Electrician Contractor in Irmo, SC

IRMO — The small Midlands town known for its annual Okra Strut is moving forward with plans to build a “Main Street” downtown district to create a more vibrant restaurant, bar, retail and hotel scene.

“All the municipalities that touch our borders, they have a vibrant Main Street, said Kerry Powers, president of the Irmo Chamber of Commerce. “When Irmo was planned, we were just a little railroad town that supplied the folks that built the (Lake Murray) dam back in the early ’20s. So nobody thought to plan a Main Street district, and Irmo just grew up and it really doesn’t have a central focal point.”

Irmo, which has 11,600 residents in both Richland and Lexington counties, has the requisite chain stores and a number of sprawling residential developments through the town.

What it lacks is a central business district that neighboring cities use to attract residents and visitors. A Main Street will make Irmo a destination, as opposed to a passage point on the way to Lake Murray, Irmo Town Councilman Bill Danielson said.

Irmo’s proposed downtown is planned for a wooded area next to the Community Park of Irmo, where the okra festival is held.

The location was selected because of its accessibility to the park. Town Council members picture people grabbing a beer at the nearby brewery, stopping in for ice cream on the same street and catching a concert in the neighboring park, all in one trip.

However, the proposed downtown currently stands as a narrow and unpaved road, surrounded by residential neighborhoods, presenting the town with a project unlike most other downtown developments in the state.

“We’ve got to give people a reason to come here,” Powers said. “We keep trying to put lipstick on a pig here. Let’s put the money in it, and do what we need to do to make people spend their dollars here.”

Irmo’s council took first steps on the Main Street development in a Dec. 20 meeting, approving the purchase of a neighboring property and hiring of a real estate acquisition firm to help with the project.

The initial idea for a downtown in Irmo came in 2020, after the local chamber sent a survey to residents asking what improvements they would like to see. Residents said they wanted a reason to stay in Irmo for entertainment and food, instead of driving 10 miles south to Lexington or 10 miles east to Columbia, Powers said.

Irmo is looking for inspiration from its neighbors as well as towns in the Upstate that recently did some downtown work, including Greenville, Greer and Fountain Inn, members of the council said. But those cities were revamping existing downtowns.

“I mean, you’re kind of creating a downtown out of nothing, right?” said Bryan Beal, a Greenville-based real estate developer who has spoken with Irmo about opening a brewery on its planned “Main Street.”

Irmo Mayor Barry Walker said downtown location is ideal because of its proximity to residential neighborhoods that will see property values rise.

“This is very unique what they’re trying to accomplish here, which is great, and the city’s being so proactive with it,” Beal said.

Although the idea has been bounced around for a couple of years, a bump in town funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, federal pandemic relief funding that was distributed across the nation’s state and local governments, propelled the plan forward.

In addition to ARPA money, Danielson said, the town will fund the project through hospitality tax collection and bonds. Because Irmo does not charge residential property tax, a boost in business licenses, hospitality tax and permitting fees would provide the town with some additional money, he said.

Danielson said he hopes to open the street in two years, but Beal predicts the project will take between four and six years, depending on the town’s strategy.

“This is something that they’re gonna have to decide: Do they want it to be incremental growth … or do they want it to be all at once just have this, you know, huge kind of grand-opening type of thing?” Beal said.

One by one Tuesday night, property owners approached the microphone at the front center of Irmo’s town hall to say basically the same thing: They would not be selling their property, and they didn’t want to be asked again.

“I am not interested in selling to anyone, and I am not interested in talking about it anymore from this point on,” said one property owner, Lorna Hipps.

The trouble began when news reports circulated that Irmo Town Council was planning a major development near Community Park, the venue of the town’s famous annual Okra Strut festival. They wanted to build a downtown for the city, a central business corridor, which in a town bisected by rail lines never developed itself.

At first, advocates were excited to share news of the project. Councilman Bill Danielson did a long interview with a local real estate podcast in early January, and news quickly spread about what would be one of the biggest economic development projects in recent Irmo history.

But no one had told the landowners whose property would be needed for the project to move ahead, and no one told the property owners who would live near the new development.

“They were disrespected,” Mayor Barry Walker recently told The State. “At that point, now you have people up in arms saying, ‘Wait a minute, no one talked to us, but you talked to everybody else.’”

Town leaders say the project is now dead. They’re no longer going to try to buy any private property around Moseley Avenue. Residents remain wary.

At the same time, with one site down, town leaders have limited options if they still wish to create a community core.

As Irmo continues to grow — buoyed by high-performing local schools and the continued outgrowth of Columbia suburbs — leaders say the town needs to invest in its future by anchoring more businesses and creating more retail options for locals.

Roughly 12 acres of dirt and woods occupy the now-dead project site on Moseley Avenue where leaders had hoped to build a new business district for local shops and offices.

The project would have stretched from Loveland Coffee on Carlisle Street to Church Street on the other end of Irmo Community Park.

The idea began in 2020 with a survey sent by the town’s Chamber of Commerce asking for input on how to improve the area. From the responses came the idea for the new downtown — an area where Irmo residents could run and patronize local businesses instead of traveling to Columbia or Lexington for their entertainment.

In the early days of Irmo, the town grew around a water stop for a railroad. It grew along the rails, and no true Main Street ever formed. Longtime residents remember a semblance of a Main Street on St. Andrews Road, but even that has dwindled.

“It had like a small whistle-stop kind of downtown area. … There was a general store, there was a post office. There was all that little stuff right here,” said Michelle Wadell, owner of Copious Fibers, a yarn shop on St. Andrews Road. She grew up in Irmo, and her mother has lived in the town nearly all her life.

“As it grew and started to develop, and I think this happens in a lot of small towns, they mow over what was originally part of the downtown,” Waddell said.

The project to solidify a downtown near Irmo Community Park had early support from the Chamber of Commerce. Two days before he sat in a crowded church hearing residents decry the project, councilman Danielson did a podcast interview celebrating the project with Chamber of Commerce president Kerry Powers.

“The goal is economic development,” Danielson told the Cola Guys Real Estate Podcast, estimating the creation of 300-400 jobs and a local economic impact of $30 million from the development.

On the podcast, Danielson shared that he had already had conversations with a brewery brewmaster in the Upstate about opening a location on the Moseley Avenue site.

“Imagine a 6500-square-foot brewery with outdoor activities blending into the park,” Danielson said on the podcast. “The interest is there.”

During Tuesday’s town meeting, one resident stood to say he wanted the town to continue thinking about how to make the idea a reality.

“The truth is, growth is happening,” said local pastor Jim Reese of Decided Church. “The location is bad; the idea is good.”

When he sat, the property owners opposed to selling their land applauded.

Even before Irmo was incorporated in 1890, it was a place where Black residents thrived in an era where discrimination still loomed large.

In Irmo, Black residents bought property and found success after the Civil War Reconstruction era. It was home to the Harbison Agriculture College, a historic Black college that closed in 1958, and many successful Black farmers.

St. Paul AME Church in Irmo was originally called Oak Grove African Methodist Episcopal Church, and it was one of the first Black churches established in South Carolina after the Civil War.

Most of the property owners whose land would be impacted by the new town center are Black. Several told the council the property had been in their family for decades or more.

“Every time we Black folks get some property and we want to build wealth, it’s snatched away,” one resident told the town council in early January.

Those roots are part of why residents were so outraged at the suggestion the town might employ eminent domain — a legal process where a government can forcibly buy private property — to accomplish its development goals.

“I think we overlooked the ancestral aspect,” Danielson told The State. “That may not have a price.”

Danielson, in an interview Wednesday morning, was emphatic that no development would move forward at the Moseley Avenue site after residents were adamant they wouldn’t sell.

It’s unclear where the town goes from here.

In 2016, the Irmo council identified several parcels around Town Hall, near the town park, that could be developed into a new town center. Most of those parcels remain undeveloped, leaving room for some of what was envisioned in 2016 to still become a reality.

Walker said if the town wanted to, it could develop the Moseley Avenue parcels it already owns, but investing the estimated $3 million to $4 million needed to get water and sewer connections to the land likely wouldn’t be worth it for only a few businesses.

Right now, the city-owned Moseley Avenue land is used as overflow parking for the annual Okra Strut festival.

“We’re going to take a beat,” said Councilman Erik Sickinger Wednesday.

He agreed the Moseley Avenue site was dead, saying the landowners have made it clear they don’t want to sell.

“Unfortunately, we never even had the opportunity to offer,” he said.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Walker proposed a resolution to suspend land acquisition activities on Moseley Avenue. The resolution was never voted on because no other council member would second the motion.

Both Sickinger and Danielson told The State they are certain the town is no longer moving forward with the Moseley Avenue project, but council members disagreed with voting for a “no-action” resolution.

Still, some residents remain skeptical.

“I don’t believe anything the city says,” said Izell Hall, a landowner on Church Street who has owned his property for more than 50 years. “The city is after what they want. They’ll tell you one thing today and another thing tomorrow.”

The town cat ‘Mo is hiding in the bushes outside Irmo Town Park. Somewhere, his sister Irma wanders.

Mayor Walker said he has some of their kittens at his house. He’s been on the Irmo council for 18 years. With a laugh, he calls himself a simple country mayor. He’s made Irmo his life.

But Irmo is not a simple country town. It’s nearing 12,000 people and sits wedged between metropolitan areas in Richland and Lexington counties. What happens around Irmo will certainly affect the town.

Walker doesn’t want to leave the town with debt. The Moseley Avenue project would have cost the town at least $3 million. If an alternate proposal is made, Walker wants to see a private developer lead the way.

He supports the downtown core idea, but he has other things he wants the city to focus on — they’re planning to build a new town hall, and he wants to have money for concerts. Still, by the mayor’s count, the town has $6 million in reserves and several million more in federal pandemic aid dollars.

There’s some uncertainty that the downtown project would even have the desired impact.

As the owner of a yarn shop, Waddell said the idea of a new downtown sounded great. Her own shop would probably do well on a bustling Main Street. But she worried that even if the town was successful in developing the new corridor, it might not centralize people.

“I’m afraid that that ship has sailed,” she said. “It does feel like things are kind of sprawled, and I don’t know that you can put the feathers back in the pillow.”

If some form of the project does move forward at a different site, Walker said he wants the town to take the backseat and let a private developer lead.

“We’re trying to set Irmo up for the future,” Walker said.

This story was originally published January 19, 2023, 5:30 AM.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A tight-knit community of first responders mourns the loss of one of their own after a service call turned to tragedy.

A fire broke out at Tropical Ridge Apartments off of Stoneridge Drive around 4:15 p.m. Friday.

Fire crews from Columbia, Irmo and Cayce responded to the fire — which was eventually declared a 3-alarm fire — that claimed the life firefighter James Muller, a 25-year-old husband and father.

Once inside, Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said several firefighters were trapped when the building collapsed in multiple places.

“We ended up transporting about seven firefighters,” Jenkins said. “It was five of them from Columbia and and two from Irmo and they were transported.”

Muller — a driver, operator and recent graduate of the Fire Academy — didn’t make it.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Muller succumbed to his injuries while in the line of duty,” Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford said.

This fire is a sobering reminder of the dangers first responders face on every call to service.

Almost immediately after the announcement of the Muller’s death, tributes poured in from around the community.

South Carolina State Fire posted on Facebook, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Irmo Fire District and the friends and family of Firefighter Michael Muller.”

WIS News 10 spoke to Justin Dilger-Ewing who attended a firefighter training with Muller put on by Soda City Training. “I knew James from a truck day class, that man left such an impact on me in 8 hours. More than anyone in the fire service has,” Dilger-Ewing said.

The South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association said in a social media post, “It is a difficult night for the statewide fire service. We ask that you join us in a prayer for peace and comfort for Muller’s family, Irmo Fire, Columbia Fire, and all those who loved him.”

A search of Muller’s name on Facebook pulls up dozens of posts from around the country.

Jefferson Fire Department in Athens, Ga. posted, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Irmo Fire Department, Columbia Fire Department (SC) and to the friends and family of fallen FF James Muller.”

Rep. Jay Kilmartin, who represents South Carolina District 85, posted, “It is with great sadness that we mourn the life of James Muller of the Irmo Fire District, who bravely lost his life in the line of duty today. Elizabeth and I send our prayers to James’ family. We ask that you also keep the six others who were injured in the apartment fire collapse in your prayers.”

Local law enforcement also showed their support with a post on Twitter that said, “Our hearts are broken for Irmo Fire Service and all of the responders on this scene.”

Our hearts are broken for Irmo Fire Service and all of the responders on this scene. Irmo & @ColaFire, you are in our prayers. https://t.co/vNK05L7tOR

— Richland County Sheriff's Dept. (@RCSD) May 27, 2023

WIS News 10 crews observed crews from Lexington and Richland show up to the Irmo Fire District to pay their respects to Muller.

As more memorials are expected to continue to pop up for Muller, the community also waits to find out the condition of the other injured firefighters and a possible cause.

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IRMO — The town of Irmo hopes to give a makeover to its marketing materials with an overhaul of the town’s branding.

Irmo, which sits north of “the Jewel of South Carolina,” Lake Murray, has long expressed its desire to attract tourists locally and nationwide. Now, the 12,000-person town northwest of Columbia has made efforts to give the town a sleeker and more modern face.

″(Irmo) had a logo for so long that I think really reflected the past and not so much the future,” said Irmo Chamber President Kerry Powers. “So I was really glad that they decided to set aside those funds to bring us an updated look.”

Powers said she hopes a new logo and town seal will make tourism marketing, especially digital marketing, more eye-catching in the campaigns that are sent out nationwide.

In the proposed updated version of the town’s seal, the colors have been simplified to blue, gray and white, and the lettering has been changed to a trendier font with sharper lines. Additionally, the town has created new images featuring a simple tree and half moon, a gazebo (like the one found in Irmo’s town park), and a variety of sunset images.

Irmo, which grew up out of a train depot where supplies arrived for construction of the Lake Murray Dam in the late 1920s, has long celebrated its history, Powers said. The new images would include pieces of Irmo’s past, like the train emblem on the town seal, while branding the town as one that is looking forward, she said.

The push to rebrand the town comes several months after Irmo’s failed efforts to create a downtown, which some town leaders hoped would make Irmo more of a destination.

In a May 16 meeting, the Town Council approved a first reading of the rebranding plans. Councilman Erik Sickinger added that while a new town branding is a positive step for the town, the council has higher priorities.

“Passing this is not a reflection of importance of this over another item,” Sickinger said. “It’s not a binary choice to work on branding and we’re not worrying about (crime in) Beacon Hill or other stuff that’s happing in town.”

To win final approval, the proposed rebrand will need a second vote, likely in a June council meeting.

Hundreds of miles away, the Irmo Little League team is getting support and love from their friends and family.

IRMO, S.C. — Although the Irmo Little League team is over 700 miles from their home turf at Friarsgate Park, they're still receiving love and support from friends and family at home, and they're still playing their hearts out as they advanced to the U.S. Championship in the Junior League World Series on Friday.

Sam Todd has had an all-time proud dad week. His son, Charlie, is one of the players on Irmo Little League's baseball team that's been taking down opponents in the Junior League World Series. On Friday, the team played in round three of the tournament.

"They've won several regions, several state tournaments and they just barely missed the world series last year, and they made it this year," Todd recalls. He says it's been a long road throughout the year to get to this point,

"It's something they commit to. The families are very close, and the practices are something that's important to the coaches and the players, and the parents to commit, too, so that you have a chance to play where they're playing now, in the world series." Todd said.

The commitment is something Justin Baxter has seen firsthand as president of the Irmo Little League. He said the team is having a great time in Michigan and has had the unique opportunity to meet baseball players from around the world.

"It's actually kinda cool because the team that they've bonded the most with is Puerto Rico, and none of them spoke English, so there were a lot of apps on the phones, the language apps." Baxter said.

Baxter hosted a watch party with the parents of the players and members of the Irmo baseball community to support the team from hundreds of miles away.

"I tell people Irmo little league is 80% family and about 20% baseball," Baxter said. "It is community and family."

Todd agrees, saying the team is still feeling support from so far away

"They come together for the benefit of youth sports and it's something that's special in this Midlands area," Todd said. "It's fun to see, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of passion and you see that."

The team won its game Friday 3-2 over East. With the win, they advance to the U.S. Championship tomorrow against Michigan at 6 p.m.