Carriage Tours Near Columbia, SC

Columbia Metropolitan Airport is without a CEO after Mike Gula formally left the position Dec. 13, according to a Tuesday release from the airport.

The release does not say what led to Gula’s departure from the airport, which has seen healthy growth and new investments in recent years.

“His decision to resign was made amicably in coordination with the airport’s oversight commission and reflects his desire to pursue new opportunities and spend more time with his family,” the airport’s release states.

No further information about Gula’s departure was provided.

Gula joined the Columbia airport’s leadership in 2014 as director of operations. In 2018, he was promoted to CEO.

“It has been an absolute privilege to serve the citizens of the Midlands, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity,” Gula said in a statement shared by the airport. “I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together over the past 10 years, and I am confident that the Airport is well-positioned for continued success. I will always cherish the dedication of the CAE team and the support of the Commission during my tenure.”

Prior to working for the Columbia airport, Gula was director of operations for the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

The Columbia airport’s oversight commission will hold a nationwide search to find Gula’s replacement.

Gula’s departure comes as the airport has its sights set on big changes.

The airport recently announced a new partnership with Allegiant Airlines, as well as plans for an on-site hotel within walking distance of the terminal.

Other aspects of the airport’s long-term vision include adding new gates, allowing for more planes to board at the same time and allowing for more flight options. The airport has also just received a $3 million grant to build a cover over the roof of its parking deck with a mini solar panel grid on top. The project would expand the airport’s existing solar program.

The airport is projected to serve 1.4 million passengers before the year is out. By 2044, that number could surpass 2 million, according to Federal Aviation Administration projections.

A weekslong search for a missing South Carolina man has come to a “tragic end,” according to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.

Paul Chandler’s body was found in the Congaree River at about 8:45 p.m. Monday, said Sheriff Thomas Summers. There was no word about where in the river the body was found, or about who made the discovery.

Chandler was publicly reported missing Dec. 4, according to the sheriff’s office. The 72-year-old was last seen by his family at about 3 a.m. Dec. 3, the sheriff’s office said.

At about 8 p.m. Dec. 3, Chandler’s vehicle was recovered in the Congaree River at Bates Landing, the sheriff’s office said. That’s near U.S. 601 in the St. Matthews area, close to the line between Richland and Calhoun counties.

Chandler was not in the vehicle.

Information about how both Chandler and his vehicle wound up in the river was not available.

The sheriff’s office did not say if foul play was suspected in Chandler’s disappearance.

“Sheriff Summers and everyone at the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office want to extend our heartfelt condolences and prayers to the Chandler family during this time,” Summer said.

In a breaking news situation, facts can be unclear and the situation may still be developing. The State is trying to get important information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, and some information in this story may change as the facts become clearer. Refresh this page later for more updated information.

This story was originally published December 17, 2024, 10:15 AM.

A new project featuring at least one new venture from a prominent local business owner could be coming to a former brewery space near the football home of the Gamecocks.

The development, named Finn’s Farm, has taken over the space vacated by River Rat Brewery at 1231 Shop Road a year ago, and is set bring a new restaurant/cafe from the owners of the coffee shops Drip in Five Points and Brickhouse in West Columbia to the property that has a rooftop view of Williams-Brice Stadium. Akera Sellers, who took over Drip late last year, said the forthcoming Harvest Cafe will serve food, coffee and alcoholic drinks.

The new cafe adds to Sellers’ growing list of Columbia-area businesses, including The Corner Blend in downtown Columbia, which he purchased in September.

Sellers said the hope is to open the cafe portion of the development by the summer.

“The yard is still out front so we’re going to have benches out there, it’s going to be a real family environment,” he said. “What I’m really looking forward to [are] good weather days where people just come hang out and have fun.”

A “coming soon” sign for Finn’s Farm hanging outside the space also advertises the involvement of another prominent local business: Bierkeller Brewing Company. The brewery, which opened its brick-and-mortar location in the riverfront Canalside Lofts off Taylor Street in August 2023, poured beers at a series of tailgate events hosted at Finn’s Farm this football season. But when reached by The State, Bierkeller owner Scott Burgess wouldn’t confirm his business’ involvement in the development.

The former River Rat property was sold in July for $875,000, according to county deeds.

When the brewery closed in December of last year, it was the last of the first three production breweries to open in Columbia amid the craft beer boom of the early 2010s still operating; Conquest Brewing Company and Swamp Cabbage Brewery, which were also located near Williams-Brice Stadium, closed in 2019 and 2022, respectively.

This story was originally published December 17, 2024, 5:00 AM.

A major health insurer will drop a Midlands health care system from its network early next year.

Lexington Medical Center confirmed to The State on Monday that the West Columbia hospital and its plethora of services around the Columbia area will no longer be considered in-network with Aetna as of Feb. 1.

“Beginning February 1, 2025, Aetna will no longer consider Lexington Medical Center or its affiliated physician practices as in-network for its commercial or Medicare Advantage plans,” the hospital said in an email. “Even though our network status may change, Aetna-insured patients can still come to Lexington Medical Center, our urgent care facilities, our surgery centers, and our physician practices for their care.”

Besides its West Columbia hospital near Interstate 26, Lexington Medical Center operates 44 separate practices and specialists throughout the Midlands, from oncologists to podiatrists to urgent cares. All of them are affected by the decision. Lexington Medical Center had previously warned patients that it was in negotiations with Aetna for next year’s coverage, but that its status was “doubtful,” in case patients wanted to adjust their health coverage for 2025.

Aetna parent company CVS Health told The State in a statement that the company is continuing to work to try to keep Lexington Medical Center facilities and providers within its network, but blamed the health provider for asking for too much in any renewed plan.

“We are continuing to work in good faith to renew our network agreement with Lexington Medical Center,” the insurer said. “However, we remain far apart on terms because of their demand for unreasonable price increases for their services. While we want to reach an agreement that keeps Lexington Medical Center in our network, we cannot agree to terms that would burden our members and local employers with significant cost increases.

“It is unfortunate, but unless we reach a new agreement, Lexington Medical Center will no longer be in network for our Medicare and Commercial health plans after January 31, 2025.”

The hospital network said that health plans with out-of-network benefits will incur out-of-network costs at an LMC provider. Lexington Medical does provide financial assistance programs if the coverage change causes hardship for its patients.

Aetna-insured patients currently receiving ongoing treatments at Lexington Medical Center may qualify for continuity-of-care benefits for certain conditions. The hospital encouraged patients to contact Aetna to check if these benefits would be available to them.

Emergency services at the hospital’s emergency department will continue to be treated as in-network, Lexington Medical said.

This story was originally published December 16, 2024, 11:30 AM.

In less than a decade, a family-founded Midlands hospitality and health care group has covered plenty of ground — from opening seven restaurants and a beer distribution center to buying and revamping a members-only social club and golf course. And though the rapid growth has led to success for the business and rapid changes to Columbia's food and dining scene, it's also ruffled some feathers in the community.

In the early 2010s, Sara Middleton Styles said Main Street's dining and retail landscape was so quiet that "tumbleweeds were rolling down it." Today, the street is home to six restaurants founded and owned by the Midlands businesswoman's hospitality group: LTC.

A health care attorney by trade, Middleton Styles has long been involved with LTC — an acronym for "Live, Teach and Create" — which originally began as, and still features, primary care physician group LTC Health Solutions. Alongside Middleton family members like her father, LTC founder Scott Middleton, and her brother, Greg Middleton, LTC began veering into the hospitality industry eight years ago after establishing their headquarters on Main Street.

With the desire to bring a dining option to main street that was "not just your standard restaurant," LTC opened up its first restaurant concept, The Grand, at 1621 Main St in 2016. The property, previously a 20th-century Vaudeville house and theater, now boasts elevated bar bites, bowling lanes and a basement tiki bar.

"That's really where I found my love of the historic revitalization side of everything," said Middleton Styles. "From there, we started realizing the potential of what Main Street could become, and what it already was."

In less than a decade, LTC has grown considerably since opening The Grand — it operates five additional restaurant properties on Main Street and owns a 25,000-square-foot brewery manufacturing space along North Main Street.

As LTC continues to grow, its restaurants occupy a progressively larger slice of Columbia's restaurant offerings. Leaders of the group said it's only the beginning.

What does LTC offer?

LTC's restaurant properties are diverse in concept and execution, making it difficult to ascertain its culinary character. Among the offerings on Main Street are restaurant and oyster bar Smoked, hibachi and sushi lounge Hanabi, casual Western European lunch spot 1624 Bistro and cocktail and tapas bar Robinson Room. Outside of downtown Columbia, LTC also owns concepts like Chapin's 518 Smokehouse and West Columbia's Solina Golf Club, which includes Italian-inspired restaurant Gregory's. David Turner, LTC's vice president of marketing and events, said the hospitality group's persistent growth keeps the office busy and lively.

"Our whole team and our company are a bunch of visionaries — everybody's a creative," he said. "The fun part of my job is, when you walk in, you never know who's come up with a bright new idea."

Despite the group's rapid growth, its focus has not changed since 2016, Middleton Styles said. In an effort to "revitalize Main Street," LTC has also hosted events like an annual New Years Eve Party and spearheaded downtown Columbia beautification efforts, including the string lights hanging across the 1600 block.

"Our priority is just to continue on that initial vision of, 'How do we help grow the city?'" Middleton Styles said. "The more businesses that we're able to bring into the city, means the more employees that you can bring into the city."

The biggest concentration of LTC properties is on the 1600 block of Main Street — "our block," as Turner calls it. With five LTC operations neighboring each other in rapid succession, the label is apt. The block also hosts The Nickelodeon Theater, James Beard Award-winning Lula Drake and Mast General Store.

Mattison Heatherly, founder and CEO of social media agency City Social Co., who handles public relations for several LTC restaurants, said the restaurant group's cluster is not simply self-serving.

"There's always strength in numbers, and I think (LTC) has paved the way for a lot of other businesses to succeed in Columbia," said Heatherly. "If the 1600 block wasn't there, I don't think a lot of Main Street would be as developed as it currently is."

Tension and controversy brews over Peak Drift pivot

In 2019, three years after LTC ventured into hospitality, District III City Councilman Will Brennan tipped the business off to a massive property with potential: a 25,000-square-foot, high-ceiling facility on 3452 North Main St. When the Middletons toured the space, inspiration struck.

"Greg (Middleton) just looked at me and said, 'This would be such a cool brewery space,'" Middleton Styles said. "We really didn't take any of it very seriously in the beginning, and over the next few months, we just kept going back to this idea of, 'Wait, that's a really cool concept.'"

LTC's soon-to-be brewery was located in one of South Carolina's seven Opportunity Zones, a group of "low-income urban and rural communities" supported by federally funded economic development programs. As the Middleton family began dreaming up their new concept, which would become Peak Drift Brewing Co., LTC approached the Hyatt Park Keenan Terrace Neighborhood Association with mockups of the proposed space.

Betsy Newman, former Neighborhood Association president and current Hyatt Park resident, as well as neighbors Bob Petrulis, Jannie Nelson and Lyman Munson, recalled that plans for the new Peak Drift facility included a restaurant, beer garden and recreational spaces.

"They courted us — they really did," Newman said.

According to Munson, the Neighborhood Association has historically been selective with their support for local development projects. Before LTC Hospitality approached them, the group had recently expressed their disapproval of the construction of a Circle K gas station on part of the on-sale property. Hyatt Park, Munson and his neighbors believe, lacks "third places" for the community to gather, eat and unwind. After listening to LTC's aspirations for Peak Drift, Neighborhood Association President Ty Zeigler sent a letter on behalf of the community to the City of Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals on Feb. 23, 2021.

"No neighbor has voiced opposition to the project ... and I have thus far heard only general support for the project," Zeigler wrote in the letter. "We look forward to working with the developer and the City on this project, which we believe is crucial to spurring long-awaited and needed commercial development along the North Main Street corridor."

But Newman said she and her neighbors eventually came to believe these promises were "a lot of smoke." LTC chose to "pivot" from the taproom idea — a choice Middleton Styles attributed to economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and a proposed closure of a 500-foot segment of the property's neighboring Phillips Street. In October 2024, LTC announced its plan to rehouse the taproom initiative in Main Street's Smoked, already home to Peak Drift's microbrewery.

"With initial plans to open a taproom in the fall of 2023 at the North Main location, the company has shifted its focus into a large-scale production facility and distribution center, servicing other breweries throughout the state," the October press release stated. "Peak Drift’s rapid growth as a leading contract brewing facility and international brand prompted the company to defer its plans for a customer-centric brewery."

When the release went live, Middleton Styles recalled receiving "a lot of feedback — both positive and negative." Heatherly navigated the PR, encouraging critics and skeptics to think optimistically about this shift.

"Businesses pivot all the time," Heatherly said. "This is something that (the Middletons) have invested their personal money into, and changing to a production-based business is still providing jobs and keeping money in South Carolina."

But for the Hyatt Park and Keenan Terrace residents who had been looking forward to the birth of this new "third place," the change was disappointing.

Middleton Styles said LTC made a good-faith effort to bring the taproom to life, but plans ultimately fell through due to economic and zoning issues.

"I'm heartbroken, too," she said. "I really wanted this to be a reality. It's not like it was a lie."

Navigating criticism and setbacks

Across LTC's downtown eateries, they've garnered an average of 4.2 stars on Google Reviews and 3.4 stars on Yelp. LTC team members said they welcome constructive criticism — though it's "not always easy to swallow," Turner added.

Middleton Styles cited improving the taste of certain dishes and correcting misspellings on restaurant menus as two points of feedback that came from LTC diners.

"I appreciate criticism. I never really try and take it as something negative," she said. "It's that someone out in the community or in your organization care enough about your organization that they want to say, 'Hey, here's some things you can do to help make it better.'"

The community response underscores one challenge for hospitality groups with several ventures: finding balance between diversification and an established identity becomes more difficult with each new opening. And while the range of cuisines and concepts — from sushi to a raw bar to a tiki bar — may seem unfocused, Heatherly argues it's the opposite. She made a case for the intention in LTC's breadth of dining options — and argued the group's current model allows them to satisfy as many consumers as possible.

"(LTC) could just have one restaurant and it could be fantastic," Heatherly said. "But instead, they've created — I hate to say the words 'something for everyone' because it's anti-PR — but created unique experiences throughout their portfolio of businesses for different needs."

As LTC continues to expand its reach across the Midlands, Middleton Styles is positive about the road ahead.

"It really hasn't been this incredibly calculated initiative," Middleton Styles said. "It really has just been wonderful, natural growth over the last few years."

Jane Godiner is the food reporter for the Free Times. You can reach her at jgodiner@postandcourier.com or find her at @JaneGodiner on X and @jane.craves on Instagram.