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Forest Acres is a suburb, but it's hardly "the suburbs". If you never saw the sign, you'd never know it wasn't Columbia. I wouldn't even call it "inner ring". It's surrounded by Columbia, and is closer to the core than much of the actual city of Columbia is.
Still, I'm not thrilled to see this. I'd rather see Richland Mall strengthened as a retail space and leave these jobs in office space downtown. It's not a blow, but I'd say it's a wash.
The attached article explains better the company's decision to move to Richland Mall. The words near the conclusion of the article about Columbia having become a hotbed for high-tech jobs, sounds promising.
The attached article explains better the company's decision to move to Richland Mall. The words near the conclusion of the article about Columbia having become a hotbed for high-tech jobs, sounds promising.
Thats good to hear.. You know I wonder who or what is working with these type of industries as they make these type of decisions... Verizon's decision to go to NE Cola and this groups decision to move to Forest Acres or even other high tech firms considering to relocate to Columbia. I know that Richland County now has an Economic Development Director.. Not sure who is doing this in the City of Columbia..This would be the 'go to' person that would get the call from one of these types of firms when they are looking to make these type of decisions. An ED professional in Columbia, assuming we dont have one, could strategically head off some of these moves before they get to far along by offering alternative options or..*gasp* incentives depending on the impact of the move.
On a related note.. now that the County is investing heavily in Decker Blvd.. what would happen if it was annexed into the City? Would they continue to invest in it or would they pull out and move over to Broad River Road? I hope the latter is NOT the answer since the City is IN the County.....just sayin
Hurray for Forest Acres and Richland Mall... This is certainly may be a short term blow to Main Street but it also creates an opportunity to repurpose space for other uses. .Main Street and the CBD I feel is beginning to "right size" itself and become a variety of uses.. not just office but a mixture of office, retail, and residential which is always healthy for a central city.
EXCLUSIVE: Firm to move 400 Main Street employees to Forest Acres mall - Business - TheState.com (http://www.thestate.com/2011/10/22/2018589/exclusive-firm-to-move-400-main.html - broken link)
This sounds like a blow for Main Street. To lose 400 workers....this on the heels of SCANA moving away from Main. Certainly won't help any restaurants or shops on Main.
Any idea if the city tried to keep them downtown? Incentives? Bet they received dirt cheap rent, with Richland being a dead mall....perhaps there was nothing the city could do, but would still be nice to know if the city tried.
Agreed with gsupstate. How anybody can see this as a good thing is beyond me. I say leave this company downtown, tear down Richland Mall, and put a mixed use development on site.
No, no, y'all don't understand. As it was pointed out to me: this is a part of the City's strategy.
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