362 replies to this topic

[waccamatt]

Bull Street Design is Unveilled

The design for the Bull Street development has been released. There have been no figures set for the whole project, yet, but I'm thinking it will be in the $500 M to $1B range, what do y'all think?

Do not post copyrighted material.

Edited by Spartan, 19 May 2005 - 06:28 AM.

[HAMMETTM]

waccamatt, on May 18 2005, 01:28 PM, said:

Bull Street Design is Unveilled

The design for the Bull Street development has been released. There have been no figures set for the whole project, yet, but I'm thinking it will be in the $500 M to $1B range, what do y'all think?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was hoping for a few mid or highrises. I guess my hopes are too high although they would have looked great coming into Columbia off I-126.

[waccamatt]

HAMMETTM, on May 18 2005, 01:23 PM, said:

I was hoping for a few mid or highrises. I guess my hopes are too high although they would have looked great coming into Columbia off I-126.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't count out some midrises. They are discussing some high density development with lots of green space. I agree that some highrise apartments or condos would look great at that location and they would have a great view of downtown, too!

[Spartan]

I woud like to see some midrises as well. However, as long as there is some density, it will be acceptable.

The latest news is that the architect wants to transform Bull, Harden, Elmwood, and Colonial Drive into "people-friendly" avenues. He accurately says that these roads are unnecessarily wide and not friendly to foot traffic. Having a narrower road with curbside parking and (presumably) wider sidewalks would connect the neighborhood to the surrounding ones better.

He goes on to say that this adjustment won't affect traffic patterns. I don't see how making a road smaller can accomplish that, particulartly at such a key intersection as Elmwood and Bull, and in a city that is growing. I'm not a traffic engineer though.

Source Article

You guys need to break this habit of copying and pasting stuff form articles. I know its easy to do, but you need to paraphrase it instead. If it fits, a paragraph is ok to copy, but ideally you should paraphrase the important info. Stop copying & pasting things directly from newspapers. Eventually it will come to some sort of punishment. The higher-ups are less lenient than I.

[Spartan]

Here are the 3 concepts they released today. Photobucket it down, so I will move these to my server when it goes back up.


A rectangular grid.


A curved grid with a diagonal boulevard.


This plan features "vistas" which are some sort of noteworyth structure at the end of the street. The article uses the State House when coming down Main St or Longstreet Theatre on Sumter St. as examples.

There is not too much left to say about them, but you can read it [url=http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/11695366.htm]here

I like the rectangular grid of the first and the diagonal boulevard of the second. They should merge the two.  B)

[The_sandlapper]

The layouts look interesting. I'd like to see more from a ground level. I'm also glad they are not dragging there feet on this project unlike canalside maybe Khan should do canalside as well.

[waccamatt]

I wish I had the money to develop Canalside. It needs to get done. NOW!

[krazeeboi]

Here is the third rendering:



Actually I like all three, but for me, I think I'd have to choose the 3rd rendering since it appears as though it attempts to maximize green space.

At any rate, I'm impressed with how the city has jumped on this opportunity so quickly. Wouldn't it be amazing if this project AND CanalSide were going on at the same time? Combine that with everything else going on in the city, and I'd say for a city its size, Columbia would be VERY hard to beat...anywhere.

Edited by krazeeboi, 20 May 2005 - 07:44 PM.

[colajnp]

The Bull Street project will be successful and a great thing for Columbia. I personally would like it to become more housing and less retail.  My one problem with Columbia is a lack of center city.   You have the Vista, Canal Side, Devine,  5pts, Sandhills, Main Street, & now Bull Street all trying to bring a city center atmosphere where you can stroll along and go shop, eat, and be entertained.   My question is, can all Columbia be a city? or just a spread out metropolitan area?   I would love for Columbia to be a nice little southern city like Charleston but just don't see a central base.  Just some food for thought.  I just don't think the elected officials in Columbia have a true vision for this city.  However, I hope and feel we will succeed in spite of them!

[vicupstate]

krazeeboi, on May 20 2005, 07:42 PM, said:

Here is the third rendering:

At any rate, I'm impressed with how the city has jumped on this opportunity so quickly. Wouldn't it be amazing if this project AND CanalSide were going on at the same time? Combine that with everything else going on in the city, and I'd say for a city its size, Columbia would be VERY hard to beat...anywhere.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Producing a bunch of renderings doesn't impress me.  I have seen renderings of Canalside since the early '90s, or was it the late '80s.  Let me see some construction, then I will be impressed.  

The only reason this opportunity even exists is because the Governor wanted the state to cash-out on an unproductive asset.  The city has long been aware of the potential of this site, but did little to make it reality until Governor Sanford said "sell it".  

It does appear that the private sector is taking more of the lead on this than the city, which bodes well for its success.    The city needs to finish what it started on Canalside, the Vista, Main ST. and 5 pts.  It's plate is full.

[krazeeboi]

At least with the Vista, Main St. and Five Points, progress is being made. First Citizens building is coming along nicely. And I think the Bull Street property will undergo development quickly. But hey, maybe I'm just too optimistic?

[The_sandlapper]

Too optimistic? Not at all. The city has alot going on but that's good it's growing and developing accordingly and taking advantage of opportunity. It in a sense is making an effort to become a "creative class/ new urbanism/ new south city, but that's just my thoughts.

Columbia still has some things to work on but it has really dusted itself off and put it's best foot forward over the past few years or so.

[Doug L]

Yesterday afternoon I drove through the old Bull Street hospital property.
What a magnificent opportunity for Columbia!  

One of the suggestions the architect had was for the Babcock building to used as city hall.  I couldn't agree more.  The building is not only historic; it has the potential of being beautiful and it is huge!

The city should take over that one building, place ALL of the cities offices in that structure and lease out the balance of the building as office space.  The money raised from rents would no doubt cover all the expenses of maintaining the facility plus make a profit for Columbia.  An additional perk would be to have the room for expanding city hall and/or offices as the need arises.

[jinkin]

I think the developing the Bull St. property within reason is perfectly acceptable.  My fear is that someone will decide that it is a good idea to develop it along retail lines which sounds like a disaster in the making to me--as if traffic along Bull St. and Elmwood could be made any worse than it already is.  Any word on some of the possible uses of that property?

[emerging.me]

jinkin, on May 23 2005, 11:37 AM, said:

I think the developing the Bull St. property within reason is perfectly acceptable.  My fear is that someone will decide that it is a good idea to develop it along retail lines which sounds like a disaster in the making to me--as if traffic along Bull St. and Elmwood could be made any worse than it already is.  Any word on some of the possible uses of that property?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't worry about that.  DPZ -- the planning firm that has been hired to create a master plan for the area -- does truly world class work and are one of the main progenitors of New Urbanism.  So of the early concepts appear in previous posts in this thread.

They're unveiling their plan at 7:00 tonight at the Convention Center. I'll be there and will post a report.

Edited by emerging.me, 23 May 2005 - 03:35 PM.

[The_sandlapper]

Sounds great can't wait!

[waccamatt]

Turning the Babcock Building into City Hall is an absolutely phenomenal idea!

[Spartan]

colajnp, on May 20 2005, 10:07 PM, said:

My question is, can all Columbia be a city? or just a spread out metropolitan area?   I would love for Columbia to be a nice little southern city like Charleston but just don't see a central base. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

^^ can you clarify this? ^^

-----------------------------------

It is definately a good thing that the private sector is arranging this. As we have all said at one point or another- Columbia needs to stop playing developer. It got things started, and its a great start. If Columbia will continue to focus on the aethietics like Lady St or Main St, it will more than do its part.

[emerging.me]

Man... guys, I just wrote this big long post and the some crazy Windows thing cause me to loose it. Soooo bummed. It was an awesome presentation. I just don't have time to retype everything right now. The State has a story about it today. I'll be back to fill in the blanks with the cool stuff later. Did anyone else go last night?

[JT Boy]

emerging.me, on May 24 2005, 10:51 AM, said:

Man... guys, I just wrote this big long post and the some crazy Windows thing cause me to loose it. Soooo bummed. It was an awesome presentation. I just don't have time to retype everything right now. The State has a story about it today. I'll be back to fill in the blanks with the cool stuff later. Did anyone else go last night?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looking forward to hearing your report.  This is very exciting that the project seems to be on such a fast track and involves such a high caliber of professional expertise.  Given the extremely fast progress on this project, why can't the same project structure be applied to the old CCI property?  Its sat vacant for years now, and progress seems to be at a standstill.  My memory of the final proposals put forward for CCI was that none were particularly exciting or innovative, and, if memory serves, one was a horrible waste of prime location real estate.