Special facilities update: visitation rises and capital projects progress at historic sites

Mister Froelich updated the Charleston City Committee on Special Facilities on May 7 about a range of cultural facilities, reporting increased visitation and several capital and operational items.

Froelich said the Old Exchange Building saw higher attendance this quarter, noting the building had “almost 10,000 visitors in April,” that exterior painting is complete and that plans to modernize the elevator include a $250,000 funding request the staff has supported; Froelich said that request has been approved by the state senate and is awaiting the house and governor.

At the Old Slave Mart, Froelich said April visitation exceeded 7,700 and a new interpretive panel about the Gadsden sale — described as the second-largest documented sale in South Carolina and the largest at that site — has been installed and well received as part of the museum tour.

Dock Street Theater’s third-floor flooring replacement is finished; remaining theater and office work is planned for a quieter window this summer because Spoleto USA occupies the building now and a schedule of SC250 events is planned for June.

On the Powder Magazine, Froelich said a memorandum of understanding with the Colonial Dames is nearly complete; the plan is to present a management agreement to the real estate committee with the goal of the city managing the site beginning June 1 and coordinating uses around late June and early July.

Froelich said security camera outages were resolved and new Clover credit-card machines are installed at the Angel Oak gift shop to improve operations and inventory tracking.

Next steps: staff will follow up on the elevator modernization funding as the state process continues, seek real estate committee and council approvals for Powder Magazine management if the MOU is executed, and continue capital planning for Dock Street Theater and other sites.