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Columbia Economic Notes


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The hard copy of The State Newspaper today says Columbia will be the headquarters.

 

I'm not surprised. Columbia is the bigger banking center and is more centralized.

 

With the decrease in office vacancies in the CBD and this merger, I'm pretty sure we'll see a tower emerge within the next year.

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More info from an article in the MB Sun:

 

The combined bank will be headquartered in Columbia. When the deal closes in the fall, it will be the fifth largest operating bank in South Carolina, based on deposits, and the 14th largest in the Southeast, officials said. The deal also will give SCBT a strong presence along the S.C. coast – an area where it had been lacking.

 

In a conference call with financial analysts Wednesday, Hill said the bank’s buying spree will be put on hold for the rest of 2013 and most of 2014 as it integrates its latest merger and, after that, likely will shift outside the state.

 

“In the latter part of (2014), if things are going well … then we will begin to plan for the next steps,” he said. “The odds of us doing additional acquisitions in South Carolina would not be really high … maybe one or two (deals). The bulk of the opportunity would come from outside of South Carolina.”

 

But as the bank grows its assets to a projected $20 billion from its current $8.3 billion over the next five to seven years, more support jobs will be added, Hill said. He anticipates the bank will add 1,000 to 1,500 jobs at support centers in Charleston, Columbia and Orangeburg, where SCBT has its roots.

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Also, the newly combined bank will become the largest state-based commercial bank by assets--but just by a hair. Currently that honor belongs to First Citizens, with $8.2 billion. So I supposed I could see a new headquarters tower having about the same amount of space as First Citizens' headquarters, but hopefully they'll opt to go taller.

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I could easily see this bank anchoring a new building in Columbia.  Their current building on Gervais seems small for a bank with over $8b in assets.  If I read correclty, SCN had a little over $8b in deposits when they were at the Palmetto Center.  Of course, banks are much larger now, $8b seems like a community bank compared with the big 4.  But, like it was stated, First Citizens is a similar size and has a very nice building on Main St.  While it could be taller, the building looks great.  If they (SCBT) do build, I hope they leave a lot of the existing buildings on Main intact, some of the surface lots need to be developed. 

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I'm not a history buff, but I remember hearing that Columbia's skyline was built mainly by banks, some of which were later consolidated in Charlotte after interstate banking laws changed. Obviously Columbia is never going to compete with Charlotte, San Francisco, or New York, but I would love to see the city emerge as a regional hub for mid-sized banks through the process of consolidation. Of course the danger is that these banks could be merged into the Big 4, but I think it would be great in terms of diversification. That said, is there any other Class A office space the bank would look at downtown or would it be forced to build to consolidate its operations?

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^ Interestingly, Greenville probably has the largest financial sector of any metro in South Carolina

 

Assessing this by GDP for the finance and insurance sector, it's Columbia--it actually has the second-largest FIRE sector in the Carolinas. But I think they were pretty close when Carolina First was still an independent bank.

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The recently sold Keenan Building downtown is slated for $5 million in historic renovations. The goal is to create a mixed-use facility to boost occupancy. Exterior renovations have already started and there is a promotional banner by Colliers International hanging above the Sumter St entrance.

 

This looks like an awesome project to follow!

Edited by etwas
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The recently sold Keenan Building downtown is slated for $5 million in historic renovations. The goal is to create a mixed-use facility to boost occupancy. Exterior renovations have already started and there is a promotional banner by Colliers International hanging above the Sumter St entrance.

 

This looks like an awesome project to follow!

I was driving by when a man was hanging the banner.  I'll have to drive by again to visually confirm that renovations have already begun.

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It looks like Ben Arnold switched developers and presented the final proposal for the Blossom/Huger property. I'm a little disappointed that the height came down considerably, but I had a feeling the economics wouldn't support anything beyond a stick frame complex. This place looks like something you would find in South End in Charlotte, which I think is a solid benchmark for this area.

 

http://www.thestate.com/2013/08/06/2904603/new-blossom-and-huger-student.html

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Looks like K-mart on Fort Jackson Blvd finally has some real interest. Redevelopment is supposed to occur with PetSmart, Marshall's, Michael's and four other small stores and one other anchor are coming. It will be called Rosewood Crossing.

 

http://www.fletcherbright.com/sites/default/files/brochures/Rosewood-Crossing-Brochure%2010-1-13.pdf

 

http://www.fletcherbright.com/shopping-centers/sc/421

 

Great news for the area. 

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Is Richland County just flush with cash these days? First they offer tax caps to the new student develops in Innovista, ostensibly to encourage more development there, and now they're proposing two amphitheaters and two water parks?

 

http://www.thestate.com/2014/05/15/3449703/tab-for-5-proposed-richland-county.html?sp=/99/205/&ihp=1

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I'm not sure where to put this.  I can't find a Columbia population thread.

 

The city of Columbia (municipality) added 1,264 residents from July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013. It remains the state's largest city at 133,358. With more apartments being built and continued attention to annexation where possible, the figures should continue heading in the right direction and probably even grow faster.

American FactFinder - Results *

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Today's The State says the mayor wants the City to hire an annexation coordinator.  That's not a done deal for next year's budget, but it's on the radar screen, so there evidently is a lot more annexation to be done to want to hire a coordinator. 

 

 

Edited by CorgiMatt
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