Roofing Contractor in Forest Acres, SC

A burgeoning chain that offers a “fresh Mex” menu has set an opening date for a Midlands location.

Surcheros, which has a number of locations in Georgia and Florida, will open a new restaurant at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 10 at 4609 Forest Drive suite 2 in Forest Acres. That’s in the popular Cardinal Crossing mixed-use development. It will be the first Surcheros location in South Carolina.

“I am thrilled to bring Surcheros to South Carolina and share their high-quality offerings and exceptional hospitality with the greater Columbia area,” Surcheros Forest Acres owner Andrew Powell said in a statement. “Columbia has a dynamic community of families and students, and I look forward to establishing Surcheros as a favorite dining destination. It’s an honor to expand Surcheros into a new state, and we can’t wait to celebrate this milestone with friends, neighbors, and visitors.”

The first 100 customers who make a purchase at the Cardinal Crossing Surcheros on Dec. 10 will get free burritos for a year, the company said in a release.

The menu at Surcheros includes grilled burritos, quesadillas, tacos, nachos, salads, burrito bowls and more. The restaurant space in Forest Acres will be about 3,000 square feet, the company said.

Cardinal Crossing has continued to be a thriving commercial development in the heart of Forest Acres. It features a host of restaurants and businesses, including Nothing Bundt Cakes, Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, Clean Juice, and more.

It’s in a high-traffic area, as more than 27,000 cars per day travel down Forest Drive, per the SC Department of Transportation.

Once it debuts, the Forest Acres Surcheros will open 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

This story was originally published November 21, 2024, 12:05 PM.

The State

Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 20 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of numerous South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, business beat reporting, election coverage, social media and more.

The city said it's already moved ahead with the contract for developers to start working on the permitting.

FOREST ACRES, S.C. — Tuesday night, council members in Forest Acres said things are ahead of schedule in the development project that will replace the Richland Mall.

News19 told and showed you preliminary drawings back in August of how local leaders said the former Richland Mall, at the intersection of Forest Drive and Beltline Boulevard, will be transformed.

The new space will feature an outdoor park, apartments, businesses, a grocery store and brewery.

Council members shared that demolition is set to wrap up towards the end of this year, with site remediation beginning in the spring.

"When they submit the plan development district to us, we'll kind of get into more finite details of what's going on over there. And then, obviously, we'll get some thought from us as council members, but we'll also give a lot of thought from the public as well to developers," Forest Acres councilman David Black said.

Things are pressing forward with Tuesday night's approval of a $2.5 million grant agreement with South Carolina Parks Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT) for the redevelopment.

"We've already moved ahead with the contract for them to start working on the permitting and the other aspects that'll be involving the creek restoration and stabilization of Penn Branch," Shaun Greenwood, Forest Acres city administrator said.

Forest Acres leaders said the creek, right next to the mall property, will now be highlighted.

"The park project has a creek restoration component to it," said Lynnsey Baker, Forest Acres public information officer. "Penn Branch Creek, a lot of people don't even realize was there behind the mall. It was actually covered up in a parking area of the mall and our hope is to help to bring that creek out into the public, make it an amenity of this park and make it a waterway that everyone can really enjoy."

Local businessmen like barber John Buckner are excited for the change.

"I think the actual open air and the brewery and having the up-to-date stuff will do better," Buckner said.

Greenwood said they're still in the hard design phase of the park, and a consultant will come next month to give a final draft of the master plan for approval.

Council said their goal is for contractors to begin building the park the same time they build the retail space. That process starting hopefully next year.

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FLORENCE — More than 62,000 acres of Pee Dee forestland — three times the size of Hilton Head Island — will be preserved for future generations of South Carolinians.

It’s the single-largest conservation easement project in the state’s history and a major push to protect forests and wildlife threatened by development.

The move, which must still be finalized and involves mostly private landowners, means vast tracts of space will be preserved in perpetuity for timber production and public use, according to a press release announcing the Pee Dee Basin Initiative.

It will strengthen the timber economy, offer new recreational opportunities and conserve habitat for priority plants and wildlife.

Forests in Marion, Williamsburg and Georgetown counties along the Pee Dee, Santee and Black rivers will be affected.

“It's breathtaking, just the scale of the project,” said Maria Whitehead, senior vice president of land for the Southeast at the Open Space Institute, which helped organize the project. “It's hard to conceptualize just how big 62,000 acres is, but I can tell you, it's very big.”

Whitehead said the project is a historic opportunity. The effort comes as South Carolina’s population explodes, and state leaders have made land preservation a priority to ensure the state’s natural resources aren’t erased by development.

Pee Dee News

In a press release, Gov. Henry McMaster said the project is a win for the state by combining landscape protection with economic growth.

“Conservation of South Carolina’s natural resources is key to our state’s economic security and future,” McMaster said.

The announcement was made after the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided $50 million to fund the project, part of more than $265 million the agency is spending to conserve nearly 335,000 acres of forestland across the U.S.

The total cost of the project will be more than $70 million, with funding coming from public and private partners, according to Scott Phillips, state forester at the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

The Pee Dee Basin Initiative is a partnership between the U.S. Forest Service, the Open Space Institute, the South Carolina Forestry Commission, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, South Carolina Office of Resilience and Atlantic Packaging.

Atlantic Packaging, a packaging company with offices in Charleston, has created an endowment for the long-term management of the land.

More than 7,000 acres of land will become publicly accessible when the project is complete, according to a press release. That includes an 880-acre expansion of the Wee Tee State Forest and the creation of new Wildlife Management Areas where South Carolinians can hike, hunt, fish or otherwise enjoy the Palmetto State’s unique landscape.

“We in general are a population that is connected to the land,” Whitehead said. “A lot of the reason folks move to South Carolina, or continue to stay in South Carolina, is because of what a beautiful state it is.”

Much of the land will remain in private hands, though. It will be placed under a conservation easement, permanently limiting what can or can’t be done there.

On these lands, timber production will remain in operation, solidifying an economic engine in South Carolina for years to come.

The timber industry contributes more than $23 billion to the state’s economy and provides more than 100,000 jobs, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

The timberland in coastal South Carolina is some of the most productive in the world, Phillips said.

“Especially in the face of development pressures we're seeing in South Carolina, one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, it's important for us to conserve that wood base, those lands, not only for timber they produce, but also for clean air, to clean water, to wildlife habitat, the beautiful estates, all the things that make South Carolina, South Carolina,” he said.

Pee Dee News

The protected land will also be a boon to conservation and climate resilience efforts, Whitehead said.

The habitat for at least 115 priority plant and animal species is contained within the land. It is vital habitat for migratory birds. Protected land along the Pee Dee River is home to diverse fish including the Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon and rare mussels and crayfish, according to a press release.

The preserved forestland will help absorb floodwaters and protect against severe weather events that can inundate the coastline, according to a statement from the S.C. Office of Resilience.

The state is still finalizing funding for the project, and the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

“It's a lifetime opportunity to get to work on a project at this scale and this impact,” Whitehead said. “And so I think all of us who've been working on this just feel really, really excited about this opportunity for South Carolina."