Developers push ahead on North Road site; restaurants, hotel and even theater seen as ideal for location

Fort Motte Partners, a partnership of Century 21 The Moore Group and C.F. Evans Construction, is working to develop the 57-acre tract of land adjacent to the North Road Walmart.

The development is expected to include restaurants, retail outlets, an entertainment complex with possible movie theater, as well as a hotel and residential areas.

Green space to include walking paths, ponds and open spaces is also planned.

Moore said he and Johnny Evans, C.F. Evans president and chief executive officer, are bullish on the property and have been for the past 10 years when plans were first announced to develop it.

Construction was to begin around the middle of 2006 but due to the economic downturn, plans to develop the property were put on hold. The target date was pushed into 2009 or possibly 2010.

By September 2016, the property remained untouched.

Until now.

Crews have spent the past few weeks felling trees on the property starting early in the morning and working into the afternoon hours.

Clearing will continue for about the next three months, but in order to maintain the uniqueness of the property, the magnolia trees will be preserved.

The name of the property, which was formerly owned by the Wannamaker family from which the magnolia tree had its origins, will most likely be Magnolia Village.

“We still believe it is to be the best or most well-suited property to be developed for multi-uses in the county,” Moore said. “We see a little bit of an uptick in the economy mainly in major cities in South Carolina, but we feel like it is certainly going to get us to some degree. We hopefully will be able to ride that wave.”

Currently, the work is focused on infrastructure such as roads, sewer, water, engineering and traffic.

“We have not yet put together a full-fledged marking plan,” Moore said, expressing his hopes the plan will be available in December. “We have had some interest in the property.”

Moore declined comment on the specific interest but he foresees construction on retail to begin by late 2017.

Moore said the plans will coincide and tie in with the city’s plans to build a recreational center behind Orangeburg Preparatory School.

The recreation complex project calls for baseball and softball fields for children and adults. It would also include picnic tables, some playgrounds and walking trails with exercise stations.

“I don’t think Orangeburg understands what these ball fields will mean to the community,” Moore said. “They will be state of the art, first class, brand new. A lot of tourists will want to come to that.”

Moore said the property has significant traffic flow and is considered in the best “economic demographic point in Orangeburg County.”

“If they can stay there, they can eat there, they can play there, they can do it all,” Moore said.

Moore praised the work with the city as the two have combined resources to build one road going to the ball fields initially before eventually looping back to North Road near the IHOP restaurant.

“The idea of a public-private partnership doing something that will benefit the entire community,” Moore said. “We feel like it is going to create a really good new place for the entire community.”

Moore and Evans are no strangers to Orangeburg development.

The men have partnered to build the Carolina Regional Park off U.S. 601 near Interstate 26 and also built the Willington Lakes apartment complex off North Road.

The slow-moving nature of the North Road project has been challenging.

“It has tried my patience,” Moore said.”Johnny and I are excited about the whole thing because we believe Orangeburg is poised to grow. There is no reason for us not to take steps forward. We will put our heart and soul into it and give it our best shot.”