Dermal Filler in Santee, SC

Developers say demolition of the long-vacant Santee Outlet Mall will begin in early 2026, clearing the site for future redevelopment along I-95.

SANTEE, S.C. — The Santee Development Corporation says it has hired a local contractor and is finalizing permits to tear down the old Santee Outlet Mall. The 40-acre property, built in the early 1980s, has been vacant for years, and has been discussed as a possible site for a casino development.

Founder Wallace Cheves says the demolition is scheduled for early next year, regardless of whether the legislature approves casino gaming.

“We are in the process of finalizing a contractor, a local contractor, to demolish the Santee Outlet Mall, which we own,” Cheves said. “We’ve owned it for several years. And it’s a dilapidated old mall that was built in the, I guess, early 80s. And so we want to go ahead and move forward with tearing down the mall and starting to lay the groundwork for a future casino resort.”

Cheves said the demolition will take several months after environmental and engineering studies confirm the buildings can be taken down safely. He estimates the project could bring up to 4,600 jobs to the I-95 corridor.

South Carolina Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter called the demolition a positive development for the area.

“I see the demolition of the mall as a very positive sign, and also as a commitment by the Santee Development Association to Orangeburg County to this project,” Cobb-Hunter said.

Residents who have watched the mall sit empty for years say clearing the property is welcome news.

“Well, they’ll clean it up over there, you know, it needs to be cleaned up, and then you got the peanut plant right next door to it, and then you got other stuff coming in this area, you got Tract Supply coming behind the IGA, so yeah, they need to clean that spot up over there,” said Peyton Schuller, a Santee resident.

The current plan calls for demolition to begin in early 2026, with or without approval for casino gaming. Developers say they are committed to moving the project forward.

Representative Cobb-Hunter says she expects a vote on the bill within the first few weeks of the legislative session. Developers say they plan to invite media back to take a look once demolition begins.

The second annual South Carolina Nuclear Summit held last week featured utility executives and legislators from the state, as well as leaders from Brookfield Asset Management, which is being considered to restart construction on the two abandoned reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in Fairfield County. The summit, at the University of South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena, attracted more than 350 attendees. The event was hosted by the university’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing.

Some history: Construction of the two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at V.C. Summer was halted more than eight years ago by utility company Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas (which was later taken over by Dominion Energy). The project had been plagued by delays, cost overruns, and fraud, including federal convictions of former executives. Santee Cooper’s subsequent debt was passed on to its customers.

If executed, the $2.7 billion sales agreement with Brookfield for the partially built reactors would remove the debt from customers’ utility bills. However, Brookfield has not yet finalized the agreement. At least six months of engineering and financial feasibility studies must be completed first.

Restart reasoning: During the summit, a Brookfield executive spoke publicly at length for the first time about the reactor construction restart. Regarding the company’s decision to consider investing in the construction restart, Mitch Davidson, a managing partner in Brookfield’s Renewable Power and Transition Group, said, “It’s a bit of a no-brainer for us. . . . There are parts of this project that are already there, big parts that are there—equipment is there, foundations are there. So, this seems to be the perfect opportunity for us as a start.”

Government partnership: Also noted was the partnership deal that Brookfield, Westinghouse Electric Company, and Cameco Corporation have recently signed with the U.S. government. As part of this partnership, at least $80 billion will be directed at the Westinghouse AP1000 reactors.

Private business: Peter McCoy, board chairman of Santee Cooper, emphasized that utility customers will not bear the burden of the renewed construction. “This is not going to be on the backs of rate payers,” he said. “It’s not going to be on the backs of our taxpayers in the state. . . . This is private business stepping up, with help from the federal government.”

Data centers: Davidson added comments on the electricity demands being driven by data centers, noting, “We haven’t seen load growth, like true load growth, in this country for a decade. The data centers have been the driver behind all of this. The data centers, and the size that they’re getting to today, are the genesis.”

If the South Carolina-operated utility and an assets management firm can strike a deal to finish two abandoned nuclear reactors in Fairfield County, Santee Cooper will receive $2.7 billion, CEO Jimmy Staton told the board Monday morning.

Santee Cooper would also own up to 25% of the two new nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer once operational, including a quarter of the energy generated, said its spokesperson Mollie Gore. The reactors are expected to generate 2,200 megawatts of electricity.

The utility chose Brookfield Asset Management in late October to finish the two, partially completed nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer after a monthslong selection process. Now, Santee Cooper has revealed more details on the agreement. It will solely work with Brookfield on the project. Brookfield is a New York-based company with over $1 trillion in assets across multiple sectors, including renewable energy. It already owns $3 billion in assets in South Carolina.

Construction of the two nuclear reactors was abandoned less than a decade ago. In 2017, utilities Santee Cooper and now defunct SCE&G walked away from the V.C. Summer project amid rising costs and delays. Ratepayers spent about $9 billion on the effort, without generating any electricity.

In October, Staton told reporters the utility would use any funds from the deal with Brookfield to pay off debt associated with the initial failed construction. If Brookfield and Santee Cooper strike a deal, the utility will receive $2.7 billion for the assets, Staton told the board.

Santee Cooper won’t receive the $2.7 billion until Brookfield and the South Carolina utility finalize a deal, which could take 18-24 months, according to a news release.

The push to produce energy at V.C. Summer comes as data centers and population growth has increased the projected demand for power in South Carolina. Santee Cooper projects its electric load to increase by 18% by 2030, and 32% by 2035, according to a presentation from the utility.

The Trump administration has also encouraged the use of nuclear energy through executive orders, in addition to maintaining tax credits for the energy source when other renewables’ benefits were axed in the budget reconciliation bill. Additionally, days after Santee Cooper announced its partnership with Brookfield, the federal government announced a plan to help build $80 billion in AP 1000 nuclear reactors with Brookfield, according to a news release. The federal partnership with Brookfield is not related to Santee Cooper’s deal with the company.

The nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer will also be AP 1000s, which were designed and sold by Westinghouse, a company involved in the original construction plans. Brookfield acquired Westinghouse out of bankruptcy in 2018. Westinghouse owns a nuclear fuel plant south of Columbia and employs about 2,000 people.

New details on V.C. Summer deal

The Santee Cooper board of directors voted to enter a memorandum of understanding with Brookfield on Monday morning. The agreement comes six weeks after the two companies’ initially agreed to begin vetting a plan to complete V.C. Summer. During the board meeting, Staton revealed new financial details of the project and an updated timeline.

Santee Cooper does not want to pass along any capital costs of completing the reactors to consumers. The utility will be reimbursed for expenses associated with working with Brookfield to make a deal, Staton said Monday.

“It’s really going to give us an opportunity to return to our customers the value of the the investment that they’ve already made,” Staton said after thanking the board for approving the memorandum of understanding.

Over the next several months, Brookfield and Santee Cooper will choose a project manager and engineering, procurement and construction companies, according to a presentation. The companies will also make sure the project is feasible before making a final investment decision. Santee Cooper will receive the $2.7 billion once a final deal is struck.

The global investment firm that Santee Cooper picked to jumpstart the failed expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant was given six weeks to kick the tires and check under the hood.

The review period ended Saturday, about 48 hours ahead of the state-owned utility’s Dec. 8 board meeting.

A closed-door discussion about the deal with Brookfield Asset Management is on the agenda for Monday morning. The board could take action afterward based on those talks, according to updated version of the meeting notice filed late Saturday.

On Tuesday, Santee Cooper’s CEO is scheduled to speak at a high-level energy summit in Columbia that will highlight the Palmetto State’s “emergence as proving ground for America’s next nuclear era” and “anchored by the V.C. Summer” reboot. The lineup of presenters also includes an executive from Brookfield.

Santee Cooper re-energized South Carolina’s once-dimmed nuclear-power ambitions on Oct. 27 when it signed a letter-of-intent with the investment giant with the ultimate goal of finalizing an agreement, including a sale price and other terms.

The decision capped a nine-month search for a buyer or buyers willing and able to finish the two partly built nuclear reactors that have been mothballed for more than eight years in rural Jenkinsville, north of Columbia.

New York-based Brookfield has been given exclusive access to the Fairfield County site. Its six-week deep dive was to include the selection of a project manager, a review of potential construction contractors and discussions with data center operators and other businesses that are willing to to buy the power the units will generate.

It’s expected to be a deliberately tedious process given the technical complexities and the amount of money at stake.

The next step is to kick it up a notch with a formal memorandum of understanding that would include timing milestones, cost allocations, reimbursements and the creation of a feasibility committee, according to Santee Cooper.

It could take a year or more before the final sale terms are hammered out.

Two days after inking the letter of intent, Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt told CNBC that the V.C. Summer units will be completed by Westinghouse Electric, which his company bought in 2018 and was the original designer of the reactors. He projected the reactors will be online by 2030.

“We … are going to be buying the plant. Westinghouse will be reviving it and rebuilding it. And we will actually own that plant with number of our clients,” Flatt said, referring only to the two idled reactors.

Moncks Corner-based Santee Cooper was an investor in the ill-fated expansion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station with S.C. Electric & Gas, now part of Dominion Energy. The deal promised to produce carbon-free power for residents and businesses across the state for decades until the two utilities abandoned the $9 billion debacle in July 2017 after years of construction delays, mismanagement, cost overruns .

Santee Cooper took full ownership of the reactors about a year later. It said it has maintained the site and preserved much of the equipment that had been purchased.

The utility to test the market about a possible sale to ease the roughly $3 billion in debt from the project that have been passed on to its ratepayers and to meet soaring demand for electricity from energy-intensive data centers and population growth. Fifteen potential bidders submitted formal proposals, with Brookfield making the final cut.

Santee Cooper stressed that it won’t provide any additional capital beyond what it has already spent. And its top executive is promising ratepayers they’ll see some relief if the sale is finalized.