Public Works Art Center expects to open its newly renovated space at 129 W. Richardson Ave. to the public in late October. When the doors open, the woman who sold the building will still be inside running her shop. Diane Frankenberger sold the property to PWAC for $800,000, which the Summerville Journal Scene described as far below market value. She is keeping her business going in a smaller space under the same roof.
A downtown institution doubles its footprint and the business it bought from stays put. That arrangement also describes much of what is new in historic Summerville this fall.
Four eras, one address
The building next door to PWAC has been part of downtown since 1913. Its history comes in layers.
- Cauthen's Hardware Store, the era the building is best known for, when Elmore and Lila Gray Cauthen owned it.
- 1989: Diane Frankenberger buys the building and turns it into a folk art and antiques shop.
- 1990: People, Places and Quilts officially opens, and fabric joins the inventory later.
- This summer: Public Works Art Center buys the building. It renovates the space for the arts and keeps the quilt shop on site.
The sale took years to come together. Frankenberger told the Journal Scene that buyers had approached her over the years and that she liked some of their ideas, but the timing was never right. In December 2024 she went back to PWAC CEO Jana Riley and asked whether the art center wanted to buy.
What the art center is putting in
PWAC opened at 135 W. Richardson Ave. in 2020 as a free public art museum. Since then, the artisans in residence who rent studio space downstairs have outgrown the building. The expansion gives them room and adds several new uses.
- Artisan spaces and a music room, plus more open spots in PWAC's summer camps.
- A community table, set up to encourage people to meet and make things together.
- A mini-museum that brings back cash registers from 1919 and other pieces from the building's past. It will also display framed clippings from the Cauthen years, which Frankenberger gave to PWAC along with a Journal Scene article about her own purchase.
- Three South Carolina Arts Commission offices. The commission will run workshops and a lending library stocked with cameras, paper cutters, and other project supplies.
The Arts Commission piece reaches well past Richardson Avenue. The commission picked PWAC as an official arts hub, the first in the Lowcountry. Riley told the Journal Scene the hub will serve 10 counties and save people trips to Columbia for commission resources.
During the renovation, the PWAC team kept much of the original wood and brick, either leaving it in place or reusing it. The money behind it is significant. PWAC launched a $4 million capital campaign that covers the remaining mortgage on its current building, the land purchase, and repairs and renovations. Over its first seven months, the staged campaign raised $615,276 through grants, pledges, and smaller donations.
Frankenberger summed up her view of the change in one line, as the Journal Scene reported:
"It's an asset for downtown."
Riley said her vision for PWAC has always matched what Frankenberger wanted for her shop, a third space built around community.
Smaller storefronts are doing the same thing
The art center is the largest example of a newcomer moving in next to an existing business this fall, and two downtown shops are working the same way on a smaller scale.
SoSo Cute, Silvia Fine's online children's clothing brand, has started selling inside Stephanie Button's Tweedle Beedle in Summerville. The two businesses are celebrating with a Cinderella-themed community event on Oct. 17, according to the Berkeley Independent. The brand is coming to the Lowcountry inside an existing shop, so it skipped signing a lease of its own.
On Central Avenue, down the street from the Shuckin' Shack, Tidal Creek Boutique grew out of a family business. The Bullock family runs Tidal Creek Outfitters, known for menswear and embroidery, and Madison Bullock works there with her parents and brother. Last year she opened a venture of her own under the same name, as the Berkeley Independent reported.
Even the restaurants on PWAC's block have history behind them. Bexley Fish & Raw Bar sits at 100 W. Richardson Ave. Chef and owner Jeremy Holst took over the space in 2022 and turned the closed-off bar and six-burner stove into an open kitchen, according to the Journal Scene's business coverage. He reworked an existing room rather than building a new one.
The reveal falls in a busy stretch of the calendar
PWAC's "late October" opening comes during one of downtown's busiest event runs of the year. Many of them are centered on Hutchinson Square at 102 S. Main St.
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 15 | Third Thursday, powered by Summerville DREAM | Hutchinson Square | 5–8:30 p.m. |
| Oct. 15–17 | Southern Songwriter Festival | Short Central, 100–200 Central Ave. | Starts 5:30 p.m. Oct. 15, ends 9:30 p.m. Oct. 17 |
| Oct. 17 | Salsa in the Park | Gahagan Park, 515 W. Boundary St. | 6–9 p.m. |
| Oct. 17–31 | Scarecrows on the Square | Hutchinson Square | Stop by any time |
| Oct. 31 | Downtown trick-or-treat | Participating historic downtown businesses | 10 a.m.–1 p.m. |
| Saturdays | Summerville Farmers Market | 218 S. Main St. | 8 a.m.–1 p.m. |
| Through Nov. 14 | SPARK 2026 community exhibition | Public Works Art Center | Gallery hours |
| Nov. 7 | Sweet Tea Half Marathon, 10K & 5K | Hutchinson Square | 7–10:30 a.m. |
| Nov. 13 | Open Mic Night with Free Verse Poets | Public Works Art Center | Sign-ups 6:30 p.m., performances 7 p.m. |
| Nov. 15 | Summerville Italian Feast | Hutchinson Square | 11 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Nov. 19 | Third Thursday | Hutchinson Square | 5–8:30 p.m. |
Dates come from the Town of Summerville's October calendar and November calendar, Public Works Art Center's events page, and the What's Up Summerville fall guide. The fall guide lists the farmers market's Saturday hours but gives no end date for the season.
Scarecrows on the Square follows the same community-first approach as the PWAC project. The Junior Service League of Summerville runs it. Businesses, civic groups, individuals, and schools build the scarecrows, visitors vote for their favorite, and proceeds go to JSL's School Supply Fund for Dorchester School Districts 2 and 4, according to JSL's events page.
Planning around an opening with no fixed date
PWAC hasn't announced an exact day for the reveal. The Journal Scene coverage says late October, and PWAC's events page doesn't list a date yet. Because the date isn't fixed, the SPARK 2026 exhibition is the easiest reason to stop by now. It runs through Nov. 14, so a visit during Third Thursday on Oct. 15 or a farmers market Saturday puts you at the original building while the new one is being finished. The Nov. 13 open mic will probably be one of the first evening events after the expansion opens, but that depends on the reveal staying on its late-October schedule.
The JSL Ghost Walk needs a check before you go. The Town calendar lists it for Saturday, Oct. 24, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Hutchinson Square. The listing includes vendors, food trucks, games, and ghost stories along Gum Street, Magnolia, and West Richardson, which would take the route right past 129 W. Richardson. It also lists street closures on Little Main to W. Doty and Little Main to Richardson from 4 to 10 p.m. JSL's own events page gives Saturday, Oct. 10, as the date. Email [email protected] to confirm before planning your evening around it.
One more change for your dining list: Myles and Jun Yakitori has moved. Its last day at 710 Bacons Bridge Road was Sept. 19, and it reopened Sept. 23 at 212 W. Fourth North St., according to the Post and Courier.
Historic buildings like 129 W. Richardson give downtown Summerville much of its character. If you're curious what your own place is worth while this block takes on its next chapter, Sarah Ellen Lacke and the Calore + Lacke Team are happy to walk through it with you. Get your free Home Valuation.
