Project Pascalis

The Historic Aiken Foundation Board on Project Pascalis

Updated July 13, 2026

Preservation and progress should go hand in hand. Preservation makes good economic sense. Preservation honors the past while stepping into the future. The Board members of HAF believe this. It is at the core of our charter and embedded in our history. And thus, we opposed Project Pascalis. Why?

• Th City bought multiple buildings – Hotel Aiken, Beckman Building, McGhee Block, Aiken Standard Building, Warneke building, and Newberry Hall – without getting formal appraisals.
• There was little consideration given to preserving historic buildings – the Hotel Aiken, Beckman Building, McGhee Block, and Aiken Standard Building would have been demolished.
• The process for selecting a developer was not transparent, and that developer did little to seek public input before presenting their demolition plans for DRB review.
• The size of the project was such that it would require construction out onto a significant portion of Newberry Street, and the City Council took an initial vote to conditionally convey the street to the developer.

To address these issues, HAF and like-minded individuals and foundations filed suit to stop the project, and the suit was successful. Project Pascalis was terminated.

Equally important has been the resulting follow-up:

• The City held an open process to select a marketing firm with specific qualifications in marketing historic properties.
• A Request for Qualifications was prepared that highlighted preservation and reuse of the historic properties rather than demolition.
• A developer, Oliver Hospitality, was selected that had specific and extensive experience in adaptively reusing buildings as hotels. That developer brought onboard a well-respected architect who was born and raised in Aiken and who has done extensive work on the preservation of historic buildings in Columbia, SC.
• As part of settling the lawsuit, the City agreed to bring in an experienced outside team to evaluate City processes and make recommendations for improvements.

This evolution occurred over nearly five years, but we all hope that the end product will strengthen the historic integrity of Aiken’s downtown and improve the governance of our City.