The Old Aiken Mall Site Was Supposed to Get a Movie Theater. It Got a Free Friday Night Stage Instead

On Friday, Oct. 16, former Mayor Rick Osbon picked up a bass and joined the Kenny George Band for Van Morrison's "Wild Night." He was playing on a stage that had been named for him less than an hour earlier. According to the Aiken Standard's account of the evening, hundreds of people had set up lawn chairs on the long rectangular lawn in front of the new Rick N. Osbon Amphitheater at Aiken Towne Park.

The address is 2441 Whiskey Road, where the Aiken Mall used to stand. For most of the past decade, the talk about this property was about what tenants might fill it: department stores, a movie theater, a bowling alley. None of those has shown up among the businesses reported since. The first real place to spend a Friday night on this site turned out to be public property, and it costs nothing to get in.

The Stage Is the City's

Aiken Towne Park is a mixed-use project by Southeastern Company. The Aiken Standard lists 256 apartments, the 65,000-square-foot Belk that survived the mall's demolition, 43,000 square feet of new retail space and a 5,000-square-foot building still under construction. One part of the property is different from the rest. The walking track, the lawn and the amphitheater belong to the City of Aiken.

City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh told the Aiken Standard how that came about. "In 2018 we negotiated a deal with him where, for a million dollars, they would build us the walking track that's approximately one-mile circumference around this park, and the green space and the amphitheater," he said. Southeastern then named the stage for Osbon and gave it to the city. Board chairman Vic Mills said the company chose the name "because he stuck with us from day one."

Ownership decides who runs the place. The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department runs it, and the city's Oct. 13 announcement presents it as a gathering place for residents and visitors on what the city calls Aiken's South Side.

What the Mall Was Waiting On

Before the stage, there was a long wait for anchor stores. In August 2020, the Aiken Standard reported that Southeastern was "in talks" with several department stores, a movie theater company and a bowling alley company. Mills confirmed the company was negotiating with Kohl's specifically. He explained why big tenants had to come first. "The first question they ask is, 'Who are your big boxes?'" he said, describing his conversations with smaller retailers.

The timeline below shows how the site moved from those talks to Friday concerts.

The original goal was large. The 2020 article said Southeastern planned to turn the mall into an indoor-outdoor shopping center similar to Shelter Cove Towne Centre, the company's development on Hilton Head. The 2022 year-end coverage described Aiken's Southside as busy with new projects. That included an Olive Garden on the former Golden Corral site, which the Aiken Standard called one of the restaurants residents had wanted most. WRDW's June 2025 update described Towne Park as retail, restaurants, apartments, a park and an amphitheater. No theater, bowling alley or Kohl's appears on any tenant list published since.

The plan for a lifestyle center did produce one entertainment venue. It is the stage, and the city owns it.

Six Fridays Left This Fall

After the dedication, the city scheduled what it calls the Free Friday Night Live Music Series. Concerts run every Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. through Nov. 27, and all of them are free and open to the public. As of Thursday, Oct. 22, these dates remain:

• Friday, Oct. 23
• Friday, Oct. 30
• Friday, Nov. 6
• Friday, Nov. 13
• Friday, Nov. 20
• Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving

The city's announcement and its event flyer name only the Kenny George Band, for opening night. No performers have been announced in those materials for the remaining Fridays, so Visit Aiken's event calendar and the city release are the places to check before you head out.

For seating, the city asks people to bring lawn chairs. That is the one item it mentions. The Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department also asks anyone who needs special assistance to contact the PRT Administrative Office 48 hours ahead. The concerts end at 9 p.m., and you can also walk the track of about a mile that loops the park. If you want to pick up dinner on the way, Huey Magoo's announced in May that its Aiken location at 4150 Julep Way SW was open.

A Venue Built Around Local Players

Opening night featured local musicians. Before the show, Kenny George said he first played in Aiken at 14, at Aiken's Makin'. He told the Aiken Standard that the city is "trending towards having a good music scene." "Now, they actually have a dedicated amphitheater," he said, and noted that it is named for a man "who's been playing around Aiken forever." Osbon was mayor from 2015 until 2023. In his remarks he said, "We just didn't have anything like this Aiken."

That focus on local musicians matches the city's other new concert series this season. Visit Aiken announced that the long-running summer concerts at Hopelands Gardens would continue into autumn for the first time, in response to resident interest. The inaugural Fall Hopelands Concert Series ran on Monday evenings at 135 Dupree Place, with parking at the Green Boundary Club, 780 Whiskey Road. It featured the Keith Clark Band, Brooke Lundy and John Vaughn, the Dusty Angels, and Lost Dog on Sept. 21 and 28 and Oct. 5 and 12.

The Hopelands series wrapped up four days before the amphitheater opened. As a result, Aiken's free outdoor music runs from late September to the end of November this year, moving from the gardens near downtown to the lawn on Whiskey Road. Both series are run by the city, and both are free.

Where the Lawn Fits on Whiskey Road

Southeastern senior vice president Jason Long said at the dedication that the development "absolutely would not have happened without our partnership with the city council, city staff, and without a doubt, former Mayor Rick Osbon." The space around the stage still has retail and apartments, and one more building is still going up. The amphitheater, the green space and the track around them are the city's. That portion of the old mall site is set aside for public use, whatever tenants come and go around it.

Osbon described what he hopes the stage will be. "One thing that pulls us together is music," he said. "I hope in years to come there'll be plenty of that." The next chance to hear music there is Friday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m.

Places like this lawn on Whiskey Road shape what a Friday night looks like in Aiken, and we pay close attention to that kind of change across the CSRA. If you're thinking about how Aiken's Southside is developing, or simply want a local perspective on what's next, Tonda Booker Real Estate Group would be glad to hear from you. Let's Start a Conversation.