Shuman-Owens site on Shop Road sold

Charlotte’s Pavilion Development Co. has purchased half of the former Shuman-Owens Supply Co. site on Shop Road near Williams-Brice Stadium for $1.76 million.

The company develops mostly retail properties from Massachusetts to Florida, and from the Carolinas to west Texas. Its client list includes Walmart, Costco Wholesale and Starbucks, among many other national brands.

However, Pavilon Executive Vice President George Sheild told The State on Thursday that the existing 32,000-square-foot building on the site will be refitted for an unnamed “industrial distribution” company.

“I don’t want people to think this is going to be a sexy multi-use project,” he said. “But it’s a good tenant.”

Renovations, which include the addition of a loading dock, should begin in about two months, Sheild said.

Pavilion purchased 2.3 acres of the 5-acre site, said George McCutchen, industrial property specialist with Wilson Kibler. The remaining 2.7 acres, with a 9,000-square-foot shed, is available for lease for $7,000 per month or for sale for $877,000, he said.

McCutchen also wouldn’t name the tenant, but said it was a growing local firm. “It’s a real success story,” he said.

The high-profile site near Williams-Brice Stadium has been considered for a number of projects over the years:

▪  About a decade ago, it was targeted for a homeless shelter.

▪  Later, it was targeted as a site for a “Cockominium” complex – condominiums aimed toward Gamecock football fans. However, Columbia sports condos were overbuilt, and the national condo market went soft.

▪  In 2008, a Houston-based student housing developer also pulled out of the site, this time because of concerns about a looming national recession.

It is Pavilion’s first foray into the Columbia market, Sheild said.

“We’re very enthusiastic about doing in business in Columbia; we have a number of South Carolinians in the company,” he said. “We believe the Columbia market is a tremendous market to be a stakeholder in. And we are going to redevelop the property into something positive for the community.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Shuman-Owens site on Shop Road sold."