Orangeburg County projects receive $35M; USDA announces money for sewer, entertainment

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing $35 million in grants and loans for the development of a Claflin University student center, a mini-golf course and go-cart track, as well as Santee sewer upgrades.

“The focus is on advancing access and equity in our rural communities and rural America and these projects speak to doing just that,” USDA South Carolina State Director of Rural Development Dr. Saundra Glover told those gathered at a Monday morning press conference.

Glover said the projects announced Monday aim to address areas that have not recently benefitted from the department.

“We have identified communities around the state of South Carolina where rural development has not had any impact over the last five years,” she said.

Glover described the projects as a “lifting of Orangeburg County, a transformation of Orangeburg County.”

“Rural Development is about lifting communities, about improving the lives of our rural residents and increasing economic development in our rural communities,” Glover said.

Glover grew up in the Four Holes community in Orangeburg.

“This is very personal for me,” she said.

“We are here to meet the needs of our rural communities,” Glover said. “If rural America thrives, all America thrives.”

Glover was joined by U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn and Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small for the announcement at the Orangeburg County Library and Conference Center.

“Whip Clyburn has always recognized investing in rural people is investing in the whole country,” Small said. “It is really about connecting this region. If you build a place that people are proud of, people can do amazing things.

“Each one of these is an investment in a place that is home, that people return to because they love it and that people are proud of.”

Small said, “The Biden/Harris administration is honored to be partners in Orangeburg.”

Clyburn said when he graduated from South Carolina State University, 82% of his graduating class left the state.

“How do you educate these children … and allow them to go off and become productive citizens in other places?” Clyburn said. “We want these young people leaving these institutions to be productive citizens here in South Carolina. That is what these projects are all about.”

The investments include:

• A $18 million USDA Rural Development Community Facilities and Direct Loan and Guaranteed Loan for the construction of Claflin University’s three-story, 85,000-square-foot Student Activity and Community Center.

The target date to open the center is the summer of 2023.

The center will have classrooms, a student life and E-sports area, student meeting space and a student cafe with national food service brands.

“This will bring back to Orangeburg for the first time in decades a movie theater for the use of this community,” Clyburn said. “It is not going to be closed to campus but will be open to the public.”

The center will have an indoor and outdoor areas for seating and gatherings on both the ground and third-floor levels.

The shared community spaces will include a performing arts/theater auditorium and a conference/ball room with an 800-person seating capacity.

Officials say the project will bring in 250 new jobs.

The $18 million loan is for 35 years at a 2.5% interest rate.

In addition to the loan, the university will contribute $3 million and there will be new market tax credits of $6 million for a total project cost of $27 million.

Claflin University Vice President and Chief of Staff Cletra Peters said President Dr. Dwaun Warmack is adamant about not raising student fees or tuition and will raise funds to help pay back the loan.

“We hope to be able to burn the mortgage by the time we open,” Peters said.

• A $5 million small business loan to the MAX Family Entertainment Center.

The 30-year guaranteed USDA business and industry loan will enable the entertainment center to build a miniature golf course and a go-cart track at its current location at 1015 Red Bank Road off U.S. Highway 601 near Interstate 26.

The golf course and go-cart track will be built in the next six months.

“This is going to a tremendous benefit for South Carolina State, for Claflin, for Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, for the other entities moving into this area so there will be family entertainment for this region,” Clyburn said.

Clyburn noted professors, teachers and administrators want family entertainment and homes.

“They need to be able to benefit from a broad range of development,” Clyburn said.

MAX Family Entertainment owner Johnny Murdaugh Sr. said the loan will be paid back with no impact to current costs at the center.

“We look at what it costs in Columbia and Charleston and our prices are basically the same,” Murdaugh said. He said the center will remain competitive.

“I am really excited,” he said.

The $4 million, 30,000-square-foot family entertainment center officially held its grand opening and ribbon cutting in September 2021.

The center offers laser tag, trampolines, soft play, spin zone and more, along with food and refreshments.

The business previously received a $2.8 million U.S. Small Business Administration loan.

For more information, visit themaxoburg.com

• An $11,893,300 USDA Rural Development Water and Waste Disposal Loan for upgrade and expansion of Santee’s Wastewater treatment facility, which serves the town and areas adjacent to the town.

The town plans to convert an outdated lagoon system into a new and more efficient wastewater treatment system.

“It will double our capacity, which means the town will have a new life for another 50 years,” Santee Mayor Donnie Hilliard said.

“Right now we are sort of slowing down because we cannot add any more taps because our system is maxed out,” he said.

The expansion is expected to be complete in two years, Hilliard said.

The current system was built in 1975.

“The USDA has been gracious,” Hilliard said, noting the town will be able to pay off the loan without any tax increase, but a wastewater increase is most likely.

“We have to do a rate increase anyways,” he said. The amount isn’t yet know.

The upgrade will enable to system to expand to 3 million gallons a day to address future needs.

The project is deemed necessary to ensure Santee wastewater m is properly treated and that the region has the ability to serve current and future economic development.

Of the amount Santee is receiving, $6.84 million is a grant and $5.1 million is a loan.

The terms of the loan are for 40 years at a 1.5% interest rate. An estimated 1,496 people will benefit from the upgrade.

The wastewater treatment facility is needed as residential development is expected to continue.

“We are seeing new growth taking place along the I-95 corridor,” Clyburn said.

Orangeburg Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Kalu Kalu praised the partnership between the USDA and Orangeburg.

“We need a lot of help,” Kalu said. “We want to make Orangeburg a place for these young people so when they graduate they will want to stay. We don’t want them to go somewhere else.”

Orangeburg County Administrative Services Director Angel Howell, speaking on behalf of Orangeburg County, thanked the USDA for its assistance to the county over the years with wastewater, broadband and emergency response funding.

“Thank you again, USDA,” Howell said.

Sen. Vernon Stephens, D-Bowman, said, “USDA Rural Development is like a grandparent to each one of these communities that exist in Orangeburg County because they are there to support.

“They are there to help bridge that gap. Over the years, we have seen that gap closing.”

Stephens sees the projects as helping Orangeburg County become a destination.

“We are looking at how we can we actually turn the faces of those individuals who are riding up and down I-26 and making Orangeburg attractive enough to actually stop,” Stephens said. “We are changing the landscape of Orangeburg County as well as changing the minds that Orangeburg County is a good place not to just visit but to actually live.”