Home Care In West Columbia, SC

More than a year after developers laid out plans to bring a mixed-use project, complete with a grocery store, retail space and a four-story, 224-unit apartment complex, to the site of a vacant shopping center in West Columbia, construction has yet to begin.

It’s unclear what the future will be for the Capitol Square redevelopment project bordered by Meeting Street and Sunset Boulevard and sitting across the road from the city’s House of Raeford chicken plant. One of the final pieces in revitalizing West Columbia’s riverfront district does not appear to have made much progress in the year since initial plans were announced.

“The way I always look at development, particularly whenever you look at stuff that is in an area that has a lot of force for redevelopment, ultimately something will end up happening there, but I don’t know what that something will ultimately end up being,” West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles told The State.

“I don’t know how different it’ll be from the last set of plans that the public saw.”

Representatives for the development company, Baker Commercial Properties, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The State.

The development company bought most of the land, which held the Capitol Square shopping center, in 2005 for $1.85 million. In subsequent years, it purchased additional parcels nearby — in 2021, a quarter acre across Leaphart Street for $280,000 and in 2023, the land that once held Al’s Upstairs, which closed in December 2023, and one final parcel of the shopping center that holds Eggroll Station, for $2.5 million.

But one property remains in the hands of another company, House of Raeford. In the heart of where the company’s redevelopment plans lie sits a small plot of land that the chicken plant owns and uses as a parking lot for its employees.

An initial site map, laid out in a conceptual plan presented to the city council in May of last year, included using that portion of land for the redevelopment. It’s unclear what, if any, impact the chicken plant’s ownership has had on the redevelopment plans.

“We have had communications with Baker Commercial Properties concerning this parcel of land but there has been no resolution,” said House of Raeford spokesperson Dave Witter in an email to The State.

A month before Baker Commercial Properties pitched the massive redevelopment project to the city, it looked as if the chicken plant could relocate to Aiken County. But , the deal fell through.

The plant is seen by many as a smelly eyesore that’s held up the city’s increasing redevelopment. As luxury apartments and new restaurants and bars have popped up around Meeting Street, the vacant Capitol Square shopping center, which sits right across Sunset Boulevard from the plant, has been a tough space to fill.

But while annoying to some, the chicken plant is important to West Columbia. The plant employs nearly 600 people and is a substantial revenue generator as the city’s largest water customer. Losing the decades-old plant could equal a loss of jobs and revenue.

“There’s a strong desire to see a grocery store and shops and continued progress on the Capitol Square site,” West Columbia Councilman David Moye said. “This project is more than just one developer and the city working together to make a special plan to match this special place. This project moving forward hinges on multiple parties.”

The fact the chicken plant didn’t appear to be going anywhere, and that some land in the middle of the planned redevelopment was owned by House of Raeford, didn’t stop Baker Commercial from laying out their development plans last May.

The project was set to transform the shopping center, on 13 acres bordered by Sunset Boulevard and Meeting Street/U.S. Highway 1, into a mixed-use complex featuring a four-story living complex with 224 multi-family units and retail space. Plans also included a separate 27,000-square-foot grocery store, 18,000 square feet of retail and/or office space and 4,800 square feet in outparcels designated for retail.

After presenting plans for the redevelopment to the city council last year, the scope of the project became clearer when the company brought it before the and city council approved the project in October.

At the time, the city was not given a timeline for the project, Miles said.

“We’ve never expected that project to move forward under a set timeline. We always understood that the discussions and moves that they were making were all kind of preliminary stuff and that everything was subject to them having to meet a lot of internal requirements [on their end] for them to get the deal to move forward,” Miles said.

The company, which had added the Capitol Square redevelopment project to its list of future projects on its website last year, has since removed the project from its website. Sherry Chen, a co-owner of the Chinese restaurant Eggroll Station which sits on the land that the company bought for the redevelopment, said she was told construction is set to begin sometime next year, at which point her restaurant will be forced to vacate.

Baker Commercial has made at least two possibly promising moves forward — in December, the company got permission to take over ownership and maintenance of Leaphart Street, which runs alongside the redevelopment. Earlier this year, the company blocked off part of the plot of land that’s long been used as public parking for nearby restaurants and bars, potentially for construction.

When it comes to longtime local restaurants, there is a space where food, service and nostalgia can meet in a single vortex to create a generational favorite.

In the Midlands, that’s the space where Rush’s lives.

Residents who have spent any time whatsoever in the area are undoubtably familiar with Rush’s, the small chain that for decades has been a gathering spot for workday lunch hours, nighttime ice cream runs and weekend stops after University of South Carolina ballgames.

Rush’s is well-known for, among other things, its cheeseburgers, barbecue sandwiches, chicken baskets, apple turnovers, milkshakes and more. The chain, which has typically displayed seemingly unyielding consistency in its offerings, made waves in January when it changed its style of french fries from straight-cut to crinkle cut. The move was, for the most part, roundly criticized by longtime Rush’s customers, so the company changed course in July, delighting fans by bringing back the original straight-cut fries.

Now The State wants to test your knowledge of the long-running Rush’s chain. Below you’ll find a quiz with several multiple choice questions about the restaurant. To sweeten the pot, those who fill out the quiz will have a chance to win a $50 gift card to Rush’s.

Simply fill out the quiz below, and provide your email address. By entering your email address, you will be subscribed to The State, This Week: Food Edition, which is the paper’s free weekly email newsletter with information and news about restaurants in the Midlands and across South Carolina.

The quiz will run until 11:59 p.m., Aug. 20. One winner will be chosen to receive the $50 gift card.

So, test your knowledge of Rush’s, and don’t forget some extra ketchup for your fries.

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - One of the victims of a shooting at a Bojangles location in the Midlands is now looking to take the chain to court.

Documents show Clayanna Walker-Thomas filed a lawsuit Aug. 1 against Bojangles and the general manager of the location on Augusta Road in West Columbia. She’s seeking a jury trial.

Walker-Thomas claims she and her boyfriend were the victims of a Dec. 28, 2024, shooting that resulted in them both being hurt. The lawsuit states an employee, identified as Marterius Byrd, began threatening Walker-Thomas and her boyfriend after they paid for their food.

Byrd allegedly lifted his apron, showing a gun on his waistband, before walking away from the window.

The lawsuit then states that a second employee, who was also a minor, appeared along with Byrd and also brandished a firearm. Walker-Thomas then claims the second employee lunged through the drive-thru window and opened fire, hitting the couple multiple times.

Walker-Thomas also claimed in the lawsuit that she was able to drive the two to a hospital, while the second employee continued firing into the back of the car.

Byrd was arrested after the incident, but court records show his charges were later dismissed.

The lawsuit claims Bojangles did not handle the second employee in a manner that would avoid the risk of harm. It also alleges that Bojangles and the general manager “knew or had reason to know” that the second employee was “reasonably likely” to harm Walker-Thomas.

“The attack upon plaintiff and the resulting injuries occurred as a direct and proximate result of the negligent, caseless, reckless, willful, and wanton acts and delicts of defendants,” the lawsuit reads.

It also claims the store’s general manager “negligently, grossly negligently, carelessly, recklessly, willfully, and wantonly failed to properly select, hire, train, retain, control, and supervise the actions and conduct” of their employees.

Walker-Thomas’s attorneys at the Samuel Reynolds Law Firm provided the following statement to WIS on Tuesday:

WIS reached out to Bojangles for comment on Tuesday, but has not received a response

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More than a year after Compton’s Kitchen, a Southern food staple that welcomed regulars in West Columbia’s Triangle City for nearly half a century, closed its doors, new ownership wants to bring back a similar concept under a similar name.

With a soft opening tentatively set for Labor Day weekend, DAJ Holdings, a Columbia-based investment group wants to bring back the nostalgia of Compton’s Kitchen, with its meat and three plates and breakfast staples, under a similar name — just Compton’s.

“A lot of [the investors] were actually patrons of the restaurant … they wanted to see it come back before, they were a little disheartened that it closed,” Kira Person, the project manager for Compton’s, told The State.

The restaurant, at 1118 B. Ave. in West Columbia, had been open since 1977 when it Former owner Asia Dove, who’d purchased the business from longtime owner Martha Cooke in 2022, had just a month after the closure was initially reported.

But those plans haven’t yet come to fruition. Dove told The State she’s looked at a few possible options, but hasn’t nailed down an official home for the restaurant yet.

With new ownership opening a similarly named restaurant in the same place as the old one, Dove said she took issue with the fact that the investment group, which is registered to Dino James, is using the Compton’s name despite not buying the intellectual property rights to the business.

“The property is not the business. I own the right to the business, I own the right to the name of the business,” Dove told The State. “Dino has never, ever had any right, he’s never made a purchase from me directly to utilize the name of the business or the recipe or the menus.”

On the new sign that adorns the building Compton’s Kitchen once sat in, a tag line reads, “Serving since 1977,” which Dove also took issue with. She said she intends to have a lawyer contact the restaurant’s new owners.

Person told The State that the new owners have run the intention to use the Compton’s name by their attorneys and believe they’re legally allowed to use the name sans the word “kitchen.”

The investment group bought the property in a foreclosure sale in February, according to county property records. They’ve worked to completely remodel the building, Person said, adding in new kitchen equipment and seating.

As for the menu, the new owners hope to bring back some of the old staples. Person teased a return of some of the restaurant’s classics like liver pudding and onion sausage. But ultimately, the goal is to figure out what new customers are interested in and adjust the menu from there, she said.

“They’re hoping that it brings back some of the nostalgia of what Compton’s was back in the day,” Person said.

Once it’s open, the new restaurant is set to be open seven days a week, Person said.

When Compton’s Kitchen closed in February of last year, it joined a handful of other prominent, decades-old restaurants to shutter around the Midlands. In December 2023, just months before, the area saw the closure of both , which had been located on Sunset Boulevard in West Columbia for 29 years, and Al’s Upstairs, a West Columbia Italian restaurant for more than four decades.

West Columbia City Council held a special meeting on July 21 to discuss a proposed brand for the Columbia area with the goal of attracting tourism and economic development.

Midlands Business Leadership Group’s Mike Crapps and Tye Price gave a presentation to council explaining the brand proposal developed by the group.

The brand would encompass Cayce, Columbia and West Columbia under the name 3RVRS, a nod to the Broad, Congaree and Saluda Rivers. Council was shown a mock-up logo that includes the 3RVRS branding and a symbol depicting the rivers designed by the group. Council also heard three proposed taglines that could be used in conjunction with the logo.

These include: “Miles of waterfront, moments from home,” “There’s more around the bend” and “Find yourself here.”

The aim of the new brand is to create a shared identity that attracts tourism and economic development by complementing the individual brands of local communities, Price said.

“We believe we have developed a complement brand that strengthens the individual brands of each community without competing with it, without getting in the way,” Price said.

The brand, once adopted, could be used for riverwalk sites. It can also be used for promotional merchandise, such as T-shirts and bags. The Midlands Business Leadership Group worked with the governments of Cayce, Columbia and West Columbia, as well as Richland and Lexington counties on the brand, according to Price.

In other news

Council gave first reading approval for City Administrator Brian Carter to negotiate a contract with an engineering firm for the master plan of the Riverside Water Treatment Plant.

The plant is undergoing an expansion that will increase its water capacity by several million gallons. The project is set for completion in 2027. Council did not name the engineering firm involved in negotiations.

Council also gave first reading approval to temporarily close Center Street for an Oktoberfest event on Oct. 4. The same event closed the street in 2024.

West Columbia’s new Director of Facilities, Mark Stanton, introduced himself to council. Stanton hails from Idaho and recently moved to West Columbia for the position.

Stanton thanked West Columbia’s administrative team for the opportunity. Mayor Tem Miles said he is the “right man for the job,” and is filling a much-needed position.

Council entered executive session to discuss two separate personnel matters relating to City Clerk Crystal Bouknight and City Administrator Carter. Council unanimously approved a 15% bonus and 3% merit increase to Carter’s salary after the session.