What will be Columbia's next hot neighborhood?

[Woodlands]

The City is on board, please note these links to several initiatives that surround GG. There is also a major streetscape planned for Gervais Street. GG will be the last piece in the puzzle because there is already a considerable amount of development already underway in the area. Benedict College Stadium, Allen University improvements, Two Notch Rd Streetscape, infill housing in MLK Park, Waverly, and areas near Melrose. Waverly is definately on the rise. This is generally the area between Taylor Street, Millwood, Gervais and Harden. Just a block off of Millwood to the east the "City of Dreams" project placed a half a dozen or so large homes that are reselling in the low to mid 200K.So there is definately alot of interest and only a matter of time before the dots are connected. Adding more residents of diverse incomes to these areas via infill housing and new developments could potentially assist Midtown Mall as well by adding to its potential customer base...though the Mall still has to find its niche in Columbia.


Columbia Housing Development Corporation
http://www.columbiascgateway.com/con...Guidelines.pdf
http://www.fajohnsondevelopmentgroup...RAFTREPORT.pdf

[Woodlands]

More good news for the Vista. Article from the State highlight the remidation of the old SCE&G Bus Site and Kline Steel Properties which represent to of the most prime properties in the Vista. Hopefully a high quality urban development will find its way to this site.

The State | 07/23/2008 | Massive cleanup begins on bus barn site

[Woodlands]

This project may be an unfortunate casualty of a flat or slow economy. This is a prime site in West Columbia, so hopefully another developer will be able to pick this project up at some point if the current one cannot make a go of it...


The State | 07/30/2008 | Building Our City: Contract lapses; Rivertown on ropes?

[asaulpaugh]

Thanks again Woodlands. Speaking of the mall, what are your thoughts. I've been reading lots of articles expressing that this site is not sustainable as an enclosed mall, but I would have to think with the value of the parking garage alone at approx. $15m that it would be hard for anyone to scrape the site to do mixed use from the ground up. Is this mall restoreable to a successful quality enclosed regional mall and would some small scale mixed use on the site be successful there or is someone going to have to go all in on a full out redevelopment of the site? It seems that there are several retailers missing from the area and with the close proximity of USC, Benedict, and the Army training facility it seems that if someone put the pieces in place, the shoppers would return instead of driving up to Columbiana, especially with gas prices at what they are.

[Woodlands]

The mall is a tough nut to crack. Back when it was built, people thought THEN, that it was too big and there wasn't a market for that much space. The original Richland Mall was actually a sort of lifestyle center with JB White's Dept. store being the big box anchor and an open air walkway with several stores on either side leading up to it from Forest Drive. The only other store that I can recall there was Woolworths.. though the mall was mostly leased with a variety of stores, most non chain.

The ideas that I would have suggested have been tried in one form or another.... building housing/condos on top did not go anywhere.. ideas of having a hotel also appeared to have faded. The bitter irony in this is that, Richland Mall was completed nearing the end of the " big box mall era" and now everyone wants lifestyle centers, like village of the Sandhills... which that type of open air project, though smaller, may have been more suited for the RM site. Even Trenholm Plaza is getting a face lift though it was certainly doing ok before and even adding more stores. The demographics around RM may also prove challenging.. it seems other than the institutions you mentioned that most of the neighborhoods are dominated by empty nesters. When I was in highschool there were kids pouring out of these areas... now, I do not get that sense, though I can certainly be wrong.

Maybe they could divide the mall lengthwise in half. The half that faces the neighborhood (west) could continue to be class B(?) Office Space or small business incubators for emerging midlands businesses needing office space. The half of the mall that faces Beltline and the garage.. they could borrow from one of their previous concepts and create a "Main Street" with all the businesses opening out on to it (like TGI Friday) with outdoor seating on the first floor and balcony seating/decks on the second floor. They could close this street perodically and have the state's largest blockparty with live music, games, etc. Like PowerPlant Live in Baltimore :::{ POWER PLANT LIVE }::: The parking garage side of the street should also have balcony seating and the "main street" side of the parking garage facade done over to resemble a faux retail street front to mirror the other side. This will give it a true main street effect and hopefully populate the balconies during the "festivals". They could also turn one of the "big boxes" into a theatre or concert venue for smaller shows.

Just some thoughts... I am sure others have better ideas.. hopefully one will work.

[Captain Worley]

I think a big problem with Richland Mall was the owners wanted too much rent money. When it opened, it was only 75% occupied, while Harbison and Columbia Mall were pretty close, if not full. I don't think they ever really recovered from that, but I've heard merchants complaining that the rent is still too high.

[Woodlands]

Here is another project that has been scaled back as a result of a faltering economy and by this developer's account, Columbia City Council. I can see both sides of the issues surround the project.. the desire to have more dense urban development versus low scale(height) to protect the intergrity of the "urban village". What the developer is proposing now, I believe, is not the scenario for the project but I sure he has to move forward given the money and time invested. This project and the Rivertown in West Columbia appear marginalized. However; as Innovista marches forward I certain other projects will materialize.....


The State | 08/06/2008 | Five Points project plan scaled-back

[Woodlands]

I am totally confused on this one but maybe I missed something..County Council appoints a committee to study a way to improve roads, transit, bike lanes etc; the committee makes a recommendation along with County Staff/Consultants that yeilds a $500million dollar plus price tag that will be placed on a referendum for VOTERS to decide if they want to pay this tax to pay for these improvements. The Voters could decide to vote the tax up or down....Now I can understand the concerns over the economy and the tax on groceries.. but could not that have been address by Council during their updates before it came down to the vote to add it to the referendum?? Secondly, I would hope for our area's sake that this is revisited and whatever 'kinks' that gave Council pause worked out for the next opporuntunity to add it to the ballot. I am sure the 39 volunteers on the Committee and the residents of Columbia and Richland County are owed at least that must. What makes Columbia attractive are things like low cost and less congestion.. so if the congestion issue is not resolved or at least reduced.. it could affect the livability and ultimately the competativeness of our community down the road.

The State | 08/15/2008 | County Council: How the road tax died in Richland

[Woodlands]

The City of Columbia is trying to find way to pay for the improvement of Assembly Street. This effort was one of the many projects that would have been partially funded through the sales tax referendum that was nixed by County Council. The improvement of Assembly Street could lead to more development along that corridor and higher tax values that would have impacted both the City and the County. Hopefully County Council will reconsider the referendum at some point in the future to fund some of these long term transportation projects that could improve not only transportation but also continue to promote development.

The State | 08/20/2008 | Building Our City | Assembly Street wish list