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With all of the new growth in Columbia and the positive momentum we have as we grow our city into the future its no wonder we have recieved attention from numerous publications such as the Top Ten rating, the feature article in the Outdoors Magazine, and finally the feature on Main Street found in Southern Living.
Though our incredible development feats downtown that are continuing to flood in have undoubtedly spurred much of that national exposure, the fact that our city is finally marketing ourselves appropriately outside of the Metro is what will ultimately take Columbia to the next level. For years and years we have looked at Greenville and all the exposure they received from their downtown and wondered why we were not getting the same attention. Though Greenville's downtown is a redevelopment marvel, Columbia even prior to our resurgence we have continued to see, still had plenty to show off but never did and now that not only do we have so much more to show off, but we also seem to have a marketing team in place that is successfully generating national exposure for the region and with these two working simultaneously its clear to say that Columbia is finally gaining the exposure and limelight it deserves.
Mayor Ben says that this is Columbia's Time and I couldn't agree more. Even on here on all of these threads while of course we all tend to bash everyone else and debate, but it seemed that before people would always bash Columbia or look over it completely, now you see less and less of that or you see people commenting on how all three metros are about the same and no one is that much different and for Columbia, thats an accomplishment considering where we were just 5 years ago.
Columbia is relevant again and will only continue this momentum in growing our city. We had to sit back and watch Greenville and Charleston get all of the limelight and now we have join those two making all three metros in our state relevant on a national level.
Columbia's Main Street never reached a point at which it had no businesses or other attractions to patronize. It never had a boarded up feel to it. That is probably a reason why something wasn't done years earlier, when other cities got started revitalizing their cores. Now the capital city seems to be on a fast track with its own version of urban renewal.
This should be an interesting thread. Based on growth and other relevant economic metrics, Columbia has never been out of the party, in some years, it was the only party in the state. However, it does not have a large manufacturing operation on the scale of BMW or Boeing to drive attention from magazine writers who like to re write press releases ( or one who like to write about their hometown).
Greenville has done a great job with Main st and does an even better job promoting the region. The area embraces Clemson and uses it as a resource instead of thinking of it negatively. The synergy helps to create a very positive image for the city.
Charleston will receive recognition, rightly fully so, for the preservation and beaches.
Columbia seems to be at the beginning of telling its story to a larger audience. Instead of bashing Carolina for "dominating the city", it seems to be getting over that silly notion and embracing the school for how it can help the Columbia region. Columbia has always had strong metrics relative to other SC cities, the story is starting to catch up with reality. The good news is that recognition tends to go in a feast or famine cycle, with all of the new projects slated for downtown and Columbia overall, it is nice to see the media finally starting to see what is happening.
This should be an interesting thread. Based on growth and other relevant economic metrics, Columbia has never been out of the party, in some years, it was the only party in the state. However, it does not have a large manufacturing operation on the scale of BMW or Boeing to drive attention from magazine writers who like to re write press releases ( or one who like to write about their hometown).
Greenville has done a great job with Main st and does an even better job promoting the region. The area embraces Clemson and uses it as a resource instead of thinking of it negatively. The synergy helps to create a very positive image for the city.
Charleston will receive recognition, rightly fully so, for the preservation and beaches.
Columbia seems to be at the beginning of telling its story to a larger audience. Instead of bashing Carolina for "dominating the city", it seems to be getting over that silly notion and embracing the school for how it can help the Columbia region. Columbia has always had strong metrics relative to other SC cities, the story is starting to catch up with reality. The good news is that recognition tends to go in a feast or famine cycle, with all of the new projects slated for downtown and Columbia overall, it is nice to see the media finally starting to see what is happening.
Thats a real good point and I think to put it into the party anology, Columbia was the first to the party, then everyone left and went to the next party, Columbia stayed longer, and has now just gotten to the next one just shortly after everyone.
I agree that Columbia has always had a lot to offer and was a noteworthy city especially from an economic perspective, but was never truly marketed to the outside audience as well as Greenville or Charleston did. I think that no matter how many great things we have here with the Zoo the Lake and rivers, the fact that we never had a cool downtown was the main thing holding the city back. Sure there have always been neat places on Main and plenty of offices workers, but they all leave at 5, the Vista has not gained its fair share of development prior to the past 5-10 years or so, and the only place we had was Five Points which is just a college hangout. Compare that to Greenville in the past 5-10 years and clearly that is the more attractive city with their Main St. All these articles talk about whats in the city, the character of the city and I think my father who used to work on main for 25 years before moving away from downtown said it best when he helped us move into my new apt on Main, he said "wow this area has a character and a vibe now, ive never seen this before." Thats what these articles want to focus on and now that we have that with everything going on and that focus on telling the Columbia story to a larger audience were a player now.
I also agree with you about the USC thing, cooperation with the university is certainly a benefit to the city, but that includes the university's cooperation with the city. Columbia is not and will not be a college town and the city should not allow that to happen but certain things like innovista, IT Ology, different things like that are huge assets to the city and in reference to Gville and Clemson, very similar in what CU is doing in Gville. That type of cooperation should be fostered and your dead on the money with that, I just have a problem with trying to make this city all about the Gamecocks, or all about the students and being a college town, that I do have an issue with, but other than that I like the partnership.
Columbia's Main Street never reached a point at which it had no businesses or other attractions to patronize. It never had a boarded up feel to it. That is probably a reason why something wasn't done years earlier, when other cities got started revitalizing their cores. Now the capital city seems to be on a fast track with its own version of urban renewal.
that's far less of the problem than Columbia's deep, proud culture of "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians." I'd bet solid money that there was never as much of a problem of trying to allocate growth among neighborhoods in CHS & Greenville, and if there was it certainly got stamped out quicker than Columbia.
that's far less of the problem than Columbia's deep, proud culture of "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians." I'd bet solid money that there was never as much of a problem of trying to allocate growth among neighborhoods in CHS & Greenville, and if there was it certainly got stamped out quicker than Columbia.
I think enough people have come on board with the idea that downtown is everyone's and that the CBD, the Vista, Five Points, etc., should not be used as examples of "an area of town that's getting things my neighborhood isn't getting" whine whine whine.
Columbia's Main Street never reached a point at which it had no businesses or other attractions to patronize. It never had a boarded up feel to it. That is probably a reason why something wasn't done years earlier, when other cities got started revitalizing their cores. Now the capital city seems to be on a fast track with its own version of urban renewal.
I've expressed similar sentiments before. It should be noted that when Greenville started revitalizing Main Street and when Charleston started revitalizing King Street--both in the 70's--Main Street in Columbia, while obviously not still in its pre-war hey day--was still very viable. It's pretty incredible that Macy's didn't leave Main until the 90's; many cities lost those department stores much earlier. Columbia's Main Street just has a different life cycle than the other main thoroughfares in the state.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atticus Finch
that's far less of the problem than Columbia's deep, proud culture of "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians." I'd bet solid money that there was never as much of a problem of trying to allocate growth among neighborhoods in CHS & Greenville, and if there was it certainly got stamped out quicker than Columbia.
I'm sure it was probably never as much of a problem in Greenville, since its municipal boundaries are "artificially" small. So in many cases in Greenville, it's the county that has to tackle neighborhood investment.
I've expressed similar sentiments before. It should be noted that when Greenville started revitalizing Main Street and when Charleston started revitalizing King Street--both in the 70's--Main Street in Columbia, while obviously not still in its pre-war hey day--was still very viable. It's pretty incredible that Macy's didn't leave Main until the 90's; many cities lost those department stores much earlier. Columbia's Main Street just has a different life cycle than the other main thoroughfares in the state.
I'm sure it was probably never as much of a problem in Greenville, since its municipal boundaries are "artificially" small. So in many cases in Greenville, it's the county that has to tackle neighborhood investment.
This is another really good point in addressing not only the difference in cycles of redevelopment, but the overall differences between Columbia and the other two cities. Columbia continues to be the states largest city and is the only city in the state that grew like a larger city in terms of sprawl, etc and boasts a much larger geographic area and larger CBD. Greenville and Charleston have grown much differently in that revitalizing their downtowns did not require having to connect three different areas and not having to focus as much on infill either.
This sprawl has also caused a major issue that Columbia has to deal with that the other two cities do not and that is regional cooperation. With the metro and parts of the city split between Richland and Lexington Counties, it as we have seen in many cases (Southwest) has been another major issue that Greenville and Charleston didnt have to deal with as much from a regional marketing standpoint as well as an economic development standpoint and when it has come up, have handled it much better than we have in the past but our situation I would say is much more difficult and is one reason our development and growth had lagged up until the past few years. Today I think we are seeing the result of much better regional cooperation and I think that is a direct reflection on the regional exposure and growth we have seen.
Another big difference that I think has also held back Columbia is how its economy differs from the other two. Charleston's focuses largely on tourism and Greenville's largely on manufacturing, both of which have seen and enormous boom in the past 10 years while Columbia's economy has always revolved around the financial industry which as we all know was in a huge downfall until recently while the other two cities were exploding their economies. Now that we are seeing not only our financial industry coming back, but also the growth in Insurance Technology and the fostering of IT Talent in Columbia, our economy has begun, and will continue to lead the state once again, thus giving us further importance and more evidence that this is Columbia's time.
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