Businessman willing to wait for permission for Santee casino

“There have been a lot of promises over the decades to try to fix the Corridor of Shame, and we think it is going to take something like this to actually do something about it,” Cheves said.

“I have looked at this area for a long time,” he said. “It fascinated me from a story I read years ago that Disney considered coming to Santee because it was the halfway point in between New York and Florida.”

“I thought what a great location and what a great place it would be to have stopover guests,” Cheves continued.

People already travel on Interstate 95 and Interstate 26 to North Carolina and Florida to gamble.

“Why not have one in between where one doesn’t exist?” Cheves said.

Cheves’ Santee Development Corporation wants to build a privately funded, 300,0000-square-foot to 400,000-square foot casino and resort at the former Santee Outlet Mall.

There is one major hurdle Cheves will have to overcome: Most gambling is illegal in the South Carolina and it will require a change in state law.

House Bill 4176, called the “I-95 Economic and Education Stimulus Act,” was introduced on the House floor March 6. It’s cosponsored by Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, and Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter, D-Orangeburg.

It’s currently in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill would establish the South Carolina Gaming Commission that could award casino licenses in counties that contain a section of I-95 within their borders, including Orangeburg County.

The commission would oversee casino gambling in the state.

Cheves said the timeline for the project’s construction and opening is up to state lawmakers.

“It technically could be approved this year, it could be approved next year, or not be approved,” he said. “It totally would be in their hands at that point.”

Senator Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, who sat in on The Times and Democrat’s interview with Cheves at the Williams and Williams law firm, said he believes the bill can pass.

“There is a lot of positive energy behind the bill,” Hutto said.

While gaming bills have not been successful in the past, “times change,” he said.

“You need to be patient,” Hutto said. “If it is a good idea today, it will be a good idea tomorrow if it takes a little time to bring people along and to educate them on the possibilities.”

“The idea that Santee was going to be something different next year than it was this year it has always been there,” Hutto said. “We have never quite gotten to the crown yet. Maybe this will be it.”

“We are going to keep trying,” Hutto continued. “One day we are going to be successful and the reason is because we haven’t given up hope.”

Cheves’ plans include the construction of a 300-room to 600-room hotel attached to a casino and convention center with flexible space.

The property will include about 40 acres – 20 acres of it being the former mall. Cheves said he has purchased 20 additional acres between the mall and the future Premium Peanut, a peanut shelling plant that’s under construction.

“We want it to not just be a casino, we want it to be more like a resort,” Cheves said. “There are so many things in Santee that Santee can offer from Lake Marion: fishing, hunting experiences, a lot of golf. We want to tie in, blend in to make this more like a sportsman’s resort, if you will.”

“It is not a 3,000-room, 50-story hotel with neon that you would see in Vegas,” he said. “We want it to be something that can blend in with the natural resources and the exterior of Santee and Lake Marion.”

Cheves said the casino would have Class III slot machines, sports betting, table games and sports books similar to a project he helped develop in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.

The property’s location next to a peanut shelling facility does not concern him.

“We are next door to farms in the project that I did for the Catawbas in Kings Mountain,” Cheves said. “It was really a desolate part of the interstate. Having the attraction on the interstate is what will matter. It will be a nice billboard, if you will, for interstate traffic.”

Cheves claims the casino will have a total impact of about a $8 billion on the state’s economy within the first 10 years, creating about 4,600 jobs and helping expand local tourism and business opportunities. He believes the project could attract over 4 million visitors annually.

He also estimates the project could bring in about $75 million in annual tax revenues, 2,925 direct jobs, 813 indirect jobs and 880 induced jobs.

Jobs will include dealers, technicians, security experts and cyber software experts.

He believes the wages would be competitive.

“Typically in the gaming business, you are looking at $40,000 to $60,000 annually. There are dealers that can make over $100,000 a year from tips,” he said.

Cheves says the economic impact numbers were obtained from Florida-based Innovation Group. The group has done market studies for other gaming projects throughout the country.

“If you follow what casinos have done in other communities and you see the impact of jobs, it starts to spawl,” Cheves said. “Me being in the Upstate, I have seen what BMW has done.”

“When BMW came in, 40 other suppliers came in from all over the place to be vendors to BMW,” he said. “That is what you will see when a project like this comes to that area.”

Cheves said he has enough money, investors and credit to make the project happen.

“Look at my track record,” he said.

Cheves says his work in Kings Mountain, North Carolina should speak for him.

“I probably can’t point to a more successful venture of any business venture I have done. I would say that one has overperformed,” he said.

Some Orangeburg County Council members have expressed concerns about how services such as police and fire protection and Emergency Medical Services would be funded at the development.

Cheves said services would be funded, “through the development agreement that we want to put together in the framework with Orangeburg County.”

When asked if there’s a need for a tax increase for county residents to fund these services, Cheves said, there “should not be, no.”

Cheves said existing roads and water are adequate for the site, but the town’s wastewater capacity needs to be studied.

“We have hired engineering firms to go through and come up with a study on how we can handle that,” Cheves said.

If road accessibility proves to be a challenge, Cheves said it will also be addressed. In North Carolina, an interchange had to be developed and was completely privately funded, he said.

Hutto said state money will also be available for the project, noting the bill will have “some revenue … that goes back to the state either the general fund or to a designated education fund.”

Hutto said there is precedent. State dollars have been used to attract projects such as BMW, Boeing and Amazon.

“The state will recognize in order to keep it successful, we will invest in it just like we invest in all communities as needs come along,” Hutto said.

Hutto said he does not believe Orangeburg County taxpayers will have to help fund the project.

“I believe there will be enough at either the private level or the state level,” Hutto said, noting conversations have been had with County Council about funding.

“County Council will hold the keys to that. They are the ones that have to sign the operating agreement,” he said.

Despite the uncertainty, Cheves said, “We are investing now.”

“We want to go ahead and start cleaning it up,” he said about the former mall. “We want to start to invest in the local community now in anticipation that we will be able to build the dream.”

Cheves said engineers are looking into the mall to see what could be repurposed but “we are thinking that it may have to be demolished.”

Cheves said he is in the project for the long haul, noting it took him 13 years to get a Catawba casino approved in North Carolina.

“When I put my sights on a project, I go,” Cheves said. “The shame about it would be the legislature has the opportunity to do something about it this year because the jobs can’t wait and it is really needed in that area. So why wait?”

Cheves says he will continue to engage with the local community.

“I can’t think of any bad conversations I have had yet,” he said. “Everybody has been real welcoming.”

While Cheves says locals have been welcoming, not all have been so positive.

The Rock Hill-based Catawba Indian Nation has gone on record opposing Cheves’ plans, saying the Catawba Nation has been trying to follow proper processes in bringing a casino to their own lands for years. They say Cheves is trying ramrod his development through.

“I was super proud of what I did for them in 15 years and I am so proud that jobs were created and the lives of potentially 3,500 Catawbas are changed forever because of that,” Cheves said. “I had a great working relationship with their past administration for a long time.”

Cheves notes the proposed legislation going through the S.C. General Assembly “doesn’t guarantee me a license” and opens the door for competition.

“It creates an opportunity for businesspeople like us to come in and make the best pitch we can to Orangeburg to say ‘Here’s why you should work with us,’” he said. “The Catawba should do the same.”

For more information about the project visit: https://santeedevelopment.com/