Clemson Shopping Center to be demolished

CLEMSON – Want Chinese? Head over to Asian Delight in the Clemson Shopping Center on U.S. 76.

In the mood for Mexican? Monterrey is just a few steps away.

Or maybe you're hankering for a quick hot dog or two with some 'tater chips. Skins is open for business around the corner.

But not for long.

Those restaurants and 10 other businesses ranging from a scuba shop to a medical infusion center have been given orders to get out by April 18.

The 1960's vintage shopping center, which came into being when shopping centers were the new thing and once boasted an A&P grocery store, a Garrett's clothing store and a variety store called Mack's, will be gone soon.

In its place will rise a housing project with rooms for 494 Clemson students, two swimming pools, two sand volleyball courts, and a bocce ball court.

It will also have space for a restaurant and offices for the company that will be managing the site.

Unless City Council doesn't go along with the recommendation of the city's Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission gave the project, called GrandMarch, the green light on Monday, and businesses in the shopping center already have started moving out.

The developer, Russ Davis of Greenville-based Homes Urban, assured the commission that the complex will not create traffic problems because the site will go from having six curb cuts to two.

It also will reduce the amount of impervious surface from 65 percent to 62 percent and improve the grade of the embankment that separates it from the neighborhood behind, he said.

His company has developed student housing projects with beds totaling about 8,000 across the country and will employ a full staff to help keep up the amenities and prevent disruption to the surrounding community, he said. A law enforcement officer will be given use of an apartment, Davis said.

Office space will be given rent-free to a charitable organization, he added.

Even as the university embarks on several major on-campus student housing projects, and at least two other developments aimed at students are in the works in the city, Davis said his market studies show that there will be plenty of demand for rooms in GrandMarch.

According to his figures, the city will need another 1,700 off-campus beds for students over the next five years.

The complex will include a clubhouse, a parking deck and a pedestrian walkway across the highway to a bus stop. Most students are expected to ride the CAT buses or their bicycles to campus.

It is designed with multi-textured brick and wood facades, in what an architect described as a "West Coast" palette of colors.

At least one member of the Planning Commission said he didn't care for the style. Davis said it's a popular look for the market.

City officials said residents of the surrounding neighborhood are OK with the project, which includes adding a sidewalk along the edge of the property. No one spoke in opposition during a public session at the Planning Commission meeting.

The shopping center that has been there for more than 50 years is "physically obsolete" and slowly dying, Davis said.

Businesses at the center, less than a mile from campus, either have already moved or made plans to vacate the premises.

Consign and Design has moved to Central. Monterrey plans to relocate in Central.

Tiger Lily Flowers will be in a new location on State 93, hopefully by April 1, in time for Easter, owner Mary Lou Feagans said.

"It's complicated our lives a lot," she said, laughing at the understatement of the situation.

The new store will be nice, but it's heartbreaking to see the old shopping center vanish after so many years of memories, said Lynette Swaney, who has worked at the flower shop for 17 years.

"I'm just sad because I love all these people here," she said. "We're a family."

Skins owner Matt Thrasher said he is negotiating to move to the former BB&T bank building near the intersection of U.S. 123 and College Avenue.

"We've been there nearly 20 years," he said of the Clemson Shopping Center restaurant. "It's got a lot of memories in it."

Clemson football coaches from Danny Ford to Dabo Swinney have eaten there, as well as many star athletes, he said. "A lot of people have come in and out of there."

The city has been working to help the displaced merchants, he said.

"The city of Clemson has been really good to us," Thrasher sasid. "They wanted us to stay."

Longtime Clemson residents, questioned by The Greenville News on social media, held nostalgic feelings for the shopping center, and some had misgivings about the development that will replace it.

William Funchess said he's in favor of progress but concerned about the possibility of increased traffic problems.

"I'm in favor of progress for Clemson, too" Pamela Rupert said. "I would prefer, though, that new construction would offer something for the actual permanent residents of the city. More student housing in our limited commercial areas is going to kill business in Clemson.

"Let's add a few more stop lights, too. That'll be a real bonus!"

Bonnie Bennet Dixon has fond memories of things like buying goldfish at Harper's and getting white patent leather shoes for Easter at Newton's.

"We also spent a lot of time at the Shangri La beauty parlor where my mother got her hair 'fixed' every Friday!" she said. "But I did not like going to Dr. Hunter's office because that usually meant a shot or bad tasting medicine."

Randall Adkins said he feels bad for the people who have businesses in the shopping center but that the parking lot is in bad shape.

He thinks there will be more traffic from the site and people will avoid using that highway.

"As with what is going on downtown, rental units for students will eventually take over all the green space," he said.

Some said they're afraid Clemson is losing its character and becoming a more "generic" town. Several said they'd rather see new student housing built farther away from town.

Many feel like David Swaney, who stopped in at Skin's for lunch recently with his cousin and uncle. It's one of their favorite places to take a break from their construction business.

"We've been coming here a long time," he said. "I hate to see it go."

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