Future of old Aiken Municipal Building under discussion by city and county

Jan. 27—The future of the City of Aiken's former Municipal Building became clearer Jan. 23 after Mayor Rick Osbon mentioned it in his State of the City speech.

Afterward, Aiken City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh and two Aiken County officials expressed enthusiasm for the plan announced by Osbon to give Aiken County the opportunity to purchase the historic brick structure from the city.

"City Council has discussed the best use of the building moving forward, and there appears to be a consensus that offering it for sale to the county to house the solicitor's office is the best path forward," said Osbon, who also reported that he has had "extensive discussions" with the leadership of Aiken County Government.

"We hope to have an agreement drafted between the city and the county for both councils (city and county) to review and consider in the near future," he added.

After Osbon spoke, Bedenbaugh provided some more information about the status of the proposed deal.

"There is a very barebones kind of draft that we are sort of working through, and there will be an MOU (memorandum of understanding), where we'll kind of agree on some terms," he said. "I don't have a timeframe other than we want to get it done as soon possible because it's something that the county has been very interested in and the building has been empty since April 2022."

Discussions about the possible purchase or lease by the county of the old Municipal Building, which Bedenbaugh said was constructed around 1938, have been going on for quite some time.

The county is eager to acquire it to help relieve overcrowding at the nearby Aiken County Judicial Center. It also would allow the staff of S.C. 2nd Judicial Curcuit Solicitor Bill Weeks, now spread among three office spaces in Aiken, including one at the Judicial Center, to be moved to one location.

Last spring, the city revealed that the Municipal Building would be included in Project Pascalis and be transformed into a conference center with retail space.

That controversial redevelopment effort, however, no longer is being pursued by the city.

Aiken officials, however, would like to city to retain ownership of the patio area in The Alley behind the old Municipal Building.

"The patio is definitely staying (with the city) because it's a key element of events in The Alley, and it's something that the city would like to continue to have," Bedenbaugh said. "It is still up for discussion with City Council whether or not the conference center (on the old Municipal Building's first floor) will be part of the transaction."

County Administrator Clay Killian told the Aiken Standard following Osbon's address that he was happy that "the consensus seems to be for us to take that building over in some fashion for the solicitor's office."

Moving solicitor's office employees from the Judicial Center to the old Municipal Building will free up much needed space and extend the life of the facility, so a new one doesn't have to be built in the near future, Killian said.

He stressed, however, that there still were many decisions to be made before a deal can be finalized.

"We've got a lot of details to work out — what's the sale price, what's the timing and all that kind of stuff," Killian said. "Where are we going to find the money to pay for whatever it is going to cost? Stuart and I have talked about different options."

On the plus side, Killian added, is that he doesn't expect the old Municipal Building to require a lot of refurbishment to meet the solicitor's needs.

"It will take some renovation, but it won't be a major renovation involving structural things," he said. "There are probably a couple of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) units that we need to talk about and see if they need to be fixed or replaced. Paint and new carpet and things like that will need to be looked at."

According to Killian, funding sources for the county might include Capital Project Sales Tax V, which is scheduled to be voted on by county residents in 2024.

"We could use some of our capital funds on hand now, but we probably don't have enough to free up for the total purchase price," he said.

County Council Chairman Gary Bunker also was upbeat.

"We have talked about this publicly in the past as being one of the options for relieving the overcrowding in the courthouse, so I'm very pleased that we're getting a little traction with the city," he said. "Hopefully, we will soon have a memorandum of understanding that will set the framework for an upcoming agreement."

Weeks' predecessor, Strom Thurmond Jr., who announced in 2020 that he wouldn't seek reelection, toured the old Municipal Building while he was still the solicitor and "we had a tour with Bill Weeks there a few months ago," Bunker said. "Similar to Strom, he (Weeks) was very excited about moving in."

The new Aiken Municipal Building is on Chesterfield Street. It opened officially last April following a renovation that cost more than $13 million.

Constructed around the early 1930s, it originally was the home of the Henderson Hotel. More recently, it served as the Aiken Main branch of Regions Bank, which closed for good in 2019.