CoolSculpting Near Santee, SC

A swath of unspoiled nature along Lake Marion will remain under Uncle Sam’s care for at least another four decades.

Santee Cooper last week approved a new 40-year lease with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 8,000 acres owned by the state water and power utility.

The rural parcel along the north shore of the lake is made up of four federally managed "units" known as Bluff, Dingle Pond, Pine Island and Cuddo. They include a historic 1,200-year-old Native American mound and the site of the Fort Watson battle during the Revolutionary War.

The utility-owned property makes up more than half of the 13,000-acre Santee National Wildlife Refuge near Summerton. The federal government, which has been leasing the land since the 1940s, owns the balance of the recreational nature reserve, which includes more than 40 miles of hiking trails and 39 miles of lake frontage.

The real estate deal with Moncks Corner-based Santee Cooper is at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.

According to its website, the refuge was established “to benefit migratory waterfowl, other birds and terrestrial and aquatic wildlife found within the ecosystem of the Lake Marion reservoir. Throughout the year, a myriad of wildlife species inhabit the diverse landscapes ... that include a rare Carolina Bay.”

High-end living

A disgraced Connecticut lawyer and bank executive who’s heading to prison for embezzling $7.4 million over a decade spent some of his ill-gotten gains on a high-end Lowcountry getaway — and to pay a local tax collector.

Investigators said James Blose, 56, used his trusted position as legal counsel at two banks to orchestrate the scheme, which was discovered about two years ago and generally involved diverting proceeds from loan and real estate transactions to his personal use from 2013 to 2023.

Among other luxury purchases, Blose spent $284,000 on a lot for a vacation home he later built on Kiawah Island. More than $54,000 went to the Charleston County for taxes, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.

Real estate records show Blose acquired the nearly half-acre property on New Settlement Road for $675,000 in 2016. He transferred ownership to his wife’s name in 2023.

According to Zillow, the 3,651-square-foot home along Bass Pond near Rhett's Bluff was built about six years ago. It’s now being marketed for just under $5 million.

Blose’s lawyer said in a court documents that the anticipated closing date is May 19 and that the net proceeds from the sale will go toward restitution.

Blose, 56, was sentenced to four years in federal prison last week, followed by three years in a supervised release program.

Full retreats

Town & Country has leaned into the latter part of its name to come up with new list that includes a Johns Island vacation getaway.

The publication's April issue named The Dunlin, an Auberge Resort that opened last year on the Kiawah River, as the only U.S. property to make its ranking of the “Best New Country Retreats.”

The lifestyle magazine described the category as new lodgings in rural areas "that are anything but rustic.”

The full-service Dunlin checked in its first guests in August, offering a “retreat-style” waterfront getaway that aims to differentiate itself from a stay in the hustle and bustle of downtown Charleston. The starting nightly room rate is around $749.

Town & Country pointed to the resort's three dining options and sunsets "in the riverine silence” among the reasons to go.

Meanwhile, a downtown boutique hotel has landed on another magazine's to-do list. Condé Nast Traveler editors included Zero George among their picks of the best places to bunk down in the world, citing the property's gardens, crushed oyster shell pathways, fountains and courtyard privacy.

The publication's "Gold List 2025 listed 10 U.S. properties, with three in the South.

Veteran hospitality duo Dean Porter Andrews and Lynn Easton established Zero George at East Bay and George streets in 2012, starting with the conversion of three restored historic residences and two brick carriage houses.

At a loss

One of the biggest commercial real estate transactions in the Midlands market last year didn’t pay off for the sellers.

An investment fund operated by pension giant Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America reported in a filing with investors last week that it booked a $6 million loss on the $43 million sale of Columbiana Station, which it had owned through a joint venture.

The deal with Seattle-based Bridge33 Capital closed on Nov. 20.

The nearly 375,000-square foot retail, dining and entertainment center is neat Bower Parkway and Harbison Boulevard, northwest of downtown Columbia. Its anchor tenants include Dick's Sporting Goods, Michael's, PetSmart and Planet Fitness.

Megan Fernandes, John McDermott and Jenny Peterson of The Post and Courier contributed to this report.

The goal is to ensure existing customers don’t end up footing the bill for new, power-hungry companies

South Carolina’s state-owned power company will start charging a special electricity rate executives say is meant to ensure energy-intensive data centers, built to serve the country’s ever-growing technology needs, are covering the cost of generating the massive amount of power they require.

The goal is to ensure existing customers don’t end up footing the bill for new, power-hungry companies.

The governing board of Santee Cooper voted unanimously Friday to implement the new rate for large, incoming customers on an “experimental” four-year basis, testing it out before considering whether they want to make the policy permanent. The change is effective immediately.

In a presentation to the board, Mike Smith, director of billing and pricing for the Moncks Corner-based utility, said he anticipates large customers coming into Santee Cooper territory could need as much as 1,000 megawatts of power as soon as 2030.

“That’s significant growth for a system the size of ours,” he said.

That growth rate mirrors the demand utilities are seeing across the Southeast, he said.

“We expect that to continue,” Smith said. “We don’t think it’s going to abate anytime soon.”

The new rate goes beyond data centers.

It applies to any customer requiring 50 megawatts of power or more, which would sweep in some of the electric vehicle and battery manufacturers under construction in the state. Those companies have reported energy needs between 100 and 150 megawatts, according to economic development officials.

Still, it’s data centers that have dominated the conversation around energy in South Carolina. These windowless buildings house rows of servers necessary for everything from artificial intelligence to high-speed financial trades. The largest of these centers can use as much as 200 megawatts each.

“We do welcome large loads because they’re good loads for the system. However, because of their size and operating characteristics, they’re difficult for Santee Cooper to absorb,” Smith said.

Santee Cooper’s new experimental rate comes as South Carolina grapples with how to meet the energy needs of a growing population, manufacturing base and, of course, an influx of data centers being built by tech giants such as Google, Meta and Blox.

A provision on the issue was inserted in legislation under consideration by the General Assembly.

Senate passes sweeping energy bill aimed at meeting SC’s growing power needs

In a late-night debate about two weeks ago, the Senate voted to limit tax and power-related incentives the state allows for data centers. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey pushed for the change saying that as data centers come to South Carolina, he wants them to pay an equivalent share of the costs for power plants built to serve them.

In the weeks since the Senate vote, which amended a bill previously passed by the House with almost no opposition, data center developers have pushed back, said Geoff Penland, Santee Cooper’s director of government relations.

He said technology companies are worried about the loss of sales tax breaks they’ve historically received on both computer equipment and electricity.

Penland said it appears the House and Senate may reach a compromise on the matter with just two weeks left in the legislative session.

While Santee Cooper is largely unconcerned with incentives for data centers, the energy legislation is of the utmost importance to the utility as it seeks permission to partner with private utility company Dominion Energy on a possible 2,000-megawatt natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant along the Edisto River in Colleton County.

And the board’s vote Friday means these new power rates will go into effect no matter what legislators ultimately decide on data centers.

Meeting a growing energy demand requires construction of expensive power plants, power transmission lines, as well as the purchase of extra power that Santee Cooper has to buy from other utility companies on occasion when it doesn’t have enough energy of its own.

Building and buying those things mean increased rates for all customers, even if those other customers aren’t the ones driving the need for those investments, Smith said. That’s what Santee Cooper is trying to curtail.

Smith pointed to a similar effort by Georgia Power Company, which asked utility regulators to develop special contractual terms for large users.

Under Santee Cooper’s new rate, large users must sign a 15-year contract, one they can’t get out of without paying a set minimum. The utility also will charge more for power used at times of day when demand for energy is at its highest.

Santee Cooper worries about the possibility that these large users, particularly data centers, could come on the grid and then leave before the utility is able to get back the money it spent to serve them, Smith said. The long-term contract aims to prevent that.

Finally, the new deals require large users to ramp up to their full contracted power usage within three years.

Santee Cooper suggest that would protect it from a company that comes in and oversells, saying they’re going to need 300 megawatts but ends up only needing 127 megawatts, as an example.

“Regardless of how many kilowatt hours this customer uses, if they come on the system, they’ll be accountable,” Smith said.

While the board ultimately all voted in favor of the change, two members who represent South Carolina’s power cooperatives, which get their power from Santee Cooper, raised concerns that no large customer would agree to these new terms.

They said Santee Cooper and rural electric cooperatives will lose potential new business.

They also worried about the speed with which the change was made. Santee Cooper staff will typically take 18 months to vet and implement a new, permanent rate. This change was studied over just a few months.

In an effort to allay concerns, staff told the board because of the rate’s “experimental” status, it could make changes at any point in the four-year trial period.

Last updated 8:18 a.m., Apr. 26, 2025

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - For South Carolinians who want to press their luck and win big, the lottery is their only option.

Those who want to take a spin on the slot machines, roll the dice in a casino, or bet on sports legally have to travel to other states, with nearly all forms of gambling illegal in the Palmetto State.

But, efforts to expand gambling in South Carolina are getting more attention right now at the State House than they have in a while, including a push to develop the state’s first casino.

“There’s no time like the present, but more importantly, the jobs can’t wait, and the area really needs it,” Santee Developer Corporation owner Wallace Cheves said.

Cheves wants to build a casino on a 40-acre property at a former mall site in Santee in Orangeburg County, alongside Interstate 95.

He has already acquired the land and plans to start razing the old buildings soon to make way for a $1 billion project that would include the casino and a hotel, along with other features like a possible convention center.

“This is South Carolina-owned. I’m a native of South Carolina. We’re willing to invest our money in the project and not ask for any incentives,” Cheves said.

But for it, or any casino, to become a reality, state law needs to change.

A bipartisan bill filed in the House of Representatives would establish a state gaming commission that could license a casino to be built in counties along interstates and that have lower per capita incomes and higher unemployment rates, which includes Orangeburg County.

Meanwhile, senators are considering another bill that would legalize a narrow form of sports betting, specifically on live horse races using approving advanced deposit wagering apps.

“Not something in the past, not slot machines — this is just for the horse industry,” Sen. Michael Johnson, R – York and the bill’s lead sponsor, said.

Revenues would fund grants to support South Carolina’s equine industry, which some believe could generate more buy-in from those who might otherwise be hesitant to support gambling expansion.

It’s not enough to get Gov. Henry McMaster on board.

“Let’s find some other way to help that magnificent sport of horse racing,” McMaster recently told reporters. “Just find a way that doesn’t open the door to so many of the things that we do not want in South Carolina.”

To become law, these bills would need to get the signature of McMaster, a staunch, longtime gambling opponent, or garner enough support in the General Assembly to override a gubernatorial veto, which requires two-thirds of each body.

“Gambling is bad for our culture. It’s not a part of our heritage, and there are better ways to make money, to give jobs, to generate tax money, to generate a thriving economy, than gambling,” McMaster said.

For now, the horse betting bill remains in a Senate Finance subcommittee, while the casino bill has yet to get its first hearing in the House, so both are still a ways away from reaching the governor’s desk.

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