Is it a restaurant, or is it a bar? Neighbors fight proposed Five Points business

A Southeast restaurant chain called Macado’s hopes to open in Columbia’s Five Points, but some nearby residents want to stop those plans.

Some in the adjacent Wales Garden neighborhood worry Macado’s is more of a bar packaged as a restaurant. They don’t want to see more bars in Five Points, let alone in their backyard.

“We are hesitant and do not support a restaurant that derives a significant portion of its profits from the sale of alcohol,” said Robert Wilson, president of the Wales Garden neighborhood association. “Because (Macado’s) seems to gravitate toward college towns and market to college crowds, the concern is that it will become more of a hot nightlife spot than a place for people of all ages to go have dinner.”

But Macado’s owner, Richard Macher, is blunt: “We’re not a bar.”

The 40-year-old restaurant chain is in about 20 cities, including a number of college towns, across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Its menu features a wide array of sandwiches and a handful of entrees including lasagne and macaroni and cheese, almost all priced under $10.

The restaurants also have bars with extensive alcoholic drink offerings.

The restaurants typically are open for lunch, dinner and late-night hours, Macher said.

Macado’s hopes to open on Blossom Street on the former Master Cleaners lot, just past the train trestle and across the street from Wells Fargo. It would be the restaurant’s first South Carolina location.

“We’ve traditionally seen Blossom as the boundary” between the entertainment district and the residential neighborhood, Wilson said.

At a neighborhood association meeting earlier this week, nearly 50 Wales Garden residents voted to pronounce their opposition toward Macado’s to the city.

Some neighbors say Macado’s could allow Five Points nightlife – and what they view as negative impacts of it – to creep into their residential streets.

“We do have a messy scene that is polluting our neighborhood in terms of trash, noise, vandalism,” said Frank Adams, a 15-year resident of Wales Garden. “All we’re saying is stop it at our border. Don’t cross over. It’s already a mess. Don’t expand this mess.”

Some residents also worry Macado’s potential location could discourage folks from buying and living in houses on that end of the neighborhood – and many in the neighborhood want very much to see more houses transition from rentals to owner-occupied homes.

“Who would like to live next to a bar/restaurant parking lot?” said Mike Dawson, who has lived in Wales Garden for more than 20 years. “It would be a devaluation of the lifestyle of anyone wanting to live in that first duplex (next to the business). That is actually creeping into the neighborhood.”

But Macher says expansion of downtown districts should be appreciated.

He believes residents have misunderstood and mischaracterized his business, he said, and he wants to help improve the area.

“I think that’s why people live in New York City, because they want to walk from their neighborhoods to restaurants and shops. Downtowns are revitalizing all over the country,” he said. “I understand (the residents’) concerns. It’s important that the neighborhood is taken care of.”

Macado’s still requires some zoning and parking approvals by the city. Its requests to the planning and zoning boards are pending. Wales Garden residents say they plan to protest those requests.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Is it a restaurant, or is it a bar? Neighbors fight proposed Five Points business."