Columbia Economic Notes

[CorgiMatt]

The bass tournament held at Lake Murray last summer had a $46 million plus economic impact on the Columbia/Lake Murray region and was broadcast to more people worldwide than any fishing tournament in history. It looks like it will be returning next year.

From The Columbia Star:

Miriam Atria, president of the Capital City Lake Murray Country economic development office, narrated her video about the Forrest Wood Cup fishing tournament. Total economic impact of the event was $46,556,207. Television coverage of the event was broadcasted to 81 million Fox Sports Net households in the U.S. On World Fishing Network, the Forrest Wood Cup was broadcasted to more than 429 million households in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. Atria is trying for a return engagement with the event, but she asked for a larger convention facility. The convention center on Lincoln Street was built too small for the fishing tournament and all its collateral activities.

[krazeeboi]

The convention center was built too small, period. It should have been at least 400,000 sq ft.

[CorgiMatt]

The adjacent parking lot is there so that the CMCC can be added onto as needed, as fiscal indications prescribe. It will be done, in Columbia as it is in heaven, where everything is perfect and all potential has been realized.

[Captain Worley]

The bass tournament held at Lake Murray last summer had a $46 million plus economic impact on the Columbia/Lake Murray region and was broadcast to more people worldwide than any fishing tournament in history. It looks like it will be returning next year.

Wow! That's cool. I didn't know that.

The convention center was built too small, period. It should have been at least 400,000 sq ft.

I think so, too.

The adjacent parking lot is there so that the CMCC can be added onto as needed, as fiscal indications prescribe. It will be done, in Columbia as it is in heaven, where everything is perfect and all potential has been realized.

Was it designed for that? I had no idea.

[krazeeboi]

The city is planning to construct a 400-space parking garage at the corner of Washington and Sumter streets. First Baptist will own the first level, while the city will own the others. This should help with the parking crunch downtown, specifically with parking associated with any new tenants for the Palmetto Center.

[Spartan]

Is parking in downtown Columbia really that much of an issue? Just curious.

[krazeeboi]

A study done in 2002 said that downtown was in need of 1800 more parking spaces. Meridian built its own garage since then, which has helped. I believe that there are actually two additional garages planned for downtown.

[waccamatt]

Is parking in downtown Columbia really that much of an issue? Just curious.

Only for those too lazy to walk a block or two.

[CorgiMatt]

I have never had to walk as far in downtown Columbia to get where I was going from a parking space as I have had to walk from a mall parking space a store in the mall. And there are no buildings or trees to shield me from the sun at a mall.

[krazeeboi]

Here's a rough sketch of the proposed garage (courtesy of the Free Times) which is being designed by LS3P, the same firm that designed CanalSide.

[Spartan]

Not to be difficult, but that is a horrible rendering. All you can see is the scale of the thing. So as far as scale is concerned, it looks great.

[waccamatt]

Not to be difficult, but that is a horrible rendering. All you can see is the scale of the thing. So as far as scale is concerned, it looks great.

It is really bad, just like the renderings we've seen of TMG. Maybe they release mediocre drawing so we can be impressed when we see the finished product. The more they finish on TMG, the more I am falling in love with the building. It is gaining some interesting architectural features that weren't apparent in the drawings, for instance there is some metalwork being placed outside of the windows, the shades of glass varies in different areas and there is an overhang on the southwest corner of the building that wasn't obvious. Maybe I'll take some updated photos today.

[CorgiMatt]

A business report in The State this morning says a report this week by the Federal Reserve says that within the Richmond, Va. region, Columbia, northern Virginia, Charleston WVa, Greensboro and Charlotte's commercial real estate markets have seen a slight uptick in leasing activity, mostly for office and industrial properties. All other areas of the region are subdued or have had slight decreases in activity.

[krazeeboi]

Here's some more info about Congaree Pointe, the 100+ acre mixed-use residential development being developed by Bible Way Church. This side of town could really use a shot in the arm like this.

The development will include:

[CorgiMatt]

Business Week magazine says Columbia has the 8th most affordable housing market in the US.

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-...8&GT1=35000

[Ronak]

It looks like Columbia could be seeing WiMax in the very near future - ETV's old analog bandwith has been leased to two companies.

http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/948...ml?RSS=breaking

[CorgiMatt]

US News & World Report features Columbia as a top-ten affordable place to retire. In the article they interview an AARP spokesperson who says Columbia has a knack at short-changing itself by always citing its (tween) location; ie, not far from Charleston, Charlotte and Savannah, but that people are shifting their opinions and are focusing more on what Columbia itself has. "It can sound as if the thing (residents) like best about Columbia is that it's so easy to leave. But maybe residents are just loath to give up their real secret: that you can live a lot on a little in this sunny and colorful capital city," the article reads. The AARP spokesperson says he expects to get a lot of inquiries about the Midlands now that it has been featured in the magazine. Maybe in their next retirement rankings AARP itself will give us a look.

http://www.usnews.com/money/personal-finan...ageNr=4&-C=

Edited September 30, 2009 by CorgiMatt

[CorgiMatt]

My above summary of the article is actually a summary of The State newspaper's take on U.S. News & World Report's article.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/964353.html

[krazeeboi]

The city is moving forward with plans for the new $14 million, 532-space parking garage at Sumter and Taylor streets that would include 7,200 square feet of retail space. But with more than 1 million square feet of vacant office space on Main Street, some City Council members are concerned the city would only make things worse by making more retail space available. The retail occupancy rate for downtown - which includes Five Points and the Vista in addition to Main Street - is 98%, according to a recent Colliers Keenan study.

I have no clue what the reasoning is for those who are opposing retail in this garage. This is what the city requires with all of its garages, and is something that the city consistently does right. Furthermore, they are looking at this short-term, not long-term. The office space downtown will eventually fill up, putting more people on the streets who can patronize those businesses located in the ground floor of the garage and in the meantime, they will provide hospital workers with more options.

At any rate, council members have approved the garage; the issue is just how the garage will look, according to parking services director John David Spade. Construction is scheduled to begin in August and would take about a year. The planning and architecture firm LS3P is designing the garage, so I'm pretty sure the design will be decent. This is the same firm that assisted in the design one of the better looking garages I've seen, the Spring Street garage in downtown Greenville:

[CorgiMatt]

The rendering in this morning's The State looks beautiful. It looks nothing like a parking garage. I emailed Daniel Rickenmann, the council member that the paper says is questioning the retail space. I told him that to not put retail space there would be severely short-sighted, anti-pedestrian and bland. He emailed back and said, "I am not interested in building a bland or dull-looking structure, but I am concerned about building retail space in the bottom of a building that will be shifting office space, not retail (such as parking division). We have the ability to construct a very nice-looking structure that will blend in. I do feel we need all the parking we can get in those areas to help encourage the growth of Main Street. Most of the buildings are C3 zoning and are not required to have parking, which has become increasingly an issue, especially with more downtown living options.... I am not against the project as presented, but I do have real concerns and would like them to be vetted as part of the process."

His email address: [email protected]

[krazeeboi]

I just don't get where he's coming from at all.

[Spartan]

I don't understand how anyone can be against retail in the garage. Can anyone post the rendering of the garage since its not online?

[CorgiMatt]

I looked for it and couldn't find it.

[Legend59]

Parking garage rendering

[Spartan]

Not bad. Kinda looks like everything else in the Vista, so it should blend in nicely.