Big changes underway at Columbia’s historic Arcade Mall

For 38 years, Bill Ramseur has shined shoes from a small, half bay in Columbia’s Arcade Mall – the Midlands’ first shopping center, built in 1912. And for most of those years, Ramseur, now 87, has paid little or no rent for his space in the historic building.

He’s one of four tenants in the L-shaped Arcade who’ve stayed in business because the rent has been incredibly low or nonexistent. When asked what he paid a month, Ramseur with a wry smile said “not much.”

Veteran developer Ron Swinson, a Columbia native, purchased the historic mall in May 2015 out of what he said was love for the building. But what to do about those long-term, low-paying tenants – two hairstylists, a tailor and Ramseur, who all have been there for more than 30 years – is one of an array of dicey challenges Swinson faces in trying to bring the venerable structure back to life.

“Do I want an Apple Store in that bay instead of a shoe shine shop? Yes,” Swinson said as he sat at a table in front of Swanson’s Deli, between newly scrubbed terra cotta columns. “But I can’t do that. Mr. Ramseur has been there forever. I’d have to leave town. It’s a dilemma.”

Preserving the old building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a balancing act for Swinson . He is striving to preserve the color and character of the old building, reverse decades of rundown makeovers, catch up on years of deferred maintenance, attract modern tenants and position the mall for the future – all without losing his shirt.

But one day last week, most bays had been shuttered by midafternoon. The mall was empty of customers by 4 p.m. The main doors were locked at 6 p.m.

“I need a place with energy,” said Swinson, waving an arm at the empty corridor. “Right now, there’s not a lot of traffic, as you can see.”

‘A lot of history in there’

That should change.

Pita Pit, which now operates a small sandwich shop in Five Points, is expanding in a big way – leasing four bays in the front of the mall to capitalize on the Main Street lunch crowd and cater to the late-night munchies of University of South Carolina students living in the nearby 21-story The Hub residential tower.

Each bay in the mall, which Swinson owns and operates with his son-in-law and partner Brad Shell, is 266 square feet.

The restaurant, scheduled to open in January, should bring in more daytime foot traffic, adding to the mall’s lunch business, which is now limited to Swanson’s Deli, which closes after the lunch rush. Pita Pit will stay open until 2 a.m. with its own exterior entrance, adding after-hours life to the front of the mall.

“Renovating the mall will be great for the area, and we wanted to be a part of it,” franchise owner John Thrasher said. “There’s a lot of history there, and it’s a good location. Main Street is up and coming. It’s starting to look like Greenville.”

Swanson’s has signed a new lease and will remain in its three-bay location across from Pita Pit, adding the beginnings of a restaurant cluster on the Main Street side of the building.

Salon Sole, which occupies the bays that are the future home of Pita Pit, will move to the front of the Washington Street leg of the mall, a location formerly occupied by Paul Sloan Interiors.

“We want to have energy in the front of the building and Pita Pit does that,” Swinson said.

‘All of that is negotiable’

The building has 15,806 square feet of retail space and common areas on the first floor, 16,660 square feet of office space on the second floor and 17,266 square feet of space in the basement.

The basement in the 1970s was home to a series of bars known as Columbia Down Under, a takeoff on Atlanta’s Underground Atlanta.

“I would love for someone to put a microbrewery or a wine bar down there,” Swinson said.

Occupancy in the mall is now below 50 percent.

Seven of the bays once used for art studios in the mall are now empty. They will be modernized, like all of the bays in the Arcade, with historically accurate doors and transoms. Drop ceilings in the 17-foot by 16-foot bays will also be removed.

“We want to stay as true to the original design as possible,” Swinson said.

The artists left, said portraitist Tish Lowe – who is staying in her second-floor studio – for a variety of reasons.

Most lease costs are more than doubling, Lowe said, and Swinson and Shell are requiring minimum five-year leases.

“Although all of that is negotiable,” she said.

Neither Swinson nor the tenants interviewed would comment on the specifics of their leases.

However, in addition to rising rents, many of the artists also left, Lowe said, because they didn’t work at the studios during the day when there were people in the mall to buy their paintings.

“It wasn’t working as a place to sell art,” she said.

Swinson agreed.

“Most of them were never here, so there was not energy,” he said.

Lowe and well-known Columbia artist Blue Sky are staying at the Arcade. Lowe said she loves to work in the Italian Renaissance Revival building because she studied in Italy and has a gallery in Florence, Italy.

“I’ve had a great experience here, and the building has great karma,” she said. “I hope it can come to life again.”

Old tenants moving

Swinson is also in the process of negotiating new leases and spaces for the old-time tenants – Ramseur, tailor Thomasena Reynolds, and stylists Johnny Smith and Joyce Parker.

Reynolds, who occupies four bays on the Main Street side of the mall, will move to two bays on the Washington Street side. Those bays are now being renovated.

Parker will stay in her two bays on the Washington Street side. Future moves by Smith and Ramseur are still uncertain.

“I’ll probably take the shortest lease I can get,” Smith said with a shrug. “To slap people with these rents? I think that’s unfair.”

Ramseur said he would like to stay in his present location, in a half bay near the elevator, at the same minimal rent.

“I hope I get grandfathered in,” he said.

Work is also starting on the second floor, which is lined with office suites. Swinson and Shell have renovated a suite facing Washington Street into offices for the Arcade’s former owner, real estate developer Ned Barnes.

The former arcade office was a dated, threadbare cluster of rooms with drop ceilings, an odd floor plan and little natural light. Now, it is a modern, stylish Class A office with a soaring, vintage skylight.

“This is our showplace for other tenants,” Swinson said.

‘Different by Christmas’

But Swinson, who purchased the building for an undisclosed amount, still faces a conundrum fixing up the main floor of the mall.

It has been declining for decades (try peeking in the bathrooms). Several of the bays have been marred with apparently nonpermitted additions through the years. And every aspect of the renovation project – down to the type of cleaner used on the grout – has to be approved by the S.C. Department of History and Archives.

“You can’t just get some Ajax and steel wool and go at it,” Swinson said. “It’s all original material.”

And until he can get those approvals and do the intricate work of restoring the building, he is hesitant to start marketing it to high-level retailers who might want a spot on Columbia’s resurgent Main Street.

“We’re just not ready to show,” he said. “I wouldn’t even take them in the bathrooms.”

Also, there is a lot of work behind the scenes that are required before Swinson and Shell can start on the cosmetics. They have already spent an estimated $500,000 of their $2 million renovation budget.

“We’re doing a lot of stuff that will never be seen to make the structure watertight and safe,” Swinson said.

That said, the mall’s distinctive Italianate terra cotta features and tile floors have begun to be cleaned. Broken capitals atop rows of columns are being swapped with hand-fabricated replacements. And asbestos abatement and renovations to several bays are underway.

The mall is scheduled to host a Leadership Columbia event in September. And Swinson hopes to have much of the renovation work done by the end of the year.

“You need to come back,” he said. “This place is going to look a whole lot different by Christmas,”

This story was originally published August 20, 2016 at 8:52 PM.