Massey in Project Pascalis. (In subsequent response, defendants do not deny the allegations but call for dismissal on jurisdictional grounds). 

May 11, 2022: Formation of the Do It Right! Alliance is announced, with the goal of preserving historic properties and holding city officials accountable to the law. 

May 15: AMDC releases “Just the Facts…,” revealing its intent to resell city properties to developers at a discounted price. 

June 2022

June 7, 2022: Aiken Downtown Development Association sponsors public “design workshop” to solicit comments on modified design of Hotel Aiken facade. AMDC Director Tim O’Briant tells WJBF News in Augusta that appraisals were unnecessary because the property is like gold. 

June 21, 2022. Design Review Board holds “design workshop.” Attendees not told until beginning of the meeting of a no public comment policy. City officials summon a police offer 

June 24, 2022: City of Aiken posts 45 notices announcing DRB public hearing on proposed demolition of Newberry Hall, Warneke Cleaners, Motel portion of Hotel Aiken, Johnson Drug Store, Taj Aiken Restaurant, and adjacent businesses. 

June 27: Historical Aiken Foundation, which is identified as a key city partner in its strategic development plan, releases fact sheet documenting concerns that support its opposition to Project Pascalis.

Next: August to September, 2022.

June 2022, Money Trails, Project Pascalis 2022

Reminder of the Day: Project Pascalis and the Wyatt Factor

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by Don Moniak
June 21, 2022

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.”

In November, 2019, Aiken City Council approved the concept and rezoned the property. Two months later the deal was all but dead, when WTC attorney Ray Massey wrote to county attorney Jim Holley: 

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.