Home Care In Cayce, SC

CAYCE, S.C. (WIS) - A popular restaurant in Cayce is closing its doors after serving up food for almost seven years.

The owners of “Henry’s of Cayce” say they will be closing at the end of the month because of increased Liquor liability insurance.

The owners made the announcement yesterday in a Facebook post, saying they can’t continue to operate the establishment. In the post, they thanked all former and current employees, as well as city officials, for their support throughout the years.

While it wasn’t mentioned directly, this is happening about a month after state representative Jay Kilmartin, of Lexington, co-sponsored a bill that would change the liability on bars and restaurants, after someone leaves their business, due to alcohol consumption.

Many bars and restaurants in the state fear not being able to afford to stay open because of a 2017 state law.

It causes their insurance bills to jump tens of thousands of dollars from year to year.

The law was intended to help victims of drunk driving, but businesses argue it’s hurting them and forcing some to close.

This comes as SC Venue Crisis, an organization that raises awareness on the rising liability insurance rates prepares for a rally at the State House tomorrow.

People participating can get there as early as 8:30 a.m.

Speakers will address the crowd starting at 10:30 a.m.

As for Henry’s, they say they’ll be open for a few more weeks and hope to see plenty of people in the community come out.

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With filing about to open this month for November’s election, voters in Cayce already know they’re going to have a choice to make for the city’s next mayor.

Elise Partin, who has been Cayce’s mayor since 2008, is running for another term in the city’s top office on Nov. 7. Also running for the mayor’s office is Lexington 2 school board member and lifelong Cayce resident Abbott “Tre” Bray.

In a statement announcing her candidacy, Partin touts a record of keeping taxes down and quality of life high, with an emphasis on government responsiveness and customer service. The city recently won a $10 million state grant for stormwater improvement, and Partin was named public servant of the year in 2019 by the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

“Under Partin’s steady leadership, City services have continued to be modernized and are more cost effective,” the media release from the Partin campaign says. “By reversing the City’s credit to an excellent rating (it was poor before her tenure), Partin and City staff were able to get a low-interest loan via the State of S.C. to replace and upgrade 75% of the city’s water lines in 2017 — a massive public works project.”

She will face Bray, a graduate of Brookland-Cayce High School who deployed to Iraq with the S.C. National Guard. He now manages a contract for the Department of Defense providing risk reduction services and prevention training to the Army and Air National Guard. He has served on the Lexington 2 school board since 2020.

“I know first-hand what it’s like to grow up in the Cayce community, one with charm and character like no other,” Bray said in a statement announcing his candidacy. “With the right leadership, we can ensure that Cayce grows responsibly and sustainably. I want Cayce to remain an incredible place to live, work, and raise a family for generations to come.”

Races for public office in Cayce are nonpartisan.

Cayce voters will not only chose a mayor for a new four-year term in November but also two of four city council members. Many other municipalities will also hold local elections this fall.

Filing for local offices in Lexington County opens Aug. 16 and closes Aug. 30.

According to the city manager, the Avenues in Cayce is prone to flooding but now state money could fill in the gap.

CAYCE, S.C. — The City of Cayce has received funding that it says will go towards drainage issues that have annoyed residents for years.

In Wednesday's City Council meeting, two major moves were made to address a growing issue with drainage and flooding.- a check worth $10 million was given to Cayce from the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority, and the council approved professional engineering services for the second phase of the Cayce Avenues drainage improvement project.

Tracy Hegler is the city manager and says the money is a huge leg-up for getting the work done. She adds that part of the city is prone to flood, especially from storm water.

'It's just an older neighborhood that was built before we knew how to design storm water management, it's not uncommon, it happens everywhere," she says.

She explains additional funding will also come from the state transportation department making the total cost of the grant $11 million. She adds the drainage project is broken into three phases, with the second phase and will focus on drainage close to the river along Indago and Karlaney streets

"It's going to be either new pipes, bigger pipes, new culverts, upsized culverts, just to capture that flow in a more efficient manner than exists today," Hegler says.

That might not be the only change coming to Cayce's infrastructure.

RELATED: Cayce residents say erosion is causing a 'canyon', taking over properties

In Wednesday's meeting, Dara Brown a community health coordinator with Brookland-Lakeview Empowerment Center provided a presentation on a possible walking and biking loop that would run through Cayce.

"So our vision of the loop is to connect Steel Hands and Savage Craft breweries. So starting from Foreman Street with Steel Hands and going up Frank and across State streets towards Savage Craft and then down meeting street in West Columbia, turning left onto Twelfth Street and following Twelfth Street all the way into Cayce." Brown explains.

She says the color is to connect disadvantaged communities, especially communities of color, and additionally provide a safe place for people to walk and shop in the area. The idea is receiving verbal support from the council according to Mayor Elise Partin. She says the project could be a huge help to the local economy.

"We have so many great small businesses but there's space for more and adding in safe ways to bike and to walk we know will actually help to bring more business," she claims.

Brown says the next step is to host some audit walks, where city leaders and the community will come out and survey the proposed improvements, and says she is working to secure grant funding and garner more support from the community.

Residents of Cayce tell us they're excited about both projects, including Randall Clamb. He's an Avenues resident and sees a walking corridor as a safe alternative for his dog walks.

"When you're driving on the street you're thinking about getting over, so if there were sidewalks to walk on, it would just be a lot safer," he says.

He adds additional help with flooding will also be huge for the neighborhood.

"I think it's time to take care of a problem that has plagued us for a long time," Clamb says.

When you chat with owners and employees at Cayce’s Piecewise Coffee Co., the word “community” often pops up.

And in a recent poll of readers of The State, the community showed its love for the shop.

Piecewise emerged as the winner of The State’s recent reader poll on the Midlands’ favorite coffee shops. Nineteen local coffee shops were listed in the poll, and more than 30,000 votes were cast. When the smoke cleared, Piecewise came out on top, with 40% — more than 12,000 — of the votes.

West Columbia’s Brickhouse Gourmet Coffee was second with 28% of the votes, and the Coffee Shelf, Loveland Coffee and Oliver Gospel Roastery tied for third with 6% each.

Piecewise, located at 2001 State St. in Cayce, was bustling on a recent Wednesday morning. There were baristas crafting hot and cold beverages — items on the pumpkin- and Japanese sweet potato-infused special fall menu are a current favorite — and customers filling the seats of nearby tables; friends catching up with each other and remote workers tacking away on laptops.

In the midst of it all was Jacob Kirby, who co-owns Piecewise with twin brother, Zach, making drinks, chatting with colleagues and wiping down tables and chairs on the sidewalk outside the shop. The Kirby brothers bought Piecewise in September 2022 from original owners Lindsey and Stanton Scoma, who initially opened the shop in 2019.

Jacob Kirby said it felt good to see Piecewise climb to the top of the newspaper’s recent reader poll.

“My brother and I are both from Columbia, so for us it’s really rewarding to feel like the community here is showing support for what has been going on at Piecewise,” Kirby said.

The Kirby brothers are 29, and Jacob said they have been talking about having their own coffee shop since they were 19. They were regular customers at Piecewise in recent years, and in 2022, when the opportunity arose to purchase the Cayce shop, they took that leap into ownership.

“When that opportunity kind of showed up, we were kind of like, ‘Can we pull this off right now? Can we tackle this?,’” Jacob Kirby said. “Luckily we have such a great team here. We inherited a really amazing team. Our managers here, Kaden (Parham) and Zoe (Ebo) were totally instrumental to us even pulling it off, at all. I tell them every day that we couldn’t have pulled this off without them.”

Ebo has been working for Piecewise since it opened in 2019. She said it was encouraging to see the support the Cayce shop gathered in the recent coffee poll.

“I think it’s pretty neat,” Ebo said. “Especially since we’re such a small shop outside of the (downtown) Columbia area. You might not even know we were here unless you drove outside the downtown.”

As Piecewise has established a foothold in Cayce since 2019, and the Kirby brothers have adjusted to ownership during the last year, Jacob Kirby said they are beginning to take a look into the future. While there are no concrete plans in place, he didn’t rule out establishing another Piecewise location at some point down the road.

“We are looking at the coffee landscape in Columbia and trying to identify whether there are parts of town that don’t have a local option,” he said. “There are a lot of parts of town that do have a local option, and we aren’t trying to go in and put ourselves next door to another local choice. ... What we are trying to find out is, in the Midlands, where there are areas that don’t have a real local option, and if there’s an opportunity for us to put another one of these there, maybe.”

Piecewise is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

This story was originally published October 5, 2023, 5:30 AM.

The 92-acre building serves as a main campus for Dominion, now the company is looking to possibly move employees to another space.

CAYCE, S.C. — The potential sale of Dominion Energy's main campus could mean big change for the Cayce community.

Stavros Seremetis has owned Tony's since 2010 and says his business is always impacted by changes that happen in the community.

"If we lose 10 customers from there, we're going to get 15 from there," Seremetis said.

A big unknown in the Cayce community at the moment, is the potential sale of a Dominion Energy building on Otarre Parkway.

"My regulars from Dominion, I see them at least once a week, but I know if they move they won't be able to come by as much, maybe once a month, but either way it will affect us," Seremetis explained.

The Dominion building was built on Otarre Parkway in 2009 and sits on 92 acres of land.

WLTX reached out to Dominion Energy on Monday to confirm the sale of this particular building and received this statement in reply:

"Dominion Energy is committed to maintaining a strong company presence in Cayce. We continue to assess ways to operate even more efficiently, and this includes the potential for consolidating occupancy of our facilities on the 12th Street corridor if it is in the best interest of our customers and employees. In doing so, Dominion Energy has entered an agreement with Stern & Stern Properties Inc. for the potential sale of our main campus on 12th street."

Phil Baughman who often rides his bike near this particular Dominion Energy building, along a portion of the Cayce Riverwalk, says he hopes the sale of the building will be a good thing.

"You've still got to pay your electric bill no matter what, no matter who it's from," Baughman said. "People will have jobs, I mean there are jobs around now, people begging for work, for workers, so I think we'll be okay either way."

Cayce Mayor, Elise Partin, also hopes the sale of the building will be positive. She sent WLTX this statement:

"While there are still many unknowns for us… we hope that Dominion will stay in the area even if they don't own the building. We look forward to welcoming new businesses and corporate partners in that space as well. Cayce has a great quality of life and we are thrilled about the possibility of more employees getting to enjoy our restaurants, local coffee shops, and businesses."

From what we know the sale is not a done deal as of yet, and there are still discussions to be had.

We reached out to Stern & Stern Properties about the sale of this particular building to get more details about what it will be used for, but we have not heard back just yet.