Demolition of former Piggly Wiggly raises more questions
Heavy equipment has already begun rolling at the former site of a Piggly Wiggly at the suicide merge of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Old Towne Road.
But there is still no definitive plan of what to do with the land after the “unsalvageable” building is nothing but dust and memory.
Earlier this year, the city agreed to buy the 2.2-acre plot after the building had lain fallow for years. There were a few commercial nibbles for reusing the space, especially in light of the huge outlay of resources being poured into the adjacent Ashely Landing shopping center.
Nothing worked out. There was a plan whereby the owners would sell the land to a developer with an eye on building a “super” gas station.
But that idea flew in the face of the city’s stated desire to upgrade its “welcome mats,” and it was shot down by City Hall. That corner is on the inward path of traffic coming off of Interstate 26.
So, the city bought it, and rumors of plans and future uses have since swirled. City planning head Jacob Lindsey stresses that “no plan is in place” because the city has to wait for the County to come up with its own plan of how to redesign the intersection first.
Lindsey says he’s heard the same rumors: a “park and ride,” an amphitheater, a park, and etc.
Nothing, no idea, is off the table, says Lindsey, who adds there will be public hearings scheduled later this year, hopefully, to take in as many ideas as possible for the future use of the land.
But first, the county has to hatch its plan for the intersection, which might take or add to the acreage and shape of the plot.
Charleston County spokesperson Shawn Smetana says the county is currently “looking at intersection design,” and that funding will come from tax dollars raised from the original half-cent sales tax.
That half-cent sales tax was designated to raise money for transportation and greenspace efforts in the county.
Smetana says there is no one intersection design or alternatives being discussed by the county at this point. “We plan to have a public meeting sometime this summer,” says Smetana.
Lindsey is hopeful that the entire area can be transformed into an Avondale-like success. He envisions better “connectivity” between the shopping center along Old Towne and the neighborhoods off Orange Grove Road.
City Councilman Peter Shahid represents that chunk of West Ashley, as well as chairing the West Ashley Revitalization Commission.
Shahid echoes Lindsey’s position that the city’s hands are tied until the county presents its plans for the intersection. And while that may be a way’s off, Shahid says he is committed to a civic use for whatever that piece of land becomes.
“I’ve heard some people want it to be a dog park, or an amphitheater, and I’m fine with all that, but I want the idea to come from ‘us,’ and be a civic use of some sort,” says Shahid.
If the best-case scenario comes to fruition, then the city and county will have come up with separate plans that dovetail into a new, more conducive design where a feeling of community and commerce can thrive.
And if that is the case, it will be the opposite of what happened in Avondale, where public money – in the shape of new medians, road stripping, landscaping, and the like – followed on the heels of private investment.
But whatever path it takes, it’ll be better than what’s there now.
