Columbia digest

Shopping center purchased

The Evans Crossing shopping center on Washington Road has a new owner.

Greensboro, N.C.-based commercial real estate company Weaver, Grubar, Tyler & Black bought the 92,051-square-foot center on the 4300 block of Washington Road from Regency Centers Corp., based in Jacksonville, Fla.

Whitney Knoll, the senior vice president of Trammell Crow Co., which brokered the deal, said the Kroger-anchored center was on the market for only five days.

Neither side disclosed the sale price for the center, which was built in 1993 and is located in the center of Columbia County's commercial growth.

'It's an excellent property in an excellent location,' said Jimmy Black, the president of the Greensboro company. 'It represents a good long-term investment. The Kroger's done very well there.'

Couple arrested A Harlem couple was arrested last week for throwing a weekend party involving alcohol, drugs and underage girls.

Harlem Police Chief Jerry Baldwin said James Martin and Amanda Maddox, both 21, were arrested Saturday. Each faces 14 charges that include one count of aggravated child molestation and three counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Martin and Maddox were taken to the Columbia Detention Center.

Chief Baldwin said one of the minors, a 14-year-old, ran away from her Harlem home on Friday. As officers began looking for her, they received a report of a second runaway, 13.

Officers said they found both teens and a two additional friends, also 13, were at the suspects' residence in GNT Trailer park in Harlem off Gordon Highway.