‘Let’s hope this is all we got.’ 30 businesses damaged in Saturday’s downtown riot
The number of businesses and buildings damaged in Saturday’s riot in downtown has risen to about 30.
They include popular restaurants like The Blue Marlin, Jason’s Deli and Thirsty Fellow, and structures such as the former Columbia Fire Department Headquarters on Senate Street, the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center on Lincoln Street and the Capitol Center at the corner of Assembly and Gervais streets, the state’s tallest building, according to merchants associations in the downtown area.
Fires were set in three buildings and two were looted, according to the associations and business owners. But the majority of the stores, restaurants and structures suffered relatively minor damage, such as broken windows and graffiti.
“Let’s hope this is all we got,” said Abby Naas, executive director of the Vista Guild.
Wim Roefs, owner of iF ART gallery at 1223 Lincoln St., was in the heart of the maelstrom.
He said protesters began pouring into the Vista shortly after police began dispersing crowds around the Columbia Police Department headquarters — just one block away — between 6:50 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday.
He watched as rioters began smashing windows along Lincoln Street.
The business that apparently received the most damage in the Vista was the Carolina Western Pub, at the corner of Lady and Park streets, Naas said.
Owner Marc Segal said he closed about 5 p.m., “because the unrest was getting a little crazy.”
Rioters then broke into the bar and restaurant and trashed the place, he said.
“They lit my bathrooms on fire, destroyed all the property inside the building, busted up the bars and took all the alcohol,” Segal said.
The country music dance club has been open for two years. Segal said he plans to reopen.
“We’ll just clean up and get back to work,” he said.
‘They seemed to be taken by surprise’
Aloft owner Raj Champaneri told The State on Saturday that staff members were sent to the basement and guests kept in their rooms to stay safe.
“I was worried for my staff,” he said.
Champaneri said the 107-room boutique hotel was about a quarter full, but that was the most guests they had had since the coronavirus hit in early March.
“This happening is not good for us,” he said . “We’re at rock bottom.”
Fred Delk, executive director of the Columbia Development Corp., which encourages and guides investment in the Vista, said the building at 911 Lady Lady St. that he shares with two businesses had 12 to 15 window panels broken out and both doors knocked in.
“But it appeared no one came in,” he said.
Roefs called 911, he said, when the violence had begun.
The police “seemed to be taken by surprise,” he said. “They didn’t have a plan what to do with the crowd. People had 15 minutes to have as much fun as they could.”
Jennifer Timmons, spokeswoman for the Columbia Police Department, said, “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment on his opinion specifically.”
She encouraged those affected to file a police report if they haven’t already.
“I can tell you that the Columbia Police Department and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department are investigating this weekend’s lawless acts of vandalism, arson, graffiti and other destruction and will hold people accountable,” she said.
As Roefs stood at the gallery Saturday, a crowd began to try to smash in the windows at Sandler’s Diamonds & Time, a jewelry two doors down from Roefs’ business on Lincoln Street. But the store windows had steel security curtains and the potential looters could not break them in.
The tough security curtains delayed the rioters long enough for a law enforcement armored car to arrive, dispersing the crowd before they could spread down the street, he said.
“What I think saved Lincoln Street, is that Sandler’s had good blinds,” Roefs said.
‘It could have been worse’
At the same time, someone had broken into the former Palmetto Candy and Tobacco store between iF ART and Sandler’s and set a fire, Roefs said.
When police arrived, Roefs gave an officer his fire extinguisher and the officer put out the fire. The building was checked out by the Columbia Fire Department, but an hour or so later a second fire broke out.
Roefs put out the second fire himself.
Naas, the Vista Guild executive director whose office is on the second floor of the two-story former candy store building, said she believes it was two separate incidents.
“That was right underneath my office, so I appreciated that” Roefs put out the second fire, said Naas, who was not in the building when the fires were set. “It smells like smoke, but we’re OK.”
Also, the guild’s van was one of two vehicles set ablaze in the Lincoln Street parking garage, which sits between police headquarters and the Aloft hotel. The garage is set to reopen Wednesday.
At the corner of Washington and Assembly streets in the Main Street District, rioters broke the windows in the Main Street News convenience store and began looting, said Matt Kennell, president of City Center Partnership, which guides development in the district.. Also, windows were broken out on the Capitol Center, Ameris bank and Sylvan’s jewelers, he said.
“It could have been worse,” he said. “We were blessed or lucky.”
About half of the Vista businesses affected by the violence were reopening on Monday, Naas said. And the glaziers were busy replacing window panes.
“Places are trying to get back to normal,” she said. “They are getting right back at it first thing. Looks like we’re going to get through this with just a little cleanup.”
Here’s a list of all the damaged businesses and building so far identified by the Vista Guild and City Center Partnership:
Vista
Vista Guild: Van burned
Mellow Mushroom: Window broken
Carol Saunders Gallery: Window broken
Columbia Visitors Center: Windows broken
Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center: Windows broken
Old Chicago Pizza: Window broken
PNC: Window broken
Gervais Nails: Windows broken
Jimmy Johns: Window broken
Jason’s Deli: Window broken
Starbucks: Window broken
Former Peanut Man location: Window broken
1229 Lincoln St: Window broken/fire damage/graffiti
Sandler’s Diamonds and Times: Windows broken
Aloft Hotel: Windows and doors broken
Blue Marlin: Windows broken
911 Lady Street: Windows and doors broken
915 Lady Street: Windows broken
Carolina Western Pub: Looted/fire damage
Lincoln Street Parking Garage: Fire damage/graffiti
Lorick Office Products: Window broken/graffiti
Thirsty Fellow: Damage to ice machine and air conditioner
Former Fire Department Headquarters: Windows broken/graffiti
Main Street
Capitol Center, window broken
Ameris Bank, Windows broken
Main Street News, windows broken/looting
Sylvan’s Jewelers: Windows broken
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 5:50 PM.