Old West Columbia Kmart gets new owner. Here’s who
The former Kmart on Charleston Highway is in the process of becoming a storage facility.
U-Haul Moving and Storage of Cayce announced on Wednesday that the old Kmart at 1500 Charleston Highway will be converted into 700 indoor, climate-controlled storage units.
In addition to storage space, the grocery store will be converted into an expansive retail showroom full of boxes and other moving supplies, bike racks, towing equipment, and professional hitch installation, the company said in a press release.
U-Haul acquired the 100,000-square-foot property on Sept. 30 with plans to provide extended-hours storage space to its customers, with “high-tech security features at affordable price points.”
“Big-box stores have a tendency to sit on the market for a long time because they’re so large and only suit a certain type of business,” said Kevin Anderson, U-Haul Company of South Carolina president. “U-Haul is unique because we can fully utilize a property of this size, and we can do it without the environmental impact of building a new facility from the ground up thanks to our adaptive reuse program.”
About 12 new jobs will be created once the new space is up and running. The company also operates storage space at 400 Orchard Drive.
About 70% of U-Haul’s South Carolina storage space makes an “adaptive reuse” of existing buildings like the old Kmart, Anderson said.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 10:13 AM.
.jpg)