Archive for Aiken
Aiken Real Estate Market Improving
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How is the Aiken area’s real estate market doing? Is it still struggling in the wake of the Great Recession or is it starting to recover and regain momentum?
Jack Wills, who recently moved here from Michigan, offered some thoughts recently. He and his wife, Lynne, are renting a house while getting ready to build a new 6,000- to 5,000-square-foot Dutch Colonial home next to a green on the historic Aiken Golf Club.
The Aiken real estate market “is a lot like it is in the rest of the country; it seems to be improving,” Wills said. “But I don’t think it’s really moving along at a fast pace by any stretch of the imagination.”
Aiken Sam’s Club to Open in 2013
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Retail giant Wal-Mart said that its Sam’s Club store, currently in an early phase of construction to the Westside of Aiken, should be opening in 2013.
One of the largest retail constructions in the area, the membership-only retail warehouse club owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hopes to have its doors open in around a year’s time, according to the company.
“The project is on target, and we hope to be able to open late next year,” said W.C. Wertz, divisional director of public affairs and government relations for Wal-Mart, on Thursday. “We’ll have a more specific date in a few months.”
Plans for the store show an approximately 139,000-square-foot wholesale warehouse and a six-pump gas station. The site will be accessed from two entrances with dedicated turning lanes. These changes to the roadway are now visible to motorists heading to Georgia on U.S. Highway 1.
The Town of Jackson Wants a Supermarket
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The Town of Jackson wants a supermarket and has asked for Aiken County’s assistance in the creation of a tax increment financing district to pave the way, but the plan was met with mixed reactions Tuesday.
Attorney Gary Pope, who is working with the Town of Jackson on the project, said the town believes bringing a grocery store into the area is the last and best option to reinvigorate the community by becoming a focal point for a business district, which will attract further economic development. The business will be a shot in the arm to the town that is “drying up,” he said.
Pope presented the proposal to Council during its work session Tuesday with Jackson Mayor Todd Etheredge and the town’s clerk in attendance. The Town of Jackson will also approach the Aiken County Board of Education next week with the same plan.
Fresh Market signs lease in Aiken
Posted by: | CommentsThe Fresh Market’s Aiken location is planned for the corner of Whiskey Road and King’s Grant Drive, according to the chain’s public relations firm.
In an email, BRAVE Public Relations representative Jordan Worrall revealed the general location to be the northeast corner of that intersection. She does not have the specific street address, she said, and no other details were available by press time.
What is known, however, is the Goodwill Industries Emporium is located in the shopping center at the corner of Whiskey Road and King’s Grant Drive, and the building will be vacated some time in the near future when Goodwill moves into its new campus on Pine Log Road. The Goodwill site was one of three the public speculated could be home to The Fresh Market when it was first reported the specialty grocery retailer was coming to Aiken.
Rental Demand Rises…….for Homes During Masters Week
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A professional golfer once rented Janna Crane’s home during Masters Week. Another year, a crew from ESPN booked it. Sometimes guests leave a bottle of wine as a thank-you gift.
Janna Crane’s home in the Watervale neighborhood in Martinez. She is renting her home for Masters Week.
“I’ve never had one single problem,” said Crane, the owner of a 2,800-square-foot Cape Cod home in Martinez’s Watervale subdivision,
Crane has rented her for home for Masters Week for 10 years. Her family vacations on the Florida coast during the tournament.
“Honestly, we started doing this because the money was good,” she said.
Her house typically earns $3,000 to $5,000 a year, and she and her husband use the proceeds for home improvement projects. This year, they hope to add an outside fire pit.
ARTICLE SHORTENED DUE TO LENGTH….
New Grocery Store Coming To Aiken
Posted by: | CommentsApril Bailey – Aiken Standard, S.C. 
A new supermarket is making its way to Whiskey Road.
Construction has recently begun for an Aldi grocery store located on Whiskey Road in between Lowe’s and Hobby Lobby. According to Tina-Marie Adams, a spokeswoman for the supermarket, the store should be complete by next spring.
Adams said Aldi offers shoppers high quality items at a low price. At Aldi stores, food is priced up to 50 percent below traditional supermarket prices.
“It’s funny, we appeal to traditional supermarket shoppers that want high quality but don’t want to pay too much for it,” Adams said.
The store will offer low-priced meats, dairy products, frozen foods, produce, bakery items, wine and beer, snacks, beverages, pantry items and household items. Most of the items sold will be Aldi brand-named products.
“The economy has been an interesting dynamic for us,” said Adams. “The prices get people in there and the quality keeps them coming back.”
Aldi is said to be the leader in the international grocery retailing industry. The store entered the U.S. market in 1976.
ARTICLE SHORTENED DUE TO LENGTH….
LINK TO ARTICLE HERE:
Travinia to Anchor Aiken Strip Center
Posted by: | CommentsBy Haley Hughes – Aiken Standard 
A new shopping center is under construction on Aiken’s Southside and will be anchored by an Italian restaurant.
Construction on Hitchcock Corners, adjacent to Hitchcock Plaza on Pine Log Road, started earlier this month and is expected to be finished by early fall, according to the development’s broker. Only grading is under way.
David Sule, broker with Strategic Retail Group, said the 9,000-square-foot retail development will be “very high-end.”
Anchored by Travinia Italian Kitchen, Sule said Hitchcock Corners is looking for retailers to fill available spots. The only confirmed tenant is Travinia and the rest is yet to be determined, he added.
“Nothing is locked down at the moment,” Sule said. “We would like med spas, day salons, high-end retail.”
Strategic Retail Group likes the Aiken area because it appears to be a great location for big box stores, according to Sule.
The closest Travinia location to Aiken is Columbia.
LINK TO ARTICLE HERE:
Goody’s in Harbison, Other S.C. Sites To Close
Posted by: | CommentsJun. 10, 2008
Privately owned Goody’s Family Clothing said Monday it is filing for bankruptcy protection and will close 103 stores — including locations in Harbison, Florence, Hilton Head, Aiken and North Myrtle Beach — and an Arkansas distribution center.
The company couldn’t immediately say how many of its 12,000 employees will lose their jobs.
The company said it was filing a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, where the company is registered.
Goody’s operates 355 stores across the South and Midwest. In January, the chain announced layoffs of 25 of its 500 employees at its corporate headquarters in Knoxville,
LINK TO ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.thestate.com/101/story/429447.html
