Restaurants, shops and maybe a hotel? Downtown Lexington is hotter than ever

Downtown Lexington looks a lot different than when Keg Cowboy arrived more than a decade ago.

“It was pretty much just me and Main Street when we opened,” said Brian Nelson, who owns and makes bread at the craft beer bar and eatery.

But those days, when downtown was dominated by lawyers’ offices and legacy shops, are gone. Today, Lexington’s Main Street is as hot as any spot in the Midlands.

Along the 100 blocks of East and West Main Street, multiple buildings have been built or renovated in the past few years, and since 2023, at least six new retail or dining establishments have opened or been announced. And a proposal for a new hotel in a currently vacant lot has the town talking. If the current pace of growth and upcoming projects are any indication, downtown Lexington is in for an extended renaissance.

“I’ve always been of the opinion, the more the merrier,” Nelson said. “It’s taken almost a decade, but you’re seeing actual foot traffic in the evenings. People are wandering from bar to bar and restaurant to restaurant.”

The developments at the intersection of Church and Main, the beating heart of downtown, have been crucial to this surge of activity. Few spots, if any, in the Midlands have changed more in the last seven years than the corner of Church and Main in the heart of Lexington.

On one corner, the town’s Icehouse Project has vastly reshaped the landscape. The project’s centerpiece, the 900-capacity Icehouse Amphitheater, opened in 2017 at the site of a former ice production facility, with an attached covered pavilion being added in 2021.

The project also brought the renovation of the existing building in front of the amphitheater, which became home to popular Italian restaurant Alodia’s in 2018. A new two-story building, dubbed Icehouse on Main, was constructed starting in 2021, with businesses including the first South Carolina location of Barrio Tacos + Tequila + Whiskey taking up residence in 2023. Strings of lights now hang above the pathway between the two buildings.

“The amphitheater has taken off over there,” Nelson said, noting that Keg Cowboy frequently pours beer at events there. “It’s been great. It’s done exactly what I thought that it would do. They’re getting some decent acts brought through there.”

Per Lexington Town Council Member Gavin Smith, the amphitheater attracted more than 150,000 people last year.

In addition to the boost in visitors brought by concerts and other events that take place at the venue, Jack Stuart, the town’s economic developer, saw another big benefit to the town installing the facility.

“Buildings follow buildings,” he said, enjoying lunch at Barrio, sitting inside a building that followed behind the amphitheater.

Stuart believes that domino effect of progress could continue with the possible addition of a Courtyard by Marriott hotel proposed for the vacant lot at 116 E. Main St. next to Bodhi Thai Dining. The design brought forth by the local developer Lexington Hospitality is was recently approved by the town’s Board of Appearance. The hotel is set to include 101 rooms along with attached surface parking.

Some residents have pushed against the hotel since it was announced, and the Board of Appearance expressed concern that the building as proposed earlier this year was too big before ultimately approving an adjusted proposal last week.

Stuart sees the hotel as another potentially positive evolution for Main Street.

“I understand people think it’s going to leave a shadow over downtown,” he said. “But ... we built the amphitheater. And (Barrio) was an empty lot. We ended up with a beautiful building here.”

Lexington ‘sells itself now’

The hotel could inspire more momentum in and around downtown Lexington, Stuart postulated, and if that growth continues to be managed well, that’s good for the town.

Further developments that are more certain are slated for the property across from Barrio and the amphitheater.

A former carpet store has been heavily renovated and added on to, with the buildings and attractive outdoor space on that property set to welcome a trio of anticipated businesses by the end of this year — the second location of Midlands wine bar Moltó Vino (expected to open in April), a new Midlands location of Southwest-meets-Japanese chain TakoSushi and an outpost of the national franchise brewpub Voodoo Brewing Company (both expected to open later in 2024).

The other corners are occupied by popular Columbia businesses that opened new locations in existing buildings, with Nicky’s Pizzeria taking the place of a former sewing store in 2019 (and eventually closing its original Five Points location) and Craft Axe Throwing bringing the trendy pastime of throwing back beers and chucking axes to the spot previously occupied by an office and store operated by the Lexington County Blowfish Baseball team in 2020.

“I definitely think it’s gotten a heck of a lot easier,” Braden Shockley, senior partner with real estate agency Trinity Partners, said of selling potential restaurants and businesses on the merits of downtown Lexington.

The company works closely with the Addy family, which owns the properties selected for Craft Axe, Voodoo, Moltó Vino and TakoSushi.

“Five years ago, it was a different story,” Shockley said. “It sells itself now, because you can drive down Main Street, you can see the new development, you can see construction going on. There have been multiple articles out about the new announcements for restaurants. So a lot of these retailers that we talked to when we look at other different sub-markets within the Columbia metro area, it’s typically downtown Columbia No. 1, Lexington No. 2. Everyone wants to be in Lexington.”

He noted that it does take a unique business to make Lexington’s Main Street work, with many national chains that require high traffic unlikely to find success. But he thinks local and regional restaurants and boutique retailers will continue to thrive.

One such business in the process of making a space for itself on Main Street is Kindred Boutique. The shop, which offers “trendy clothes for teens and classic clothing for ladies,” is moving from a spot in Lexington’s Old Mill to the old Dispatch-News building at 136 E. Main St. The historic two-story building, built in 1912, has been vacant since 2001, and the extensive renovation to the outside and inside of the building is set to cost about $1 million, the Kindred team reported.

That renovation is set to add a balcony on the front of the building and leave the upstairs as a fresh spot for another local business — with boutique co-owner Christie Connelly musing that it would be nice if another complementary business like a bridal boutique moved in above Kindred.

Connelly’s husband, T. Kevin Connelly of Connelly Builders, is leading the charge on redeveloping the building, and her ambitious hope is to be in the space in April.

“It was just kind of the one thing that nobody had ever bitten off,” Christie said of the building that had gone untouched amid Main Street’s revitalization. “With his experience — he does apartments, renovates old mills for apartment complexes — I knew he could do it. It’s something we can give back to the community.”

Reinvigorating such spaces while maintaining the history and small-town feel of Lexington’s downtown is crucial to extending the progress the area has made, Smith, who joined Town Council in 2023, emphasized.

“I am all for progress, and I’m all for supporting small businesses,” he said. “But one thing that I’m also for, that I’ll prioritize, at least in my seat on council, is ensuring that we maintain the small-town feel, the charm of the town of Lexington. That’s something that I think so many people are drawn to. So making sure that buildings fit in. Making sure that our architectural standards still maintain that charm in the town of Lexington that everyone loves so much. I think that’s really important.”

Challenges with the growth

Also important as downtown draws more visitors is keeping up with infrastructure.

Stuart noted that the oldest sewer lines in Lexington are located downtown. This was thrown into sharp relief recently, as a sewer truck sat behind O’Hara’s Public House pumping 24/7 for almost a year to compensate as the town worked to secure a property easement to get under a building and fix a broken line.

“We get to deal with the unfortunate fact that we’ve got sewer lines running all over the place, doing all kinds of craziness,” the economic developer said. “And somebody along those lines back in the ‘30s or the ‘20s may have run it under a building, not even knowing that there was going to be a building there.”

Parking is an issue that comes up a lot in conversations about Lexington’s downtown. And while town staff is always quick to note — as Stuart did recently — that there are 1,000 parking spots downtown that are free to use if you’re just willing to walk a little bit, Smith noted that there is room for improvement, zeroing in on the potential utility of the 68-spot parking lot along Main Street included on the drawings submitted by the developers of the proposed hotel.

“There are no handicap parking spots on Main Street,” the council member explained. “I would like to work with the hotel to see if perhaps we can try to bring some handicap parking to Main Street by using their parking lot for a few additional handicap parking spots.”

Smith further emphasized that adding a parking garage downtown could be crucial to the area’s future.

“Some people don’t like that idea,” he said. “They don’t like the idea of a big concrete parking garage. But there are other ways that we could do that and blend in greenery with that to try to help it blend in a little bit more downtown. But I’m adamant that we do need to invest in parking infrastructure downtown.”

Joe Cribb has watched downtown develop for 26 years as he and his wife have operated down-home favorite Cribb’s Sandwich and Sweet Shop, located directly across from the amphitheater and pavilion on South Church Street — identified by the giant rooster sculpture that sits outside its front door.

Cribb said that while it’s harder to get a parking spot than it used to be, the increased activity in the area is good for his business and generally good for Lexington.

“I get exposure no matter what, whether I’m here or not, you know, because people see the building and people see the rooster,” he said.

“Lexington is Lexington. It’s still got the hometown feel.”