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To say that something new looks better than what was there before is selling out. I feel like Columbia's central business district and the more immediately adjacent areas are doing a better job of making sure the aesthetics are what they should be. There seems to be a mindset that allows buildings out on the perimeter but still on the original grid to be held to a lesser standard as far as what passes DDRC is concerned.
Honestly I do hope that Columbia doesn't become another Charlotte; it destroyed entirely too much of its historic urban fabric in a rush to grow at all costs, as waccamatt correctly stated. The new development in Charlotte is great, but the city would be even better with a more textured, varied urban fabric. Columbia has several built-in advantages that Charlotte lacks and it would be a shame to see those advantages not capitalized upon in a rush to just build for the sake of building.
There will always be projects that get approved or denied where folks aren't satisfied with the outcome. But this narrative being pushed that Columbia is being too overbearing in the review process is entirely false; let's not forget that in some cases, it's not the city but USC hindering development. This isn't exactly uncommon in cities with downtown universities. Overall, I think there's a healthy balance in Columbia when it comes to the review process these days. Less subpar development is getting built these days and that's a good thing. Columbia won't ever be Charleston or Savannah, but that doesn't mean it can't apply good urban principles that have helped make the aforementioned cities what they are. You have to start somewhere.
At any rate, downtown Columbia is experiencing a rather unprecedented downtown building boom and it's most definitely on the right track. When I rode through downtown the weekend of Thanksgiving, I was truly impressed with what's taken place there and it's only getting better.
"Grow at all cost" is a hysterical statement that has no basis of reality, you and Wacc are wrong about this. I agree that preservation is important but some cities are faced with a different set of challenges. Should Charlotte have told BofA to build the corp center elsewhere in order to save an outdated department store? The trade off is adding 5,000 jobs in a signature 60 story building at the expense of a vacant old department store.....the city is better because of that trade off in so many ways. Imagine if someone on a design board told Hugh McColl to build the tower somewhere else, BofA may be based in Atlanta today. And, that is why these boards, while important, also need balance. Too many times, folks on these boards do not understand that while it is not great to tear down a structure, what you get on the other side sometimes can't be replicated. I will gladly tear down a block of run down buildings for a 60 story signature building with a world class performing arts venue....no question. That is not growing at all costs, it is making a balanced decision on what will help the city more.
I hope Cola, as much as downtown has grown, will see a large project driven by a private employer. Cola needs a corp balance to USC and the government. But, Cola will not be faced with the same decisions that Charlotte had to make....there are no corporations large enough to have the same set of needs. And, that is why the boards statement was so ignorant.
"Grow at all cost" is a hysterical statement that has no basis of reality, you and Wacc are wrong about this. I agree that preservation is important but some cities are faced with a different set of challenges. Should Charlotte have told BofA to build the corp center elsewhere in order to save an outdated department store? The trade off is adding 5,000 jobs in a signature 60 story building at the expense of a vacant old department store.....the city is better because of that trade off in so many ways. Imagine if someone on a design board told Hugh McColl to build the tower somewhere else, BofA may be based in Atlanta today. And, that is why these boards, while important, also need balance. Too many times, folks on these boards do not understand that while it is not great to tear down a structure, what you get on the other side sometimes can't be replicated. I will gladly tear down a block of run down buildings for a 60 story signature building with a world class performing arts venue....no question. That is not growing at all costs, it is making a balanced decision on what will help the city more.
Charlotte made bad decisions regarding urban development in the 70's and 80's; that's just the honest truth. Now it wasn't alone and most other cities made bad decisions too; however, Charlotte already didn't have much of a historic urban fabric to work with so the impact was disproportionately worse. Although I think historic buildings could have been saved or incorporated into newer developments, I can stomach higher-use buildings as replacements. But in the case of Charlotte, lots of buildings were torn down for parking lots and structures, and some of the new buildings that replaced older buildings were terrible with respect to street-level uses. Also, although Uptown was structurally denser in that day and time, there was still land available for new development. If you get a chance, pick up this book that chronicles the history of newer development in Charlotte up through the early 2000's: https://www.amazon.com/Charlotte-The...DEY96QAVDY8WEX
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I hope Cola, as much as downtown has grown, will see a large project driven by a private employer. Cola needs a corp balance to USC and the government. But, Cola will not be faced with the same decisions that Charlotte had to make....there are no corporations large enough to have the same set of needs. And, that is why the boards statement was so ignorant.
I don't think it was an ignorant statement, but hindsight is 20/20. The damage has already been done and the city is doing a good job with quality urban infill, but it would have been preferable if the damage weren't done in the first place.
Now what I tend to find amusing is when Charlotte says it doesn't want to be "another Atlanta."
Just throwing in my two cents. First off, Huger & Blossom is aesthetically way better than it was five years ago. Also once that antique store is demoed in the next few months it'll look more like the major intersection it is. As far as downtown development, 2017 will be the year Main Street enter phase 3 of it's renaissance with the bowling alley, new boutique hotel on Taylor, begginging of Art Museum taking it up a notch adding gallery space and moving the entrance to Main Street proper to really connect with the street itself. The Arcade Mall's interior renovation also will take Main's vitality up a few notches. These changes will put 3 blocks of Columbia Main on par with 3 blocks of Greenville's vaunted Main street which is a serious win--five years back most Columbia residents thought that was in now way possible and look at it now. The main Street development snowball is rolling full steam now and with North Main getting some bigtime TLC too 2017 is setting up to be a real breakout for the capital city development wise.
Interesting, I hadn't heard about the museum development. It looks like they are adding gallery space within the existing footprint of the building The museum is set back on Main Street, so it will be nice to have more of a street presence for continuity.
Last edited by carolinagarnet; 12-05-2016 at 09:03 AM..
Interesting, I hadn't heard about the museum development. It looks like they are adding gallery space within the existing footprint of the building The museum is set back on Main Street, so it will be nice to have more of a street presence for continuity.
When the Museum first moved to Main St.. there were plenty of reasons to have its "back" or "side" to Main St and to use the plaza to buffer it from some of the activities.. or lack there of..on Main St. I am glad that they are revisiting their design.. certainly Main St has come a long way from when they first moved in and demo/reno the old Belk Store....
When the Museum first moved to Main St.. there were plenty of reasons to have its "back" or "side" to Main St and to use the plaza to buffer it from some of the activities.. or lack there of..on Main St. I am glad that they are revisiting their design.. certainly Main St has come a long way from when they first moved in and demo/reno the old Belk Store....
Boyd Plaza next to the Museum is City-owned, listed as an Urban Park on the City Parks Foundation website. They demolished the front half of the old original Belk department store. The newer rear portion was privately renovated into the current banrk building. The park was done in cooperation with the Museum's move to Main to provide a special entryway to the museum. Yes, Main has come a long way and was the hope back then that the Museum and other public improvements would be the catalysts to more private investments.The museum building was Macy's department store ( Davisons). The expansion of new gallery space will be a renovation of existing unfinished storage areas. It's the large area where Art Garfunkel performed awhile ago.
I want to know who owns the parking lot in front of the main library. I talked to Matt Kennell and i brought up an idea that he liked and the city was looking at the idea for awhile also.
But wouldn't that Lot be cool to see an Epicentre style mall with an apartment or hotel built into it or on top of it similar to Epicentre.
Matt Kennell actually told me that would be a great spot and would definitely bring a lot of foot traffic onto main St even more then what it have now. And he noted with that student dorm right there it will have a lot of students who would shop and eat and hang out right there instead of traveling out to Harbison or Sandhills.
I even drew up a concept awhile back which i have to revise.
I want to know who owns the parking lot in front of the main library. I talked to Matt Kennell and i brought up an idea that he liked and the city was looking at the idea for awhile also.
But wouldn't that Lot be cool to see an Epicentre style mall with an apartment or hotel built into it or on top of it similar to Epicentre.
Matt Kennell actually told me that would be a great spot and would definitely bring a lot of foot traffic onto main St even more then what it have now. And he noted with that student dorm right there it will have a lot of students who would shop and eat and hang out right there instead of traveling out to Harbison or Sandhills.
I even drew up a concept awhile back which i have to revise.
What do you guys think?
Wells Fargo owns the land across from the liibrary because they have the underground parking garage on that lot.
Well what do you think about the idea i was talking about?
I think it's a great idea. But I think it's a further out in time idea. We already have Columbia common and killians crossing, two very large retail driven developments that need to come up. I think the Wells Fargo land would be better suited for two 20-30 story mixed-use towers with 3-4 ground floor retail spaces. I think an epicenter style development would work better for the hopefully former transit station site on Sumter.
I think a lot of the ideas you propose are great ideas but maybe they could work in about 5-10 years out from now when the metro area hits 900k and the urban core is at a strain for space to develop. I've honestly looked through a lot of your stuff…from YouTube, the posts going back a couple of years on UP, and your images on the website that I can't think of right now that had your transit and skyline drawings. I personally think you're are really smart and forward thinker and you need a place in the cities development ranks.
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