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Those are interesting articles. Thanks form posting them vic. I didn't know that so many of Coble's promise has fallen through. Do anyone think that his track record would be better if Cola had a "strong-mayory" system?

As for Canalside: I want to see the site plans on page 6 :) I am not sure which plan I like best anymore. Non of them really do what I would like to see.

@ waccaamatt: thich one is the middleton building?

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"It seems the area's high tech seeds are starting to take root via the technology incubator".

USC helps launch high-tech company

By C. GRANT JACKSON

Business Editor

Two local entrepreneurs, a local venture capital fund, a USC professor and the university have launched a startup company they hope can become the next Intel.

Jason Williamson has left the S.C. Technology Alliance to join entrepreneurial partner Scott Means and USC professor Michael

Edited by The_sandlapper
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Two local entrepreneurs, a local venture capital fund, a USC professor and the university have launched a startup company they hope can become the next Intel.

Well, they have stiffer local competition then they may have thought, as Intel has quitely developed a world class R&D facility here in Columbia. In fact, they are celebrating their 5th anniversary here this month.

As far as Canalside, it seems like Mungo is going to try and pack as many homes as possible into the space, while Beach is giong to try to stick more with the city's original master development plans (sans hotel). Neither of the proposals have me too excited, and I'm afraid both are going to sterilize the Vista and put it out of reach of the average downtown worker. Oh well, I guess either option is better than a jail.

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Hey everyone.

Found this forum last night. Lots of good info about what's happenning in my new home city. I've come over here from England to work at one the local factories and I am enjoying living in Columbia alot. Nice atmosphere and great resturants for a city of its size.

I have one question. Does anyone know about the plans for the open land off Rosewood drive towards the football stadium? I heard this was some low income housing that was levelled by the city some years ago. This area must be prime for development.

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Well guys I figure since the popular trend now is to live DT it won't be cheap for awhile. It would be great to see some affordable housing being built DT.

Welcome SCEnglish I can't say that I know much about the developments on that side of town other than the Spur condos going up. Near the stadium.

By the way, where is the Intel R&D located?

Edited by The_sandlapper
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Hey everyone.

Found this forum last night. Lots of good info about what's happenning in my new home city. I've come over here from England to work at one the local factories and I am enjoying living in Columbia alot. Nice atmosphere and great resturants for a city of its size.

I have one question. Does anyone know about the plans for the open land off Rosewood drive towards the football stadium? I heard this was some low income housing that was levelled by the city some years ago. This area must be prime for development.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Welcome to the forum SCEnglish! From where do you hail in the UK?

The property you are talking about (at Rosewood and Pickens) used to be a slum. Lots of crime and drug problems. I think it was a large tract of government housing. Anyway, it was razed and there are plans in the works for a new mixed use residential development with townhomes, condos, apartments and some single family homes.

I used to have a diagram of the site plan. I apologize for loosing it :rolleyes:

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Thanks for the info.

My wife and I were looking to relocate to somewhere downtown and build if we could find a suitable lot. There appears to be some available but they are few and far between.

in answer to the previous question I'm originally from the small market town of Buckingham about 1 hour north west of London. It's been a little bit of culture shock but with an open mind to all things that are different about Columbia I'm enjoying calling it home.

Look forward to catching up on other news and info.

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By the way, where is the Intel R&D located?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's tucked behind a frontage road right at the intersection of 20 and 26.

SCEnglish, there are a number of buildable lots on the north side of downtown. Do you want to be in a planned community? Laurel Hill, Canal Place and Willowbrook all have some lots left depending on your budget. If you budget is on the higher end, you may want to look into the Vista developments. I always see some kind of home construction in Elmwood Park but don't know much about it.

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Thanks for the info.

My wife and I were looking to relocate to somewhere downtown and build if we could find a suitable lot. There appears to be some available but they are few and far between.

in answer to the previous question I'm originally from the small market town of Buckingham about 1 hour north west of London. It's been a little bit of culture shock but with an open mind to all things that are different about Columbia I'm enjoying calling it home.

Look forward to catching up on other news and info.

Welcome, SCEnglish! I have family in Kettering, right near there -- my grandmother was born and raised there.

My wife and I also would like to (eventually) build in/near downtown. We're in the suburbs now in Northwest Richland Co, but we want to go urban and biuld a sustainable, modern home on a budget. :) We just have to find the right area and an affordable lot.

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Looks like they may finally be moving the Farmers' Market, freeing up all that land near the stadium.

From WIS..

(Columbia-AP) Feb. 17, 2005 - Plans to move the South Carolina Farmers Market got a boost Thursday morning.

The Joint Bond Review Committee approved borrowing $10 million to help finance the state's part of the project.

The state is putting about $27 million into the move to a new facility near Interstate 77, including the $10 million approved Thursday and at least $14 million generated by selling the old Farmers Market across from Williams-Brice Stadium.

The University of South Carolina has promised to spend at least $14 million to buy the site. USC wants to put new athletic facilities there, including a field for soccer and many of the Olympic sports along with the athletic department office.

Richland County is putting more than $19 million into the project. Richland County Council voted 7-3 on Tuesday to support a plan to pay $4 million for land near Interstate 77.

The proposed location is a few miles south of the current location.

Richland County has also promised $250,000 a year for 20 years to promote the new market and $500,000 in engineering and architectural costs to develop the site.

The county also will borrow money so three of the market's major wholesalers can construct buildings at the new site. The three companies will repay the county over 20 years.

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Looks like they may finally be moving the Farmers' Market, freeing up all that land near the stadium.

From WIS..

(Columbia-AP) Feb. 17, 2005 - Plans to move the South Carolina Farmers Market got a boost Thursday morning.

The Joint Bond Review Committee approved borrowing $10 million to help finance the state's part of the project.

The state is putting about $27 million into the move to a new facility near Interstate 77, including the $10 million approved Thursday and at least $14 million generated by selling the old Farmers Market across from Williams-Brice Stadium.

The University of South Carolina has promised to spend at least $14 million to buy the site. USC wants to put new athletic facilities there, including a field for soccer and many of the Olympic sports along with the athletic department office.

Richland County is putting more than $19 million into the project. Richland County Council voted 7-3 on Tuesday to support a plan to pay $4 million for land near Interstate 77.

The proposed location is a few miles south of the current location.

Richland County has also promised $250,000 a year for 20 years to promote the new market and $500,000 in engineering and architectural costs to develop the site.

The county also will borrow money so three of the market's major wholesalers can construct buildings at the new site. The three companies will repay the county over 20 years.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's great news. The area around Williams-Brice Stadium may really take off now.

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Consider the source on this one. The Columbia Star and Ligon are

heavily biased against the Canalside project and the City in general. And this is an opinion piece. However, I think the city did pay too much for the property given it's condition at the time. Any real estate investor would have (at a minimum) deducted the demolition costs from the purchase price. The city's foot dragging has also no doubt consumed money as well.

In retrospect, the city should have bought the property minus demolition costs and simply held on to it until the market improved. Let the developer do the expensive studies and site planning. The city has the final word on the final product anyway. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20.

I don't fault the city for buying the property, they just should have been more prudent in the way they handled it. I also question if the developers are underpaying for the property. The developers are proposing to paying $5-6k per unit. A bargain I would say, considering the close proximity, water frontage and the infrastructure already in place.

City is losing $5 million on CanalSide

For the past ten years city council has been losing money, big money.

Commentary by John Temple Ligon

City council gets on–the–job training

In the spring of ’94 City Council embarked on the Air South airline venture. They were taking no risk because from the beginning it was guaranteed to fail. The Air South shutdown stiffed employees, vendors, contractors, suppliers, and other small businesses out of $60,000,000. Together the city and the state had invested $20,000,000 in start–up capital, with the state outspending the city six to one. No one on city council knew anything about the airline business, and few knew much about business in general.

Jim Gambrell

One year later, spring ’95, city council embarked on another business venture. They bought 28 acres at the CCI property for $3,279,000. This time maybe one or two members of council knew something about the real estate development business. But essentially Columbia had the Air South team in charge of another business enterprise sure to fail.

The city’s office of economic development, under the direction of Jim Gambrell, managed the deal and oversaw all kinds of expenditures, there were lots of overhead items no real developer would suffer so far up front and so far from necessity. But Gambrell had never been a real estate developer, and neither had anyone on city council. Everybody was in for on–the–job–training.

There were even some opportunities for historic preservation with Cell Block #1 and the Prison Industries Building. However, neither had a real chance for survival in a practical conversion.

Many consultants and

two master plans

In April ’97, two documents were delivered to Gambrell: a market analysis and a development financial analysis. In October ’98, another document came through: neighborhood development guidelines, to include a master plan by architects RTKL of Baltimore. In the winter of ’99, a fourth document arrived at Gambrell’s office: a solicitation of interest for the development’s hotel on the canal to include a different master plan by architects Boudreaux of Columbia. What the four documents cost city council is yet to be discovered, but by the end of the fiscal year (June ’99), Gambrell had spent just under $5 million putting the property together and taking on pre–development projects.

As of June ’99, the $5 million was about where city council could have stopped and possibly broken even on a sale – possibly. City council bought 28 acres for the $3.2 million, but city council planned to sell only 25 acres for development. At the market–driven maximum of 33 rental units per acre, and at the market–driven land cost maximum of $6,000 per unit, the 25 acres possibly could have sold in late ’99 for almost $5 million – then. Now the sale parcel is less than 25 acres.

Leaving the $5 million mark

Soon after the $5 million mark, Gambrell published a small brochure, something presentable to mail around the world to attract investment in CanalSide, the name for the CCI property development. Exactly when it went out and what it cost are uncertain, but other than a small history error and the promotion of Ice Land USA as a main attraction, it was the little brochure that could. Unfortunately for city council, it could not.

The street plan laid out by Boudreaux was fine with Gambrell and fine with city council, but no one knew if the final development team would embrace it. Gambrell received another thick study, the kind with the heavy “thunk” factor when it’s placed on a conference table. This time it was April ’01 and the document was a traffic impact and access study based solely on the Boudreaux master plan. On the other hand, regardless of the CanalSide layout, the impact on Huger and Taylor and Hampton was worth investigation – just a little premature.

In early February ‘02, Gambrell got another promotional study: development guidelines, again with Boudreaux on the cover. Inside were familiar illustrations on what made the New Urbanism, an urban design trend, to include a few pictures of Columbia. It was mostly photographs of Charleston and Savannah, the same thing Disney did well over a decade ago when they built their idealized new town, Celebration, south of Orlando. It’s also what was done before Seaside was built over two decades ago. The Florida panhandle town Seaside was so idealized it was the set for The Truman Show , Jim Carey’s rare serious movie role.

Tearing down buildings

and prepping the site

Demolition cost more than it should because city council couldn’t make up its mind what buildings to save, changing its mind twice. Demolition cost almost $1 million, and it had to be done in three phases. First, the buildings no one wanted were torn down. Second, Cell Block #1 fell when its practical adaptive reuse could not be found. Third, the Boudreaux master plan recommended the Prison Industries Building be converted to a hotel, an idea never to make business sense. A real developer would have decided up front what to save and what to demolish, leaving all the demolition for one affordable phase.

Over another $1 million went into a large storm sewer system, following a street plan the winning development team might reject as they configure their own street plan for more efficient and marketable use of the real estate.

In–house management not in control

Managing all this was Gambrell and his office of economic development. His office’s annual costs were reported as $301,023, which included his salary ($111,980) and “other departmental salaries” ($93,543). The salaries might cost another 30% for personnel expense (vacation, insurance, sick leave, and the like). Gambrell’s total office costs were at least $362,680 for last year.

As head of the city’s office of economic development, Gambrell claims he spent no more than 10% of his time on CanalSide. Out of the last ten years from when city council bought CCI in ‘95, 10% is one full year. When the director spends his time on a project, the director’s abbreviated office staff dutifully spends the same time on the same project. Altogether they spent at least one year and $362,680 on CanalSide.

Trying to stop at the $9 million mark

Gambrell disclosed in early 2005 a total of $8,758,956 had already been spent on CanalSide. Add to that his one year of $362,680, and CanalSide so far has cost the city over $9 million. That’s about $5.5 million to purchase the property, demolish buildings and prep the site, and about $3.5 million to carry Gambrell and consultants either recommended by city council or introduced by Gambrell.

With over $9 million in it, the city appears to be getting about $4 million for it, according to the pending offers by the two developers bidding to buy and develop CanalSide.

Gambrell’s office of economic development and the Air South team are at another $5 million loss.

Property purchase: $3,279,000 – 1995

Demolition: $971,623

Storm sewers: $1,276,433

Sub–total: $5,527,053

Consultants: $3,500,000

Edited by vicupstate
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001p1_sm.jpg

Senate Street front and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse entry at the new Hilton between the State House and the Convention Center Photo courtesy of Windsor/Aughtry

Developers begin Convention Center Headquarters Hilton Hotel this spring

Fast facts about the new Hilton

• Eight stories

• 165,000 square feet total

• 222 sleeping rooms

• Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse seating: 250, to include four private dining rooms

• 6,300 square feet of meeting and

banquet space

• 3,900 square feet in the main

ballroom, seating 300 for banquets

• Brick and stone exterior

• Blue granite finished lobby

• Fitness center with aerobics and resistance

• Pool and sun deck

• WiFi and wired throughout

• Business center with secured printing from any room

• Construction this spring

Edited by vicupstate
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One has to take news from The Columbia Star with a grain of salt. It is the paper that consists of mostly cotillion and coming out (the straight teen female kind, not the adult gay male kind) parties and legal announcements. The Star is the last small piece of conservative old south remaining in the city of Columbia. It's about the only place that Temple Ligon writes. Lest I be accused of slander I will not post the opinion most knowledgeable Columbians have about Temple Ligon. He has had some good ideas (like "The Bridge" Convention Center), but he has no real clout. While The State newspaper is no gem (I like the left leaning Free Times, myself) The Columbia Star is totally irrelevent. Take Vic's note to heart, both The Star and Ligon are against Canalside.

The city has made some development errors through the years, but who can argue with the great success of The Congaree Vista area; it has sprung from an area mostly made up of seedy areas to - I dare say - the prime arts and entertainment district in South Carolina.

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Yeah I have really enjoyed seeing how the Vista has grown and prospered over the past ten years. I think it's great. The city needed a "village area", before it's all said and done I can see it resembling Y'bor city in Tampa. I think the location of the research campus in that area will definately be a catalyst for future growth and development of it and surrounding areas. I'm really curious to see how Vista West will develop. I think it would be awesome to have a townhome on the west side of the Congaree and see the skyline! I know there is one community being developed on that side of the river near the W. Cola Riverwalk. I would like to see more affordable housing go up in that area. Of course it won't be on the river but that area should village off as well.

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Yeah I have really enjoyed seeing how the Vista has grown and prospered over the past ten years. I think it's great. The city needed a "village area", before it's all said and done I can see it resembling Y'bor city in Tampa.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

YOU may have been watching the Vista for 10 years, but the development has taken a lot longer than that. Mayor Kirkman Finley coined the phrase "Congaree Vista" in 1979. Soon after, a master plan was designed. It's been a long, slow, process with many fits and starts, and it's still nowhere close to complete. It has also taken one or two hundred million dollars at least.

If Columbia's leadership had been more focused and had a better understanding of good urban design, it would be a lot farther along IMO. The residential component in particular has been painfully slow to develop, although the pace is finally picking up decently.

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