Allendale County posts RFP for new community center project

The county’s public portal now lists an item labeled RFP for Allendale Community Center, a sign that the project has moved into the county’s formal procurement process and is no longer just a concept on paper. For Allendale residents, the notice matters because a community center can mean far more than a building for events: it can create one place for civic meetings, job workshops, youth programming, senior activities and emergency information sessions in a rural county where shared space is limited.

The listing sits on the same government page as core resident links for County Government, LSCOG, Cities & Towns and Voter Registration, putting the community center squarely inside the county’s public-business workflow. Allendale County’s administration page names Chanel Lewis as interim administrator and Angela Dobson as administrative assistant and procurement contact, while the county offices page lists Lori Joyner as parks and recreation director. Those names matter now because any next step on the RFP will run through the county’s administrative and procurement channels.

The center’s roots reach back several years. The Town of Allendale was among the winners in the Municipal Association of South Carolina’s 2023 Hometown Economic Development Grants through a project called Revitalizing Allendale Community Center: Restoring Hope and Unity. Those grants are worth up to $25,000 each and require a matching contribution of 5% to 15%, depending on municipality size. A 2023 report said the Allendale Community Center would reopen in 2024 after being closed for several years because of an unrepaired leaky roof, with the work funded by a $25,000 Homestead Grant from the Hometown Economic Development Council.

That earlier effort also had a strong local political and community push. Town Council member Marlon Creech made reopening the center part of his campaign, and resident Yurlanda Simmons helped write the grant while arguing the building should host educational gatherings as well as parties and social events. The county’s broader spending plans also point to a wider commitment to community facilities: a 2024 capital-project sales-tax list included a separate $500,000 line item for a St. Mark Community Center.

The current center work may also be tied to a larger redevelopment plan. 1st & Main Development says it has worked with Allendale County since 2021 on turning the vacant historic CV Bing School into the Allendale Community Center, with an estimated completion date of 2026. Its planned uses include Parks & Recreation, Clemson University space, First Steps of Allendale County, a business innovation center, event space, healthcare services and the county’s first community pool and splash pad. The financing mix includes historic tax credits, New Market Tax Credits and South Carolina abandoned-building tax credits, underscoring that this is being treated as a serious long-term public investment, not a simple renovation.