West Columbia, Cayce & Downtown Lexington

[digital_sandlapper]

They've started development on the brickyard area in Cayce next to the river. The bank building at Knox Abbott and Alexander has the same color of brick on it as the standard Vista brick. CVS is going to be short enough so that when you're driving into Columbia on Knox Abbott, once you pass Wendy's, Columbia's skyline and the Cayce bank building are really going creating a much denser urban atmosphere through there. It's looking great!

Does anyone know what's going in there in the brickyard area? I cannot believe they are actually FINALLY starting to do something with this long vacant, overgrown, and huge lot. I hope it's something public--wish we had more places to hang out with a view of the river over here, and that would be the perfect place IMO. A large deck overlooking the river with bistro seating would be most excellent, and would be packed with all the students who live over here in Cayce/W. Cola. Something similar to the development next to the aquarium in Charleston, for example, would be hot!

Please tell me it's something like that!

[Captain Worley]

I think the paper may have said condos and office space, but I'm not staking my life on it.

Regardless, the excavators were out yesterday ripping up soils. You couldn't even see the beehives and the little office building.

[krazeeboi]

West Columbia leaders are solidifying plans for the branding of the Vista West district which will include signage and landscaping to act as a gateway to the district.

[waccamatt]

^ Good grief, a cannonball on the sign? I wish some people would quit reliving the Civil War.

[CorgiMatt]

When you consider that someone just found a cannon ball in the river (in the news yesterday) that is thought to have been used by the Confederates to slow Sherman down, I think it's a nice touch, as are the columns, but then I'm a native South Carolinian. You don't have to be obsessed with the Civil War or the Old South to appreciate special touches like that.

[Spartan]

I still liked the 'west bank' better, but Vista West will probably resonate with people better. The Vista has a strong identity for the west to pull off of.

[krazeeboi]

I think the old canonnball is a nice historical touch, similar to the bronze stars on the Statehouse. Now if they make it the centerpiece of a Civil War shrine or something, THEN I'd have a problem, LOL.

I like the "Vista West" name better. It represents an extension of the Vista across the river, which, in essence, it is--both in feel and physical form.

[Captain Worley]

^ Good grief, a cannonball on the sign? I wish some people would quit reliving the Civil War.

We're not reliving the Civil War, we're informing Columbia that we're getting ready to invade!

[Spartan]

There is a difference between reliving something and recognizing a significant historical event. West Columbia has no other relevant history.

[krazeeboi]

Did West Columbia even exist during the Civil War?

[Spartan]

West Cola was called Brookland and founded in 1894, but I don't know how long the settlement was there before.

[emerging.me]

History lesson courtesy of the SCDAH.

Brookland or New Brookland existed as a community in the 1880s, but its real stimulus was the opening of the Columbia Duck Mill by the Columbia Mills Company in 1894, on the Columbia side of the river, to which there was access via a bridge. The community

[krazeeboi]

Thanks for that info. So technically, the cannonball doesn't represent "West Columbia history." It's just that it was found in the geographical vicinity of what is now West Columbia. I'm being nitpicky, I know.

[Spartan]

Yeah that's kind of like saying Charleston's history is really "Charles Town" history, since it wasn't actually an incorporated city until 1785 or so.

[krazeeboi]

I don't really mean it in that way; I mean it in the sense that West Columbia is just an extension of the city of Columbia across the river. Technically, it's Columbia history, but West Columbia can lay claim to it in a geographical sense.

[Spartan]

gotcha

[digital_sandlapper]

I took lots of photos the other day of the project on the NW corner of Knox Abbott and the Congaree River (NW of the Blossom Street bridge), but I don't subscribe to any of those online photos sites. Does anyone have any idea how to imbed photos in our posts?

[Spartan]

Yep, you are in the Members+ group, so all you need to do is take a look at this thread. It should explain everything. If you have any other questions just let me know.

[Captain Worley]

I use tinypic. It is free.

Then just use image tags.

[dobboard]

Upload your photos onto photobucket.com (free and easy to register). Image tags are automatically generated, therefore, you can cut and paste into the thread and the image can be viewed by the rest of us.

I drove by the site yesterday. The building is coming along nicely and they have cleared and graded the land next to the apartment complex (bordering the river).

[BrasilnSC]

^ Drove by there today. The building looks decent. The CVS at State and Knox Abbott looks hideous.

[Spartan]

Forgot to include the link for file attachments:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/File-att...ents-t7611.html

[growingup15]

I Drove on 12th st today and i saw that theres a new sign up between D Ave and B Ave that said Triangle city with the strip mall stores on it. its looks pretty cool and i will have some pictures of it soon.

[waverider]

^ Drove by there today. The building looks decent. The CVS at State and Knox Abbott looks hideous.

I agree. I wasn't a fan of putting a CVS on that spot at all.

I also got caught off-guard by the street resurfacing on State St. It seems that some of the businesses on State St. got surprised by it as well--one day their street parking is there, the next it's gone, and one business owner told me he had no warning about it.

[Captain Worley]

The building is coming along nicely and they have cleared and graded the land next to the apartment complex (bordering the river).

Is it confirmed that there will be apartments there? last I heard, they were just clearing the land and putting some infrastructure in in anticipation of development in the area, but there were no plans other than that.

And the State Street repaving took everyone by surpise. Especially since they didn't close off the left turn lane in front of Parkland Plaza. Ruh-roh! Hope they corrected that.