Mobile Home Sales in S. Sumter, SC

The Birnie Hope Center hosts afterschool programs and various community events for Sumter residents. Soon, the parking lot and park will expand.

SUMTER, S.C. — The Birnie Hope Center is one of three community centers in Sumter. Right now, there are only 20 parking spots available.

Soon, that will change after the City Council authorized a contract for the improvements project.

Shelley Kile is the communications and tourism director for the city of Sumter.

"It's going to triple," she shared about the lot. "We allow the community to rent these out for birthday parties and anniversary parties and just different things for the community - so to expand that, allow people to park more safely, have better accessibility to the front of the building."

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Kile tells me this project has been in the works for years after the city received a hospitality bond to expand the center and the park outside.

"After doing our due diligence and our paperwork with state and federal agencies to make sure we can put all this in that it's finally coming to fruition and we're going to be able to start on that very soon," Kile shared. "We've been trying to do a lot of that behind the scenes work in making sure environmental is taken care of, so when we do start, we can get done as soon as possible."

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Doretha Byrd has lived right across the street for 10 years and says she’s watched people utilize the center almost every day.

"Ohhh, I feel it’s a nice thing to do in the community!" Byrd shared.

These are the plans for the construction, which will be finished in about a year. The park will expand up to Oakland Avenue and right along S. Guignard Drive.

"We just want to make sure that we're being good stewards to the land that's here," Kile said. "Good stewards and neighbors to everybody that lives around here."

The center will still be open every day except Sunday, as usual, during the construction.

The Habit Burger Grill To Hold Pre-Opening VIP Events on June 24, 26-27

IRVINE, Calif., June 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Habit Burger Grill, the California-based restaurant company renowned for its award-winning Charburgers grilled over an open flame, signature sandwiches, fresh salads, and more, announces today the grand opening of their newest restaurant in Sumter, South Carolina. The drive-thru restaurant is located at 1135 Broad Street, Sumter, SC 29150, and their famous “Habit Hospitality” will be served up to the public, starting Wednesday, June 28, 2023. This is the second The Habit Burger Grill to open in South Carolina, with its first in Indian Land.

In honor of the grand opening, The Habit Burger Grill will host an exclusive pre-opening VIP event for their CharClub and mobile app members. Guests can receive an invite to this exclusive sneak peek by signing up at habitburger.com/sumter

VIP Event Details:

“The Habit Burger Grill is thrilled to expand in the Palmetto State - Sumter is filled with beautiful state parks, museums, festivals and so much more, and we hope to add to this vibrant culture,” said Tiffany Furman, Chief Financial Officer at The Habit Burger Grill. "We can’t wait to feed the folks of Sumter and surrounding cities with our award-winning charburgers, sides, flavorful sandwiches, salads, shakes, and much more!”

The 3,033 sq ft. Sumter restaurant will offer dine-in, takeout and drive-thru; curbside pick-up and delivery will be available via The Habit Mobile App and online at order.habitburger.com. Guests also have additional convenient ordering options including state-of-the-art indoor self-serve kiosks and delivery through Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats.

The Habit Burger Grill was named in Thrillist’s list of “Underrated Burger Chains that Need to be in Every State!” With its cooked-to-order mantra, The Habit Burger Grill’s open flame sears a distinctive smoky flavor into their famous Charburgers, fresh marinated chicken, sushi-grade ahi tuna and tenderloin steak. Guests at The Habit Burger Grill can always count on freshly-made, handcrafted quality served up with genuine hospitality.

SUMTER, S.C. (WIS) - SC DHEC is now confirming that test results show the water at the Crescent Mobile Home Park in Sumter does in fact have significant levels of a chemical known at PFAS. That’s the same chemical the Department of Defense is blaming for possible contaminated water at hundreds of U.S. military bases.

SC DHEC officials sampled water from the Crescent MHP twice this month and provided residents with those results, Thursday Jan. 30. The results show high levels of a contaminant, but the water is still being classified as “satisfactory.”

That contaminant is a chemical known as PFAS. Its most common forms are known as PFOS and PFOA. This is a man-made chemical that has been used in a number of products like nonstick cookware, cosmetics, and firefighting foam dating back to the 1940’s, mainly because of its heat resistance abilities.

DHEC officials say the chemical is considered an emerging contaminant because health officials are just now beginning to understand how it affects the environment and public health.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Defense revealed that more than 400 military bases across the country could have PFAS-contaminated water due to firefighting foam, an issue the military is now working to fix.

Many military sites in South Carolina were on that list including Fort Jackson, McEntire Joint National Guard and Shaw Air Force Base, which is less than a mile from the Crescent MHP.

The results of the water wells tested by SC DHEC at Crescent MHP in the chart below shows that every well has positive levels of the PFAS chemicals.

The numbers with two asterisks indicate that these levels of contaminants are higher than the EPA’s Lifetime Health Advisory. Still, the overall rating for the inspection is “satisfactory” and officials say the water is in compliance with all regulated drinking standards. The EPA’s advisory is just that.

The agency advises against lifetime consumption of this chemical but there is currently no way to enforce any regulations.

According to toxicologist, Dr. Ken Rudo, there is scientific evidence to show that this chemical is linked to a number of cancers, cardiovascular, kidney and liver problems. Plus, it can be transferred from a pregnant mother to her baby while in the womb or through breast milk.

Thursday, DHEC unveiled its statewide strategy to combat concerns surrounding PFAS:

For now, residents at the Crescent MHP say they’re hoping bottle water will be provided soon.

Copyright 2020 WIS. All rights reserved.

Latest trends

Higher test positivity rates are a sign that many infections are not reported — even if they are tested for at home. This results in a more severe undercount of cases. The number of hospitalized patients with Covid is a more reliable measure because testing is more consistent in hospitals. Read more about the data.

In data for South Carolina, The Times primarily relies on reports from the state. The state releases new data once a week. It released new data daily until June 12, 2021, and new data all weekdays until March 15, 2022. The state reports cases and deaths based on a person’s permanent or usual residence.

The Times has identified reporting anomalies or methodology changes in the data.

The tallies on this page include probable and confirmed cases and deaths.

Confirmed cases and deaths, which are widely considered to be an undercount of the true toll, are counts of individuals whose coronavirus infections were confirmed by a molecular laboratory test. Probable cases and deaths count individuals who meet criteria for other types of testing, symptoms and exposure, as developed by national and local governments.

Governments often revise data or report a single-day large increase in cases or deaths from unspecified days without historical revisions, which can cause an irregular pattern in the daily reported figures. The Times is excluding these anomalies from seven-day averages when possible. For agencies that do not report data every day, variation in the schedule on which cases or deaths are reported, such as around holidays, can also cause an irregular pattern in averages. The Times uses an adjustment method to vary the number of days included in an average to remove these irregularities.

Construction is underway for a Planet Fitness and Liberty STEAM Charter School, which are coming to the Sumter Mall. Residents hope it will increase mall visitors.

SUMTER, S.C. — The Sumter Mall is trying to reimagine the typical shopping mall experience by bringing in a couple new tenants. Construction is currently underway for Planet Fitness and Liberty STEAM Charter School locations.

"The mall is not bad," Sumter resident Terry Clark shares. "I can't really say nothing bad about it."

Clark has lived in Sumter his whole life, so he’s watched the Sumter Mall on Broad Street change throughout the years.

"It used to be alright but its kind of like going downhill now," Clark says. "It can be better, you know, but even...I mean, hey, nothing wrong with it."

It's a trend resident Darnell Harris has noticed is starting to change.

"It's been here my whole life usually it’s been pretty empty," Harris explains. "But now they're trying to upgrade and have stuff for the younger generation to participate in."

The vacancies are not unique to Sumter, says John Mulherin with Hull Property Group, which owns the mall.

"It's not indicative of any particular community, it's certainly indicative of the changing nature of the shopping habits and internet shopping, Amazon Prime, things of that nature," Mulherin details. "So what you got to do is you've got to adapt."

Adapt by thinking outside of the box and introducing businesses that aren’t just retail, like a gym.

"I've been looking for location in Sumter for quite a while, over probably five years," Planet Fitness franchise owner Bob Bobenage shares. "I think Sumter just with the location, its demographics, it needed something like a Planet Fitness."

Bobenage says he found that perfect spot for a Planet Fitness in the mall. It’s going to be his sixth location, which he tells me is likely to bring more business.

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"The number of people that come through our doors probably rivals a grocery store. The amount of people per day, maybe even more but perfect to increase traffic into a mall," Bobenage tells me. "They come in and they can look at the mall and take care of some of their other businesses as well."

This is part of what Mulherin calls an “adaptive reuse” of the traditional mall, as it’s also bringing in a new location for Liberty STEAM Charter School.

"We're seeing a lot of government use, we're seeing medical use, we're seeing charter school use and we're seeing entertainment and include fitness with entertainment," Mulherin says. "And we think if we remain disciplined, and we bring the right tenant that complements everything else we have will be successful, but we're not going to go chase somebody just for the sake of trying to fill some space."

People like Kelly Outen, who’s visiting from manning to get some shopping done, are supportive of this.

"I think that's good, good idea," Outen believes. "Make more people come out."

Bobenage says the Planet Fitness is set to open in mid-June, with the charter school’s expected opening by the start of the next school year this August.

"We think there's a lot of opportunity that these great tenants are going to provide for us in the future," Mulherin hopes.