FOREST ACRES, S.C. — After over eight years of waiting, members of the Forest Acres community have a new park in town, a $3 million park project was unveiled to hundreds along Forest Drive.
Thursday was a new step in the development of Forest Acres. But according to Vince Schiano, of Schiano's Pizza on Forest Drive, this new park is years in the making, dating back to the 2015 flood. During that weather event, floodwaters from Gills Creek rose almost to the roofs of nearby low-lying buildings.
"Dumpsters were floating through the back of this area, you could stand in about a foot of water across the street," he says about the thousand-year flood, "You would look and see, and just below the Schiano's sign was water all the way down."
Forest Acres Mayor Tom Andrews says the flood caused two buildings on the property along Gills Creek to be condemned, and then a plan was set to bring the area a new breath of fresh air.
"This is something we wanted to share with people and figure out a way how to open it up and turn it into something that everyone can be proud of," he says.
Andrews adds the project cost close to $3 million, with about a million dollars coming from the state government and SCDOT funds, with the rest from hospitality taxes.
"This is really just our first step," he adds. "As the Richland Mall develops, we've acquired approximately 6 acres on the back of it that we're going to develop into a park and I like to kind of think this is our test case. This was our lab for what we're going to do over there."
The ribbon cutting attracted dozens of families including the Kalenichs. Trisha Kalenich says she hopes the park will bring more people together.
"It's good for the spirit of the community. It helps people to connect, to get along, and to get to know more about each other, and meet their neighbors. It's a great place to be," she says.
Schiano says now with a new park just feet away from their business, he hopes more people will mean more business opportunities.
"The attention to detail is incredible, seeing strollers go across the bridge, all the way through," he adds, "we're excited for pizza in the park, right? People come grab a pizza and come sit with their families and seeing the kids playing in the splash pad, it's going to be awesome."
A city spokesperson tells us the park's hours, including the splash zone, will be from sun up to sun down.