Claflin has plans for Way Building; former Kress site to house downtown center | Local

The university has received a $3 million in federal money to enhance the Way Making on Memorial Plaza to transform it into the Claflin University Downtown Community Centre.

It will dwelling the Claflin College Middle for Social Justice, Pathway from Jail method, youthful professionals’ studio housing and a business enterprise incubator web page.

The creating, which is positioned at the corner of Russell Street and Church Avenue, could also home some retail, Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Younger mentioned.

Orangeburg County Council on Monday gave unanimous 1st reading approval to the sale of the house to the university.

Though unique facts of the deal have been not straight away disclosed, Younger explained the property will most very likely be deeded over to the college with an arrangement amongst the county and the college on the future use of the assets.

The Way Building on Memorial Plaza formerly housed S.H. Kress & Business.

In February 1960, Black college students at then-South Carolina State Faculty and then-Claflin College — equally are now universities — listened to about efforts to combine lunch counters in Greensboro, N.C. They were impressed to do the exact same in Orangeburg.

When regional students were turned away from the Kress lunch counter in Orangeburg, they started a sequence of sit-ins. Kress then shut its lunch counter. Other downtown retailer owners reacted in comparable manner.

The Way House Corporation Inc. at some point ordered the 31,000-square-foot making.

Way Home Organization LLC presented the property — as is — to Orangeburg County for $10 in 2012.

Orangeburg County then entered into an arrangement with the Shuler Team Inc. for the house in July 2017.

“We have been approached by Claflin to consider around that agreement we initially had with the Shuler Group,” Young informed County Council on Monday.

He reported all the authorized thanks diligence has been done to end the county’s agreement with the Shuler Team.

“We want to lengthen this chance to Claflin University to do more development on the Kress facility to assist with our mission to aid the city in the revitalization of downtown Orangeburg,” he explained.

Younger reported there is still capital venture sales tax revenue set apart for enhancing the Way Creating. The money has been applied to clear away asbestos from the constructing.