As reported by the Times and Democrat: The Catawba Indian Nation won't renew its option to buy the Santee Factory Stores mall, a spokesman said Monday.
For more than a year, the tribe had been eyeing the property for a 24-hour, high-stakes bingo hall that would have created, by some estimates, a $5 million payroll in an area of chronically high unemployment.
The option expires Wednesday after being renewed at least once.
"The tribe has elected to drop the option. It's not in the tribe's best interest to continue the option," said Terry Collier, president of SPM, a Columbia-based firm that manages the tribe's economic development initiatives.
"The tribe really, sincerely appreciates what the folks in Orangeburg County did to try to help this happen," Collier said. "That was extremely helpful to the tribe."
Orangeburg County's two state senators said they are disappointed but hopeful the tribe eventually will gain approval for its plans, either in the courts or the Legislature, and still will be interested in the Santee area. |
