It's not like there's nothing going in the Main Street area of Columbia. (Charleston: to buy, live in)

[gvillesc]

Originally Posted by GSP101

Main is coming along. While it is not there, it is certainly moving in the right direction. The three new towers in the past 7 years are great additions, one with stunning architecture. Mixing these new towers in with the historical structures give the street a great presence. Perhaps the next step is to get enough tax credits for a new project so that we can give retail space away.

These three new towers STILL offer nothing at street level. You're a HUGE advocate for that! However, it's ok in this instance because it's Columbia?? I'm really confused. Main@Gervais has potential on the ground floor, but it's still empty, is it not? Maybe it's about office space or investment?? IDK.

Greenville, too, has seen significant development over the past 7 years, with Riverplace, McBee Station, Main @ Broad, etc. The thing is, they're all mostly midrise building, generating foot traffic and offering retail space. Why do you keep bringing up three towers anyway?

[Columbiadata]

The naysayers had Ruth's Chris closed here years ago. Instead it's thriving quite well on the ground floor of the AAA-designated Four Diamond Hilton Columbia.

[redcliffe]

Originally Posted by GSP101

What is the point of what you are trying desparately to say? Sorry, it is a fact, growth is measured in percentage terms. This is true for population, financial instruments, economic metrics etc.....Is that hard to understand? do you want so desparately for Greenville to be the best that you are making the numbers work in your favor similar to Enron? Look, Greenville is SC's largest county, noone is disputing that fact. But, to say that the upstate is the fastest growing metro in SC is very misleading with or without other counties.

It is the best. I said you win.

[Skyliner]

Originally Posted by GSP101

Growth wise, you are not growing as fast as other places in SC. Sorry, it is not there, look at the numbers. With a few exceptions, growth is measured in percentage terms. And, right now, York & Richland among others are growing faster than Greenville, sorry it is a fact.

Surely you aren't saying a large metro area is officially lagging a tiny metro area when its growth rate (%) is slower, despite gaining many more new residents. With the limited number of people migrating and/or creating babies, a high growth rate simply cannot be sustained forever.

[GSP101]

Originally Posted by Skyliner

Surely you aren't saying a large metro area is officially lagging a tiny metro area when its growth rate (%) is slower, despite gaining many more new residents. With the limited number of people migrating and/or creating babies, a high growth rate simply cannot be sustained forever.

What you have described is the law of diminishing returns. We have spent way too much time on a silly argument, what do you think about Main St.'s recent developments?

[GSP101]

Originally Posted by gvillesc

These three new towers STILL offer nothing at street level. You're a HUGE advocate for that! However, it's ok in this instance because it's Columbia?? I'm really confused. Main@Gervais has potential on the ground floor, but it's still empty, is it not? Maybe it's about office space or investment?? IDK.

Greenville, too, has seen significant development over the past 7 years, with Riverplace, McBee Station, Main @ Broad, etc. The thing is, they're all mostly midrise building, generating foot traffic and offering retail space. Why do you keep bringing up three towers anyway?

I am bringing up the towers because this thread is about Columbia's Main St development. And, all of these towers are on Main St.

But, I don't think it is confusing at all, each development is different. For the Meridian, I am happy they did not tear out the buildings around the tower just to create more space for retail in the tower's lobby. The tower has small frontage on Main so, I like that the older buildings were preserved as a result. For Main & Gervais, the footprint was a little tight to create much space other than for a restaurant which is a great space, I hope something goes there. First Citizens, although a great building, could have been developed differently. I am not sure why they did not go higher (I would say cost but they used nice materials....maybe they have a call/support center in the building and needed a larger footprint) and use some of the street level for retail, that would have made that project nicer. Although it is still one of my favorite buildings.

What works well in Greenville, does not always work elsewhere. That does not mean it is right or wrong, it is about making the best space out of the given parameters. For these three towers, they promote growth on Main, have placed a number of workers on Main and help with the feel of the street. Hopefully retail will fill in the historical store fronts to complete the picture. To me, that does not make these projects any less than RiverPlace or One, they are just different.

[Palmetto_Guy]

The tower with the curved metal feature at the top (I think that's Meridian) has a restaurant on the ground floor. There was a nice photo of the outside dining area of that restaurant in the Sunday spread about Main Street in The State newspaper. It used to be Birds on a Wire, but I forget the name of the new one. The new office building across from the statehouse has space for a restaurant but I don't think it has been filled yet. As far as the Brazilian steakhouse, it should do really well being that it's right across from the Marriott and a block away from the Sheraton.

[g-man430]

What exactly are we arguing about in this thread? I think i'll just grab the popcorn and watch this thread continue to go down the drain.

[Columbiadata]

Originally Posted by gvillesc

These three new towers STILL offer nothing at street level. You're a HUGE advocate for that! However, it's ok in this instance because it's Columbia?? I'm really confused. Main@Gervais has potential on the ground floor, but it's still empty, is it not? Maybe it's about office space or investment?? IDK.

Greenville, too, has seen significant development over the past 7 years, with Riverplace, McBee Station, Main @ Broad, etc. The thing is, they're all mostly midrise building, generating foot traffic and offering retail space. Why do you keep bringing up three towers anyway?

All three towers are mainly banks, and all three have bank lobbies on the ground floor. It's quite appropriate that such a high concentration of financial institutions would sit on the block and a half adjacent to the center of the state's governmental power, the State House. Banks have to go somewhere.

[Columbiadata]

I started this thread and called it "It's not like there's nothing going on on Main Street." Now does that title sound like it's saying Main Street has arrived? I have a B.A. in English, but I don't think it should take that to grasp my concept in creating the title. Fever, a restaurant serving food with some heat in it I presume, is putting in the finishing touches before opening two doors up from the State House on Main, directly across the street from the plaza that a restaurant on the ground floor of the Tower at Main & Gervais would (will) look onto. One block over on Assembly Street, COLA's is getting closer to opening. They're in there right now working as hard as they can go, and they've brought back the original facade, including the lettering along the front cornice. It should be a very nice restaurant. The place is huge. As probably stated before, a Charleston company has purchased the three-story building catty-corner from Mast General, and Hennessey's, a class act mainstay restaurant for over 25 years on the same block as Mast and Nickelodeon, and directly across the street from the planned artist studio building (Tapp's), plans a balcony with outdoor dining. Main Street's resurgence is going to happen. It's only going to snowball, but Main Street will be absolutely bursting at the seems with a vibe that then spills over into adjacent blocks and up the newly streetscaped (buried power lines and new trees) North Main Street, and there will still be naysayers claiming it's going to all come to a crashing halt and show that Columbia is a loser city.