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Columbia Economic Notes


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I'm new to this post, but I think Columbia needs to develop a better skyline with buildings taller than 25 stories tall. It's like SC is behind in times as a state when both of our neighbors have skylines that make ours look like a small town. The buildings Columbia have now are okay, but they need more, taller buildings.

Columbia also needs more malls and malls that have names that are thought out and not named after the city itself, which confuses out of towners.

And before anyone starts bashing me let me just say that I love Columbia, but I get jealous when our neighbors in Charlotte and Atlanta have access to professional sports teams and big name acts that always seem to skip SC and go from GA to NC.

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Compare the population of ATlanta and even Charlotte to Columbia and you see why the skyline is smaller. It will never catch up with those two cities. Overall I think Cola. has a lot of high rises for it's size.

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Compare the population of ATlanta and even Charlotte to Columbia and you see why the skyline is smaller.  It will never catch up with those two cities.  Overall I think Cola. has a lot of high rises for it's size.

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I think Columbia's skyline is perfect for its size.

I do think however for its size we have enough malls (4), which is more than Greenville & Charleston.

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Thats interesting to me.

Greenville: 2 malls (Haywood, Greenville)

Columbia: 4 malls (Columbiana, Columbia Place, Dutch Square, Richland)

Charleston: 1 mall (Northwoods)

I had thought previously that Charleston had a mall in West Ashley, but I couldn't find anything about it. I find it odd that Charleston has only one mall considering how large it is.

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I'm new to this post, but I think Columbia needs to develop a better skyline with buildings taller than 25 stories tall. It's like SC is behind in times as a state when both of our neighbors have skylines that make ours look like a small town. The buildings Columbia have now are okay, but they need more, taller buildings.

Columbia also needs more malls and malls that have names that are thought out and not named after the city itself, which confuses out of towners.

And before anyone starts bashing me let me just say that I love Columbia, but I get jealous when our neighbors in Charlotte and Atlanta have access to professional sports teams and big name acts that always seem to skip SC and go from GA to NC.

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Welcome to the forum by the way!

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On a similar note, I wonder if Lexingon County, Lower Richland or RNE will see a new mall in the near future (10 years).

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I think Lexington Co. has a good shot of seeing a mall within the next ten years. RNE and Kershaw have the village at Sandhill plus Columbia Place to feed of off for the next few years.

Sorry about the numerous post I just hit a manic phase!

Edited by The_sandlapper
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That was awesome! I feel you on the whole brick thing though, it does kinda make it look a little bland, also they need to replace the trees with some palmettos, everybody loves palmettos! Anyway if I had some money I would definately purchase a townhome there! That area is about to blow up in a big way!

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I agree with you about the Palmettos...I think every tree planted in Columbia from this point forwarded should be the state tree - the Palmetto! As far as the brick, I think it was just used for the concept. I certainly hope every building won't look alike like that!

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I had thought previously that Charleston had a mall in West Ashley, but I couldn't find anything about it. I find it odd that Charleston has only one mall considering how large it is.

Charleston has Northwoods and Citadel Square. It used to have Charles Towne Square, also, but it looked vacant the last time I drove by there, except for Glenn McConnell's ancient history store in the out parcels. lol

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I'll agree with that. Columbia has 5points & The Vista, while Greenville has Main St. as an alternative to mall shopping this is of course without regard to the numerous strip malls.

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I don't consider 5points or the Vista as an alternative to the malls. They do have some good stores (Oops! Co.) but most are female oriented which does nothing for me. King St in Charleston is on a different level....

I had thought previously that Charleston had a mall in West Ashley, but I couldn't find anything about it. I find it odd that Charleston has only one mall considering how large it is.

Charleston has Northwoods and Citadel Square. It used to have Charles Towne Square, also, but it looked vacant the last time I drove by there, except for Glenn McConnell's ancient history store in the out parcels. lol

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Charles Towne Square has recently been rennovated or something. It has the nice new fa

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Citadel is the newest and largest mall in Chas. It must have been renamed from Citadel Mall. I didn't know they renamed it.

I prefer SHADE trees to Palmettos myself, especially as hot as Cola gets. Charlotte's metro pop is twice that of Cola's. Cola may one day get to the NUMBER of highrises than Charlotte has TODAY, but it will never catch up with Charlotte. Plus the Affinity building or whatever it's called now, will probably be the tallest for many years. The office market is overbuilt for the moment.

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I occurs to me that while Charleston doesn't two "malls" they do have a downtown shopping corridor that is unmatched by any other city in SC, so that could concievable take the place of a mall.

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Charleston has three area traditonal malls and one non-traditional mall. Citadel is located in West Ashley. Northwoods is in the north area. Shops at Charleston Place is downtown. Towne Centre is in Mount Pleasant. Rumors were for another mall to be planned in the near future. Location has not yet been disclosed.

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Citadel is the newest and largest mall in Chas.  It must have been renamed from Citadel Mall.  I didn't know they renamed it.

I prefer SHADE trees to Palmettos myself, especially as hot as Cola gets.  Charlotte's metro pop is twice that of Cola's.  Cola may one day get to the NUMBER of highrises than Charlotte has TODAY, but it will never catch up with Charlotte.  Plus the Affinity building or whatever it's called now, will probably be the tallest for many years.  The office market is overbuilt for the moment.

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Its call "Southtrust" now, but since Wachovia just bought our SouthTrust recently, I don't know what they will call it in the future.

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Charleston has three area traditonal malls and one non-traditional mall.  Citadel is located in West Ashley.  Northwoods is in the north area.  Shops at Charleston Place is downtown.  Towne Centre is in Mount Pleasant.  Rumors were for another mall to be planned in the near future.  Location has not yet been disclosed.

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Interesting. Is Towne Centre a tradional mall like Northwoods or is it more of a large shopping center?

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Interesting. Is Towne Centre a tradional mall like Northwoods or is it more of a large shopping center?

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Its neo-traditional. More of a towne centre approach. The idea was to get away from the traditional indoor mall. It doesn't look like the traditonal strip shooping centers . Rumor has it that Carolina Park may contain a traditional mall.

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I don't consider 5points or the Vista as an alternative to the malls. They do have some good stores (Oops! Co.) but most are female oriented which does nothing for me. King St in Charleston is on a different level....

Actually Spartan, there are alot of men's stores in the Vista and Five Points/Devine Street...Savoy and Ambassador in the Vista, Brittons and Weathers on Devine, Gentlemens Closet in 5 points and plenty of mixed stores.

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Charleston does have some of the best places to shop in SC. They have shops for everyone, from the low income to the very wealthy (i.e. Gucci, Saks Fifth Ave.).

If any city becomes a haven or mecca for people to flock to SC, I think Charleston will be first. Of course I think it already is.

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Here is some good news refering to the midlands and state of SC refering to number of home sales within the past year.

Record number of homes sold in S.C. in 2004

Other areas of the state also saw increases in home sales:

_ In the Midlands, 10,010 homes were sold, up from 9,271 the previous year. The median price of those homes was $141,000.

_ In Greenville, 7,477 homes were sold, up from 6,789 the previous year. The median price was $133,000.

_ In Charleston, 12,671 homes were sold, up from 10,673 the previous year. The median price was $179,000.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A record number of homes were sold in the state last year as buyers rushed to take advantage of low interest rates, according to the South Carolina Association of Realtors.

It was the fourth consecutive year a record number had been sold. An increase in second-home sales along the coast, as well as first-time and move-up buyers across helped the numbers, according to real estate and mortgage experts.

More of the same is expected this year with predictions that interest rates will hover between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent, said Jim Peters, association president.

"A relatively small increase in interest rates will preclude some from buying homes," said Ron Rogers, director of the South Carolina Real Estate Center at the University of South Carolina. "But as long as rates stay around the level they are, people will continue buying."

In 2004, 59,413 homes were sold across the state, a 17 percent increase from the previous year. The median value of the homes was $136,000.

The area that includes Horry and Georgetown counties saw the largest increase in home sales in 2004 from the previous year with a 35 percent jump.

Mil Servant, broker-in-charge of Surfside Realty at Surfside Beach, attributed the spike in sales to low interest rates and baby boomers choosing to spend their discretionary income or inheritance money on ocean properties.

"Based on the first nearly 30 days of this year, I'm expecting more of the same," Servant said. "That is, unless we see double-digit increases in interest rates, a natural disaster or another country disaster like 9/11."

Not the biggest news but enough to show that the states metros are seeing significant growth.

Edited by The_sandlapper
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I think it is a typo. I wish Columbia had an international airport.

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It doesn't matter it's only a name. Columbia's airport see's relatively as much traffic as the state's other "international" airports. There is no Hartsfield, or Douglas in the state, were still not quite that important yet.

You can see the airport traffic numbers in the article posted by the_future.

Charelston: 1.83 million

Greenville: 1.58 million

Columbia: 1.2 million

Edited by The_sandlapper
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It doesn't matter it's only a name. Columbia's airport see's relatively as much traffic as the state's other "international" airports. There is no Hartsfield, or Douglas in the state, were still not quite that important yet.

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sandlapper, how long have you lived in Columbia?

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Charleston does have some of the best places to shop in SC. They have shops for everyone, from the low income to the very wealthy (i.e. Gucci, Saks Fifth Ave.).

If any city becomes a haven or mecca for people to flock to SC, I think Charleston will be first. Of course I think it already is.

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I agree. Charleston could easily be a shopping mecca in SC and even coastal GA.

Is this a typo?

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Yes. Columbia Metropolitan Airport is a regional thing. Its also a nice airport. I went out there once, and the new road and the facility itself is nice too.

I read somewhere that the "International" label can mean a certain number of connecting flights or somehting to that effect. Charleston has International tourists, and GSP has it mainly because of BMW or Michelin. GSP also upgraded their runway so it can have larger planes land. I think those numbers speak for themselves. We basicly have 3 regional airports here.

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Vista’s Renaissance Plaza filling up with tenants

Businesses will include sign company based in West Columbia, firm that sells airplanes

By C. GRANT JACKSON

Business Editor

An international sign company and a company that sells airplanes are among the businesses that will own live-work town homes at Renaissance Plaza at Lady and Pulaski streets.

Fifteen of the 17 live-work units are spoken for in the upscale residential community that developers Ben Arnold and David Bryant are building in the Vista.

Bryant said the other businesses include an ice cream shop, a dress shop, a hair salon, a home builder, a real estate agent and a doctor’s office.

“I feel like we are dragging Main Street to Lady Street,” he said.

“A lot of interest has come from people with clients who come to Columbia from across the country and around the world. With the office downstairs and high-end living space upstairs, these companies can entertain their clients right here in the Vista,” Bryant said.

Colite International might use its live-work town home to accommodate clients visiting Columbia. The West Columbia company, founded by brothers Marty and Peter Brown, has installed signs in more than 100 countries.

Marty Brown said he and his brother have discussed two or three options for their unit. One would be to put a sales office on the first floor and fix the two upper floors for visiting clients.

Another option would be to lease the first floor to a retailer like a coffee shop or art studio, something that would fit into the Vista, and put a sales office on the second floor.

Brown said his salespeople don’t need to be located at the West Columbia factory. “We were thinking that it might just be a different concept to free up the sales guys, and they can concentrate on selling.”

Whatever they decide to do, Brown is bullish on that part of the Vista. The recently announced redevelopment of the Kline Iron and Steel property at Huger and Gervais streets means more people in that area. “That was certainly good news,” Brown said.

Rick Crout of Bruce Jenner Aviation isn’t sure of his plans, either. “I bought (the unit) primarily because I think it is going to be a good investment,” Crout said.

Bruce Jenner Aviation, which buys and sells corporate aircraft under the former Olympian’s name, is in the Foreign Trade Zone at the Columbia airport. Crout has about six people researching airplanes in a building that is scheduled for demolition to make way for highway construction. He could move to another building in the office park.

“It is a very convenient place, but the Vista is pretty exciting,” Crout said. He said he might put his office on the first floor and lease the second and third floors.

With a home on Lake Murray, he has no plans to move into the town house. If it increases in value, he said he probably would sell it.

“I bought it, No. 1, because it is a good investment and, No. 2, I thought it would be a fun place to work out of,” Crout said.

Bryant said the developers have broken ground on the town homes and expect them to be ready in September or October. The units have been selling for between $400,000 and $500,000, he said.

Renaissance Plaza

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