CAMDEN, S.C. — It's the end of an era for the 'Shops at Midtowne' in Camden.
“It was a very, very busy shopping center. It had a beauty shop, it had a furniture re-finisher," said Nancy Truesdale, as she locked her husband's store Check, Cash or Plus for the final time.
He owned several businesses here, and he passed away just a few months ago. Now, she's saying goodbye. "It's very sad.”
That will now leave only several shops with their open signs on in the shopping center, but not for long as the Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments is taking the site over and making changes, according to Executive Director Dennis Cyphers.
“Not much movement had happened on the property in the past few years. It’s sitting as commercial structures but many are run down and there are other issues with brownfields effects that we are looking into," Cyphers says.
“Currently, we will be reaching out to those business owners to give those vacate notices and to give them ample time for them to find other locations to relocate to before we start any major movements as far as the furthering of the studies or any demos.”
So, what's next?
“I think at this point, the idea is to at least get the dilapidated structures removed, get the brownfield issues taken care of and kinda leaving it as a blank slate for developers to look at moving forward.”
There is no official date for when the demolition will take place.