As city planners and economic development groups work to make Charleston's comprehensive plan a reality, a long-discussed project meant to fix a decades-old design blunder is finally on the horizon.
The Charleston Town Center mall's debut in 1983 was closely followed by the completion of Brawley Walkway and Slack Plaza, designed to create a thoroughfare between the mall and downtown merchants to ensure the latter wouldn't suffer financially from the mall's instant success.
More than three decades later, Slack Plaza has become more of a blight on downtown, marked by faded, crumbling pavers, a nonworking fountain and spiked loafer rails to deter loiterers from harassing passersby.
"The problem is two-fold," City Manager David Molgaard said. "The materials they used are worn and tired looking, but the design itself never really worked as intended."
Since GAI Consultants unveiled its final design plans for Slack Plaza and Brawley Walkway a year ago, City Council finally approved a resolution last week authorizing Molgaard to enter into an agreement with Ohio-based Wolf Creek Contracting to carry out the first phase of the project. That includes the portion of Brawley Walkway from Court Street to Laidley Street.
A grant from the state Department of Transportation for more than $650,000 and a $163,000 match from the city is helping fund Brawley Walkway's redesign.
If the city can secure additional funding from the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority, it can also begin a facelift for Fife Street - the stretch of Brawley Walkway from Capitol to Summers streets.
The authority will consider the city's request for nearly $600,000 at its next meeting on April 13.
"I think it's safe to say it's a proper and positive expenditure of our funds, so I think [the board] will look on it favorably," Executive Director Jim Edwards said.
Despite Brawley Walkway's intriguing entry off Capitol Street onto Fife Street, the vacant storefronts and visible crumbling interiors compromise the charm.
Wheeling-based McKinley Properties will get a head start on solving that problem, however. It recently entered an agreement with the urban renewal authority to purchase and renovate the former B&B Loans building at the corner of Fife Street and Summers Street.
The walkway's stretch between Laidley Street and Charleston Town Center mall feels more like a hastily designed channel than a cohesive thoroughfare.
"Everything in there is gonna come out," Molgaard said about the project's first phase. The existing pavers, he said, "make you feel like you're in a worn and faded space." Those will be replaced with modern, plank-style pavers.
The walkway's variable width would be increased to roughly 20 feet wide to better accommodate pedestrians and outdoor restaurant seating.
Except for one large tree just off Court Street, all the trees and shrubbery will be replaced with fresh landscaping, Molgaard said.
The existing green-poled street lamps lining the walkway will be removed, Molgaard said, but the ones in Fife Street will likely stay and be repainted.
Translucent panels will replace the black chain link fence that currently separates Brawley Walkway from St. George Orthodox Church.
"The goal is to backlight [the panels] with LED lights so they appear to glow and change colors as you're walking," Molgaard said.
Additional string lights will also be hung across both the walkway's reaches for better visibility and ambiance - something Councilwoman Susie Salisbury has been rooting for.
"We've preached this from day one," said Salisbury, who is also vice president of community development for Charleston Area Alliance. "You see string lights in all the successful [downtown] areas now."
The crosswalk in front of the mall on Court Street also will be improved, Molgaard said. Contractors have discussed the possibility of installing a traffic-calming "speed table" across the pedestrian crosswalk - essentially a longer, flat-topped speed bump.
"Rather than stepping off a curb, pedestrians stay at the sidewalk level as they cross the street," Molgaard said. "We're giving priority to pedestrians - that's the intent of the walkway."
Funding hasn't yet been secured for Slack Plaza's redesign, which is still in the conceptual phase. The city applied last year for a $2 million grant from the state Department of Transportation for Slack Plaza, but hasn't received word on whether it will be awarded.
The project would transform the paved plaza into a multi-use green space with areas designed for dining and socializing on opposite ends.
It also calls for renovating the former Middle East Mart into a K-9 and bike unit substation for the Charleston Police Department and constructing a new Kanawha Valley Regional Transit Authority ticket office, among other things.
Molgaard said city planners are "pursuing any opportunity we can find" to acquire the funding needed to move forward on Slack Plaza next year.
"It would be a shame to do these two walkways and then sit for another five years without the ability to finish the plaza," he said.
But the plaza's reputation may be harder to improve than its design.
Prior to its gradual descent into obsolescence, Slack Plaza was once an answer to many of Charleston's problems.
Its original construction called for the removal of the Greyhound bus terminal, relocation of the KRT transit buses to Laidley Street from Capitol Street and establishing a convenient halfway point between downtown businesses to Town Center mall, where pedestrians could enjoy their lunch hour, congregate for community events or hitch a ride at the transit mall.
While under construction in February 1983, then-city official Carter Giltinan praised the plaza's design in the Gazette for its open paved area that was meant to be a venue for art shows and other events. What worked in the early 1980s, when Charleston's population was nearly 64,000, is no longer a viable solution, Molgaard said.
"We've evolved to the point where we now see the benefit of green spaces in urban settings and how that enhances the human experience," Molgaard said.
The fountain, which faced myriad problems and was ultimately shut off several years ago, was meant to "help wipe out the sense of the city and traffic noises," Giltinan said at the time.
But its awkward placement forces pedestrians to walk through narrow corridors on either side, Molgaard said.
In addition to the outdated surface and lack of green space and shade, public safety at Slack Plaza and the transit mall has been a longstanding issue.
Nearly a decade ago, Mayor Danny Jones called for spiked loafer rails to be installed on most of the seating walls at the plaza to help alleviate some of the harassment that pedestrians - mostly women - experienced.
Molgaard stresses that it's not those who ride public transit causing most of the problems, but rather those who see it as a venue for "loafing."
When the plaza's redesign was being conceived last year, "we didn't want to repeat mistakes of the past and create an uncomfortable gauntlet," Molgaard said, adding that there was a "very conscious effort" not to place the main pedestrian corridor near seating walls due to past issues.
The Starburst sculpture, which was relocated to Slack Plaza from the Charleston Civic Center, will eventually be returned, he added.
Some of the most visible changes to Slack Plaza will be the construction of a new ticket office for KRT and renovating the former Middle East Mart into a substation for the police department's K-9 and bike units.
Doug Hartley, assistant general manager for KRT, said the authority will pay for a new ticket office.
"We're waiting for the city to hire an architect so when they put together the designs for everything, it's all matching," Hartley said.
The existing city-owned ticket center and covered bus stops will be torn down and the authority will own the new ones, he said.
While the buses currently load and park along much of Laidley Street, they would all board on the south side of Brawley Walkway once the project is under way so the path isn't blocked to pedestrians. The block would eventually be reduced to two lanes, Hartley said.
Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster said he thinks the new substation at 180 Laidley St. will create "an incredible sense of presence and perception of safety."
Slack Plaza has a history of vagrancy and general nuisance issues such as panhandling "that sometimes escalate into bigger issues," Webster said. But he believes both the K-9 and bike units' presence will place more emphasis on making Slack Plaza and the transit mall safer.
Tom Vasale directed the city's beautification department from 1982 to 1986 and said Charleston "was really kind of a happening place," at the time. He admitted that he disliked the plaza's design plans, calling them too "pedestrian."
"By the time Capitol Street came back, Slack Plaza looked a little threadbare. Some of the things they thought were a good idea turned out to not be a good idea," he said. "It's getting time to refresh it."
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.