'Project Pascalis' involves property in downtown Aiken, documents suggest
Apr. 13—A potentially huge commercial development endeavor in Aiken known as Project Pascalis seemingly involves property in the downtown area.
The Aiken Municipal Development Commission on Tuesday afternoon met behind closed doors, an agenda shows, to discuss the closely held project, which was first teased in March. A public notice circulated April 8 was more specific: Matters "regarding property in the downtown area" would be reviewed during the executive session.
Keith Wood, the Aiken Municipal Development Commission chairman, would not comment Tuesday. Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon in a March 29 letter to Wood emphasized the value of the downtown shopping-and-dining district and the needed redevelopment of Hotel Aiken and the old Aiken County hospital site.
"The character of this area is the heart of what makes Aiken so uniquely special," Osbon wrote, "and is truly among the primary draws for tourists and new residents alike."
The development commission last month authorized Wood and Tim O'Briant, the city's economic development director, to negotiate and execute a cost-sharing agreement with a private-sector partner.
The commission has described that prospective partner as a "well-capitalized and successful real estate investor" interested in "one or more potential commercial development projects" in the city.
Little has been revealed about Project Pascalis. But a plan for the public to pore over is expected within months, after the cost-sharing agreement is finalized and things heat up.
The venture's codename is derived from C.O. Pascalis, an engineer who, alongside Alfred Dexter, laid out Aiken's iconic streets and parkways in the early 1800s.
