By admin 
The University of South Carolina’s private real estate arm has added another property to its South Main Street portfolio.
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USC’s Development Foundation, which operates at an arm’s length from the university, recently purchased a property at the corner of Main and Pendleton streets on the southern doorstep of the state capitol complex, property records show.
The quarter-acre property, which encompasses 933-937 Main St., contains a two-story mixed-use building that houses two restaurants and several apartments about a block northwest of the historic Horseshoe and squarely within the university’s proposed line of development.
The blended brick building’s most notable tenant, Immaculate Consumption, is a popular coffee roastery that’s been keeping students and State House workers caffeinated for more than three decades. Hibachi House, a casual Japanese eatery, is the other restaurant on site.
Prior to Hibachi House, the 81-year-old structure was the original home of the Nickelodeon Theatre, an art house cinema that occupied the building for 33 years before moving to its current location at 1607 Main Street in 2013.
The USC Development Foundation paid $1.5 million for the property in late April, records show.
While it has no immediate plans for the land, the foundation jumped at the chance to acquire the prime parcel after connecting with its owner about eight months ago, president and CEO R. Jason Caskey told The State Media Co.
“We felt like because of its location it could be strategic for the university in future developments,” he said. “And so right now our goal is just to hold it, and figure out what the next steps might be.”
The State reached out to the Greenville real estate developer who had owned the property since 2012, but did not receive a response.
Purchase part of USC’s long-range development plans
For the past decade, the USC Development Foundation has methodically acquired parcels of land along South Main Street with the intention of redeveloping them and revitalizing the drab corridor that runs directly through campus.
This past week, the foundation finalized a property swap with the South Carolina Baptist Convention in order to consolidate its holdings on the 800 block of Main Street — one block south of Immaculate Consumption and Hibachi House — where it’s planning a mixed-use development.
In 2024, the foundation bought the Hunter-Gatherer Brewery and Cool Beans Coffee Co. properties, one block east of its recent purchase, where another redevelopment project is planned.
Some, but not all the South Main Street businesses that occupied buildings purchased by the Development Foundation have closed shortly thereafter.
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Hunter-Gatherer and Sandy’s Famous Hot Dogs closed within months of their respective properties being sold, but Cool Beans is still going strong more than 18 months later.
The old South Carolina Bookstore, whose property the foundation bought in November 2016, remained in business at 801 Main St. for nearly three years after its building was acquired.
Rob Reed, owner of Immaculate Consumption, declined comment on the foundation’s recent purchase of his coffee shop’s longtime home. He said he had plans to meet with foundation officials in the near future, but hadn’t heard anything about their designs for the building.
An employee at Hibachi House, the other restaurant affected by the foundation’s recent acquisition, also declined comment. He said the owner and manager of the Japanese eatery were out of town and unreachable when a reporter from The State visited Friday.
The future of South Main
The university’s plans for South Main are still up in the air, but preliminary discussions have centered around the construction of two six-story buildings with a mix of retail and housing.
USC officials said one building, which would occupy the 800 block of Main Street, is expected to have street-level, student-oriented retail and multiple stories of market-rate housing.
The other building, tentatively planned for College Street between Main and Sumter streets, would have ground-floor retail and student housing.
It’s likely that many of the retail services currently located in the Russell House will move to one or both of the developments as the student union undergoes a planned renovation and expansion in the years ahead.
Plans for the 900 block of Main Street are less well fleshed out.
USC Next, the university’s 2024 master plan, proposes a potential hotel development on a parcel of state-owned land just south of Immaculate Consumption and Hibachi House, but provides no further details.
When asked about the Development Foundation’s recent acquisition, USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said university and city leaders had been working for years to transform the South Main corridor into an attractive destination for locals and visitors alike.
“Main Street north of the Statehouse has experienced a renaissance thanks to similar redevelopment over the years,” Stensland said in an emailed statement. “We anticipate a similar transformation will take place on South Main Street thanks to these projects.”
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