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I hope they make the pool area larger to make it more conducive to hosting meets and to provide seating for spectators. The number of pickleball courts seemed high compared to space needs for swimming.
If promoted properly, this will be great for Charleston.
The saga of the Charleston Town Center mall parking garages continues.
The garages will be auctioned off, according to a motion expected to be filed in the coming days with Kanawha County Circuit Court. The initial plan for the Capital Sports Center, a proposed $80-million multi-use athletic complex, was to use some upper floors of the Lee Street garage and some other nearby properties.
However, Steve White, chairman of the Capital Sports Center Development Association (CSCDA), said Wednesday at a CSCDA board meeting that the present plan is to build on the site of the former Macy’s retail location at the Town Center mall. An offer for the Macy’s parcel has been sent to the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority, City Attorney Kevin Baker said at the meeting.
The sale will be “kind of the last step” for the garages, said Ann Starcher, who has been representing the CURA in the matter of the parking garages since 2017.
On Wednesday, she told members of the Capital Sports Center Development Association that the garages were owned by Charleston Building Commission (not to be confused with the city’s Building Commission) and have been in receivership with Boyd Real Estate Resources since this fall.
The sale will be free and clear of liens (in this case, money owed to the bondholders), but other obligations will continue with the structures. The garages are being sold “as is.”
The bondholders are owed between $12 million and $15 million, Starcher told the committee. A court document says the garages are worth less than the debt.
According to the motion, the auction will occur in March. The court will hold a hearing confirming the sale and assigning the proceeds, which likely will be used to pay the bondholders.
Starcher said she expects objections to the auction motion, but also expects the sale to go through.
The land, which is owned by CURA, is not being sold.
Starcher suggested potential bidders, including The Hull Group, which owns the mall, as well as Embassy Suites and Marriott. The bondholders also may participate through a credit bid, which is bidding up to the amount of money they are owned.
Whether the CSCDA would try to buy the garages will be “a decision for later,” White said.
In an interview Thursday, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said the parking garages would play a major role in the development of the Capital Sports Center, but that the Macy’s site is the anchor.
The projected cost for the entire complex is $80 million. There is $2 million in federal funding available, in addition to $5 million from Charleston and Kanawha County each.
This has all the makings of a dysfunctional cluster. There are too many what-if’s and buts in multiple scenarios going on with this. They can build some kind of complex on the Macy’s site but it won’t be much of one. Originally they were taking Macy’s, the attached parking garage and one side of the mall. Now who knows what they are doing and it sounds like they don’t know. In the article it sure sounds like they don’t even know what they are going to do. When Salango started all of this and they had the input from the public meeting the public had to inform them that they didn’t even know what they needed for a true aquatic center and they had already met with supposed consultants before that meeting!
But here’s the real kicker. This group is going to bid on the garages but according to the news last week the mall owner may be bidding on them too.
Now what happens to these plans if the mall owner outbids them and what if that owner has other ideas?
This has all the makings of a dysfunctional cluster. There are too many what-if’s and buts in multiple scenarios going on with this. They can build some kind of complex on the Macy’s site but it won’t be much of one. Originally they were taking Macy’s, the attached parking garage and one side of the mall. Now who knows what they are doing and it sounds like they don’t know. In the article it sure sounds like they don’t even know what they are going to do. When Salango started all of this and they had the input from the public meeting the public had to inform them that they didn’t even know what they needed for a true aquatic center and they had already met with supposed consultants before that meeting!
But here’s the real kicker. This group is going to bid on the garages but according to the news last week the mall owner may be bidding on them too.
Now what happens to these plans if the mall owner outbids them and what if that owner has other ideas?
Then there’s the hotel debacle too.
Holy crap this is some messy stuff.
You said it!
This is why the entire block needs to be under control of one entity. Currently, the mall, the hotel, Macy's, the garages, and Encova all have their hands in the game.
With demolition on Macy's underway, it looks like the Capital Sports Complex might actually come to fruition.
Here's an updating set of renderings from ZMM Architects of what it "might" look like. Note that these renderings do not include the gymnasiums above the parking garage.
Demolition at the Macy's site is underway, and there's no going back now. However, the county/city has yet to obtain the parking Lee Street parking garage, and won't be able to work on that until that's acquired.
One change that I have noticed is that the plans are now calling for the basketball courts to be build at the former Macy's and the aquatic center to be over the garage. This is a complete 180 from their original plan. Maybe someone has misspoke, but that's a big issue.
Quote:
Attaining property for the sports center has proved difficult for city planners. City and county officials are still trying to acquire land for a swimming facility.
That sounds like they want to build the pool above the garage, considering how they already own the Macy's land. I see it as a big issue because the aquatic center has always been the greater need in the area, and the advocates for this project will be livid if that isn't prioritized. Also, I don't understand how they would fit all of the courts at the Macy's lot. It would make more sense for that above the garage (as originally planned).
To contrast that, here's some comments in the Gazette...
Quote:
The initial plan for the facility called for using the Macy’s building and Lee Street parking garage for the center. Legal problems and declined offers have made the parking garages off-limits for now, Salango said.
“We’ve gone back and forth several times,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to make progress on that, but what we didn’t want to do was hold up all the benefits of Phase 1 by waiting on everything to be finished, because that would just be foolish.”
Quote:
Phase 1
Construction will take a phased approach.
The 196,590-square-foot Phase 1 will be built on the Macy’s site. It will feature:
8 basketball courts that can be converted into 16 volleyball courts
Birthday party rooms
30-foot-tall rock-climbing wall
Elevated walking track
Fitness center
6 pickleball courts
Salango called Phase 1 the “moneymaking phase.” The basketball and volleyball courts, combined with space at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center, will allow Charleston to host some of the biggest youth sports tournaments in the country.
Phase 1 is to cost about $60 million.
Salango is clearly saying that now the gyms will be at the Macy's site.
Quote:
Phase 2 includes a pool
Phase 2 will have the pool that was initially planned.
Salango said the owners of the parking garage have already refused offers to buy the structure. Because of the changes, new renderings and plans are being made by ZMM Architects and Engineers.
At a news media walk-through Monday, Salango said finalizing architectural drawings will take eight to 12 months. Construction will then take about two years.
Wait... you are saying they are planning to put the Aquatic Center on top of the parking garage? How would that be structually possible. The weight of the water alone would be incredible stress on that aging parking structure, please tell me i am reading that wrong.
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