SUMTER, S.C. — Several local agencies that provide key services in Sumter are in a new home that gives them a major upgrade to their workspace.
Some of the agencies were previously in the seven-story building next to the local library, which Sumter County says has structural issues due to the age of the building. Now, the county has gutted and remodeled the Magnolia Place building on the corner of North Magnolia Street and East Hampton Avenue to house the various agencies, including the Sumter County Clemson Extension.
“I'm actually from Sumter, so it's amazing that I get to work in my county,” County Coordinator and 4-H Agent Terri Sumpter shared about her three decades working for the local Clemson Extension. “We do everything from cooking, sewing, stem, financial management, gardening, natural resources so the list goes on and on.”
Now, Sumpter and her team of volunteers have a new space to teach kids from age 5 to 19 different life skills.
“It's truly awesome to be able to come into this building and be able to do programs here now without going…a lot of times we had to go to the schools and out into the community to do programs. Now I can do a lot more programs here in the office,” Sumpter explained. “We can do more programs. We can do more programs on the weekend. We can do more programs after school because we have this space now available…We still go out in the community, but it's just nice to have our own space that we can utilize with the community.”
The Clemson Extension’s office features a new demonstration kitchen, work space, and conference rooms.
“Our whole mission is to bring knowledge to local communities,” Water Resrouces Agent Katie Collins detailed.
Collins says the new space is not just impacting children in the area, but helps the whole organization serve the community as it allows residents to who can stop by to ask questions, drop off soil samples and connect with the local agents.
“This new space we're very proud of, so we love having people in. Our 4-H agent has already hosted cooking classes here with kids, our other water resources agent who deals a lot with stormwater education has already had a meeting in our new conference room with the local stormwater managers and some local environmental educators,” Collins said. “And we're just really proud to have people come in and see our new space and it's such a nice big open space where it, like, breeds creativity and conversation and it's just a nice place to be able to talk with people.”
The Extension is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday in the building, which previously housed The Sumter Item, at the entrance close to Sumter First Baptist Church off Liberty Street.
“We have a separate entrance from the front entrance of the building,” Collins explained. “It's a new address, so we're figuring all that out and getting signage up. But if you tell a local that's been here for a while ‘We're in the building that The Item used to be in,’ pretty much most of the locals know where that is and know where to find us.”
The building was formerly owned by Osteen Publishing Company, parent of the local newspaper, according to a spokesperson for the county. Now, Magnolia Place also houses other agencies, like the local Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services (SCDPPPS) and the local Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ).
In a statement to News19, a spokesperson for SCDJJ says it recently moved into the new space, which is “a welcome upgrade and provides more office space in a more modern building, a conference room that staff can use, and additional security.”
The county purchased the building and renovated it with a $2.2 million budget, using funding from the 2014 Capital Projects Sales Tax Referendum, known as the penny tax.
A spokesperson for the county says the Sumter County Office of Voter Registration and Elections will move in late this summer, but before the general election in November.
“This building is perfectly situated to serve the general public and we’re happy to see our partners in state government move into this renovated facility,” Sumter County Administrator Gary Mixon said to News19 in a statement.
The City of Sumter used this building briefly while the Liberty Center, which houses city officials’ offices, was being renovated. The Sumter County Courthouse was also undergoing renovations, and the county moved various offices into the Courthouse at that time, a spokesperson for the county said.
The local county administration building, which houses the Offices of Assessor, Auditor and Treasurer, was also renovate “to better serve the public and increase safety measures,” the spokesperson told News19.
While those offices were being renovated, the assessor, auditor, and treasurer were temporarily relocated to Magnolia Place until the administration building’s renovation was completed.
Because of that, the county says there have been “plenty of upgrades to Magnolia Place” recently, with $1.2 million from the County that was not from the penny tax and $800,000 in state appropriations.
The county says future uses or redevelopment of the seven-story building are being evaluated.