Iconic Moe Levy’s store downtown demolished to make way for apartments
For nearly 100 years, Moe Levy’s name was an icon in downtown Columbia.
The man who opened an Army surplus store in a tin shack at the corner of Assembly and Lady streets gave his name to the business that endured 99 years before closing last year.
Now, the building that bore his name for the better part of the last century is being torn down.
Construction equipment began demolishing the vacant Moe Levy’s store on Assembly Street this week, making way for a new six-story apartment building.
Prominent Columbia developer Ben Arnold purchased the property several years ago and plans to build 83 apartments that will be known as The Palms on Lady, along with covered parking and a possible restaurant or retail space. Construction is scheduled to begin later this spring or summer, according to The Arnold Companies
Arnold owns numerous properties in the Vista and also developed the original Palms apartments and Cantina 76 restaurant in the same block as Moe Levy’s. His development company currently is working on plans to build an 11-story boutique hotel called The Anthem near the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
The Moe Levy’s store was a fixture in downtown Columbia for many years, selling immeasurable quantities of military uniforms, combat boots, outdoor gear and “more jeans than you can imagine,” Harold Rittenberg, Levy’s son-in-law, told The State last year. Rittenberg ran the store for decades after the founder’s death in 1974.
An astute businessman, Levy was, for a time, one of the leading sellers of Levi’s jeans in South Carolina, Rittenberg told The State last year, as he planned to retire and close the business for good.
Arnold bought the original Moe Levy’s store site on Assembly Street in 2013, and Rittenberg moved the store to a new location on Laurel Street in 2016.
The property at Assembly and Lady has stood vacant for about four years since the move.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
