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Here is the plan for the SCANA service center. Really no reason to be concerned about the lack of an urban attitude of the building......the greater concern is that this looks like one BIG parking lot and drive through.
In looking at the photo of the area.....that area already looks like one big parking lot with lots of empty land.....definitely not urban or pedestrian friendly at all......SCANA should fit right in.
With the new normal it might be a generation or two before that area is urbanized and pedestrian from corner to corner. In the meantime can you say trees as opposed to weeds?
I have a feeling they will collect more than just power and gas bills. They might contract with other utilities (or municipalities) to handle their in-person collections. Wouldn't it be a hoot if they started collecting City of Columbia water bills and collecting a fee for that too?
If that happens it could be the crown on one of the most through skinning jobs I have even seen.
Remarkable.. there isnt and old bank that they can lease to do this somewhere? Why build something just because you have the land. I guess it comes down to dollars and cents.. but it seems to lease and old bank or two somewhere in town (I must admit Im not sure where one is but with all the consolidations there gotta be one somewhere) and do this service center there. If my light bill is pass due.. I would drive to just about anywhere to pay it to avoid it being disconnected and pay the associated fines/fees to reconnect it. So whether its in the Vista or Eau Claire wouldnt matter much. They could also put a kiosk (or a person) in the Columbia Transit Center on Laurel Street so people could pay their bill on there way to and from work... They should get rid of the info counter staff person since 99.9% of the people riding the Columbia Buses are probably from Columbia and know where they are going. Better maps or real time schedules that show bus arrival times should eliminate the need for an info person and the space could be used for other customer or passenger services. The space is also shared with a security guard.. so you can still leave a chair for them....
The five lanes of drive through are as wide (deep) as the building itself. The building is actually rather small.....surrounded by lots of pavement. Someone should rethink allowing this.
Issue #24.05 :: 02/02/2011 - 02/08/2011[LEFT]SCANA Twists the Knife Into Columbia Yet Again
Key Downtown Property Will Be ... Drive-Through Payment Facility[/LEFT]
BY KEVIN FISHER
“This piece of property had amazing potential.” — Fred Delk, Columbia Development Corporation (The State, Feb. 1, 2011)
The operative word is “had.” With SCANA’s decision to put a drive-through bill payment facility on the Vista’s most prominent undeveloped piece of property (you can’t make this stuff up), another opportunity for progress in Columbia has been not just lost but intentionally stomped on. SCANA’s transformation from corporate citizen to corporate hustler is complete.
Meanwhile, the city’s usual lay-down-and-die-whatever-you-want-please-sir-may-I-have-another approach to SCANA’s corporate behavior is complete as well. The city has blessed, and even participated in, the company’s abandonment of the bus system, its abandonment of Main Street and now its abandonment of the Vista’s future.
“When the cleanup was announced, SCANA officials said the property would be sold for high-end development. City officials and Vista boosters at the time described the tract and the adjacent Kline Steel property as ‘the premier, privately held development site in the city center’ and estimated ‘hundreds of millions of dollars in development.’ The customer service center, which is scheduled to open in 2012, will be built for $2 million.” — The State (Feb. 1, 2011)
To review the history of this piece of property is to review the incompetence of Columbia city government over the past two decades. Sadly, this new development shows that incompetence jumping from the Coble era into the Benjamin era, as the project has been approved without publicity and construction is set to begin within 60 days, with the new mayor and council showing themselves to be no different from their predecessors.
“The bus barn site was ‘given’ to Columbia by SCANA in 2002 as part of a deal in which the utility dumped the transit system it was legally obligated to provide (as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court no less) onto Columbia and Richland County taxpayers. In that coup-de-grace, SCANA culminated two decades of bad corporate behavior during which it allowed the bus system to decline, then hustled a weak mayor system of government headed by a weak mayor into a weak deal.” — City Watch (June 24, 2009)
Alas, that was only the beginning. Not only did SCANA foist their bus system responsibility onto us, they quickly left town after doing so. Showing the business acumen they did not possess, Mayor Bob Coble and the 2002 version of City Council not only received a pittance in the bus system deal that was quickly exhausted, but also failed to even get SCANA to re-up on its expiring lease at the Palmetto Center building on Main Street. That paved the way for the company to move to Cayce and take its 1,000 employees with it.
Then, in 2009, desperate for money to run the buses (this would be the point where irony and incompetence met), the city sold the property back to SCANA for $4 million, which was $2 million under the appraised value.
But sweetheart deals aside, all was well for this high-profile Vista site, per SCANA’s assurance that the property would be sold for “high-end development.” Or not.
“SCANA spokesman Eric Boomhower said the utility decided to hold onto the site, even though others may consider the project less than the highest and best use of the property.
‘The best use for us was to build a customer service center,’ he said.” — The State (Feb. 1, 2011)
And of course, it’s all about them. Indeed, this all-important drive-through payment center (how many people pay their power bills at drive-through windows?) might not even be the real story.
“A spokesman said SCANA might also build an electrical substation on the site at Huger and Hampton Streets, one block from the city’s riverfront.” — The State (Feb. 1, 2011)
So much for the riverfront; so much for the Vista’s future. And so much for a new ending for this column, as an old one works just fine.
“Meanwhile, back at SCANA’s new Cayce headquarters, top executives no doubt look toward Columbia while dancing to the ‘70s disco hit, ‘Do the Hustle!’” — City Watch (June 24, 2009)
Fisher is president of Fisher Communications, a Columbia advertising and public relations firm. He is active in local issues involving the arts, conservation, business and politics. Let us know what you think: Email editor@free-times.com.
A follow up article from the Free Times as regards the lack of objection by any city officials to this SCANA drive-through payment center. Link:
He must have been hard up for a column this week. Again the drive thru center will be an improvement on the barren lot that is there now and most certainly is not the final use for this tract. And when they finally do sell they will probably recoup their 2 million plus from the developer.
Why didn't the city object any? Do you think that SCANA's offer to pre-pay the 2% franchise fee increase for this year could have a little to do with it.
This is the site where the ballpark should be going, views of city, perfect roads for getting in and out, walking distance to vista... Give scana bull st.
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