Shopping center may be transformed in the style of Village at Sandhill

TALKING SHOP

Could Dutch Square Center become the “Village at Dutch Square” — a smaller version of the live-work-shop concept retail center?

Two sources confirm discussions by developers in the past year to remake Dutch Square as an outdoor mall.

Anna Almeida, development services manager for Richland County, said center developers proposed the idea during a planning meeting with Richland County and Columbia city officials.

And a Columbia commercial real estate firm manager said he heard from sources close to center management that renovations could begin in late 2008.

Word is that Dutch Square, once the city’s dominant mall, will become something like the three-year-old Village at Sandhill in Northeast Richland.

Sandhill features more than 100 big-box and specialty retailers, restaurants and a movie theater in an open-air mall. Condos recently went on sale.

Dutch Square’s local management referred questions to mall owner, Phillips Edison & Co. of Ohio.

Phillips Edison officials did not return several phone messages this week.

Phillips Edison has not filed any plans with the city of Columbia, Columbia Zoning Administrator Marc Mylott said.

Dutch Square’s potential redevelopment would be another spark for an area where retailers have long languished.

A new Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened in May about a mile west from Dutch Square on Bush River Road has attracted about a dozen new stores and restaurants nearby.

Dutch Square’s manager said in May that she believed the Wal-Mart would help re-energize retailers along the stretch of Bush River Road that was one of the region’s major shopping hubs in the 1970s.

• Two new hotels

Not all the activity on Clemson Road is right next to Village of Sandhill.

Two more hotels are set to join the Holiday Inn Express on Clemson at the Interstate 20 exit.

A Hampton Inn is under construction at a site neighboring the Holiday Inn. A sign says the hotel will open in January.

A second hotel is planned for the former miniature golf site at the Sparkleberry Crossing retail center at Clemson Road, said NAI Avant agents Mike Johnson and James C. Harrison III.

The second hotel’s brand name has not been disclosed but it should open next year.

• Sticky Fingers closes

Sticky Fingers at Two Notch and Parklane roads has closed.

Sticky Fingers is the latest of several restaurant chains to shutter in the struggling area of Two Notch near Parklane and Decker Boulevard. There is no word on what will become of the site.

Lowcountry-based Sticky Fingers Corp. owners are reportedly considering a new location in Northeast Richland, closer to the Village at Sandhill.

The closing of the Two Notch Sticky Fingers is another blow to nearby Columbia Place mall, which this year has lost the Limited Too store and Phoenix movie theater.

And for those lovers of Sticky Fingers’ ribs and potato skins, the chain has locations in the Harbison area and near Columbiana Centre.

• Costco watch

Columbia continues to be on the radar for big-box wholesale retailer Costco.

And why shouldn’t Columbia get a Costco? Charleston has had one since 2001, Myrtle Beach landed one in 2004 and Spartanburg will get one in August.

During a recent telephone chat, Costco chief executive Jim Sinegal said the company is considering the Midlands — along with a lot of other S.C. locations, but that’s it.

Take comfort in at least being considered.

• Of food and furniture

Who would steal patio furniture from several Columbia area restaurants?

Well, somebody did.

Devine Street’s Za’s Brick Oven Pizza and Al-Amir and Clemson Road’s Solstice Kitchen & Wine Bar were among the restaurants to have dozens of outside tables and chairs stolen July 4.

The Devine Street restaurants are offering a $200 reward for information leading to the arrest and return of the furniture, Za’s owner Jim Bigby said.

But Soltice is offering a more stomach-pleasing reward. Soltice dining coordinator Jen Greenwell said owners are offering “free food for a year” to the person who helps police solve the case.

• Chatter

• Colorado-based Einstein Bros. Bagels plans to expand into South Carolina and is planning to open three to five stores in Columbia as well as some Charleston locations.

• The Dollhouse Artisans Shop at 10014 Two Notch Road, the Midlands only miniature dollhouse store is expanding by 500 square feet. The store stocks collectible miniatures and dollhouse accessories.

Each week, Delawese Fulton, retail reporter for The State, will provide the latest retail development news. The goal is to give you the skinny on the new stores in your neighborhood, as well as any businesses closing. If you have any retail news, contact Fulton at (803) 771-8659 or ddfulton@thestate.com.