Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This Lawyer Lisa office, in the former N-Graphix building has moved, or consolidated to Sunset Boulevard. Commenter Larry speculates that the location may be caught up in the Carolina Crossroads I-26 project the same as a number of properties on both sides of the highway.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

UPDATE 9 October 2023: This building has been razed. Click here for pictures.

It was a very unpleasant, rainy day, so I did not get out of the car and try to get better pictures, but this U-Haul storage facility was acquired by the SC Department of Transportation as part of their ongoing effort to widen I-26 and the renters, as reported by commenter Gypsie, were requested to be out by August of 2021.

I confess I don't really understand how this property will be affected by the I-26 work. It is on the far side of Jamil Road from the Interstate, and unless the road is to be closed, at least in part, I don't see how they use the property -- especially with new construction on the *near* side of the Interstate.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

UPDATE 16 August 2023 -- As noted in the comments, this place is being razed:

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UPDATE 27 September 2023: Update tags.

Here is one where I just kept misplacing the pictures over and over. I observed back in 2013, when the first photos were taken, that this McDonald's on the Charleston Highway near the junctions with I-26 & I-77 still had the boxy kids' play area architecture. Since I like that look and knew that the chain was phasing it out, I took some pictures. And, indeed, at some point after that, they remodeled and dropped that look completely. The problem was I kept taking pictures of the new look and forgetting to do anything with them while they were still near the top of the stack. Finally when I did the Lazy Llama closing I took some more and remembered before I lost track again.

I have to admit I have not really eaten at a McDonald's in years, but they do now have a quite good cup of coffee.

Commenter Tom mentioned that this Irmo Corner Pantry Exxon at the I-26 Peak exit had been torn down for the ongoing road work in the area. By the time I got to the area, there was really nothing left to see, but you can view the old building at this LoopNet listing and by clicking through to old images in Google Streetview.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

This building, next to the old Limelight (etc) on Berryhill Road was not really on my radar, and I could not have told you what it looked like or indeed, probably if it were there at all. However when commenter Gypsie mentioned that it had been razed, I was able to find out that it was called the William M. Mackie, Jr. Interstate Center and find a picture of it in this old LoopNet page. There are also pictures in Google Streetview, and that establishes that the LoopNet picture is taken from the back, where all the parking and the main entrance was. The front view was pretty non-descript.

The only business I find that was definitely in the building was Vision Property Management which was in Suite 200. Their web page is just parked now, so it's not clear to me that they are still around (and acording to the BBB, they may have had some problems).

With the building gone, it's a pretty good sized lot, but there is no indication of what is next (though I assume nobody would spend the money to knock it down without some plan going forward).

Appropos to nothing, Google Maps seems to think this is "Berryhill Drive", but I'm pretty sure "Berryhill Road" is correct.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

UPDATE 18 February 2022 -- Commenter Andrew points to this interesting DOT video about using the building for Fire Fighter training before the demolition:

I was at the Peak Exit Food Lion off I-26 recently, and noticed that the strip's gym, Anytime Fitness had closed and is transitioning to Hitone Fitness in the near future.

If you look closely at the marquee underneath the Pepsi sign, it almost looks like it says DINER, something that would make sense with that advertiser. What the diner, next to the current TitleMax, might have been called, I can't determine, or exactly when it closed. Google Streetview goes back to 2007, at which time it was already Liberty Income Tax. Also going by Streetview, it appears that Liberty closed or moved sometime between August 2015 and March 2017.

I am not sure what is currently going on here. There appeared to be a lot of food trucks parked in the back lot, and there has been a Mexican looking emblem put on the the front of the building, but judging by the furniture piled up against the windows and lack of a sign, it does not appear to be a retail restaurant.

UPDATE 19 October 2021: Changed first part of post title from Diner to Terry's Diner based on the comments.

UPDATE 19 September 2022 -- Now open apparently as a Mexican & more restaurant:

I last wrote about this spot when it was (no longer) Premier Plus Motors.

Since that time, a Hertz rental resale lot set up operation there, and that may or may not be permanently closed now. All this is part of Chapter 11 for the company, something I had not heard about:

Hertz announced plans to temporarily close all 87 car sales locations in the U.S. on Wednesday.

Several individuals involved with the car rental giant said the company told employees of the news via a conference call on Tuesday. Representatives on the call detailed plans to cease operations at the locations on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Hertz said in a statement, "As part of our Chapter 11 process, Hertz has been working to right-size our fleet to align with current demand and meet the requirements of our lenders."

"Hertz has recently met its target to sell approximately 180,000 vehicles, and as a result is pausing the car sales program including temporarily closing corporate retail locations. Hertz has maintained the licenses for these locations and will evaluate its car sales program as it replenishes its fleet with new vehicles in 2021," the statement continued.

The report does not mention COVID-19, but that has to have been awful for car rentals.

(Hat tip to commenter ARTHUR P)

I can't recall that I've ever stayed in a Rodeway Inn, the mental picture I have is of pretty basic accomdation, but this one, at least, had a pool on-site. This property started, I believe, as a Thunderbird Inn, a now nearly defunct chain with really cool signs. At some point thereafter, it was an Econo Lodge, as you can see in these pictures I took for the co-located Hilltop Restaurant closing.

Now, the Rodeway has closed, and they are doing asbestos abatement on the property, presumably in preparation to tear the whole place down. Google doesn't turn up any news stories, so I'm not sure what's next for this property.

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Last time I drove down Fernandina Road, I realized I missed seeing the colorful mosiacs on this building at 3202. Doing a little research shows that local design shop N-Graphix moved down the road to 4046 Fernandina Rd, Suite F sometime after mid-2015.

I wish Lawyer Lisa well, but will miss the distinctive look of the building.

UPDATE 12 March 2020 -- I found some better pictures. Also adding the map icon I forgot: