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Historic Congaree Vista Developments


CorgiMatt

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As I was riding into Columbia from West Columbia across the Gervais Street bridge today, I just happend to glance to the left and noticed that you can see the Canal Side apartment buildings from there. It's really starting to look quite urban in that whole area, what with the City Club and now Canal Side.

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  • 3 weeks later...

^Imagine how that entire area will look once things get started with the Kline Steel development. Hopefully that can be sooner rather than later.

There's an article in this week's edition of the Free Times about the Village at Pulaski Square, the townhomes/brownstones/single-family homes under construction at Pulaski and Pendleton. Nothing really new in the way of news, just a general informative article.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As of Monday there was a bulldozer sitting next to the old uniforms place at Lady and Pulaski with a yellow ribbon around the east end of the property. That's going to be the east end of the new hotel development. I'll ride by on the way home from work to see if they've made short work of the uniforms building yet.

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^I don't find it to be generic--not totally, anyway. I actually like it and it looks better than I thought it would. I think it has enough flavor to fit into an urban context. The angle is from the corner of Huger and Lady, looking towards the northeast.

Matt, I don't think there was ever a rendering of the Staybridge Suites at Huger and I-126.

Anybody else think the Lofts at Printer's Square is at least on life support?

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^I don't find it to be generic--not totally, anyway. I actually like it and it looks better than I thought it would. I think it has enough flavor to fit into an urban context. The angle is from the corner of Huger and Lady, looking towards the northeast.

Matt, I don't think there was ever a rendering of the Staybridge Suites at Huger and I-126.

Anybody else think the Lofts at Printer's Square is at least on life support?

I think Printer's Square has probably been canceled, which is disappointing. There is no more sign at the intersection. It's high time that more moderately-priced projects get going, everyone wants to be upscale.

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^I don't find it to be generic--not totally, anyone. I actually like it and it looks better than I thought it would. I think it has enough flavor to fit into an urban context. The angle is from the corner of Huger and Lady, looking towards the northeast.

Matt, I don't think there was ever a rendering of the Staybridge Suites at Huger and I-126.

Anybody else think the Lofts at Printer's Square is at least on life support?

If I understand you correctly, then we are looking across Huger at Lady Street. If that is so, then this is not a good design, as the building turns a blank face to Huger. Ideally, the main entrance should have been right at the corner of Huger and Lady, to bring some life and color to the major intersection, with the parking lot relegated to the side of the building. From the way this rendering looks, I would suspect that parking lot and main entrance for the hotel are on the back side of the building. If that is the case, then the designers, and the city, seem to have made no efforts to changed the standard suburban parking lot-base design for this kind of hotel. That's too bad, because it seems like a real missed opportunity. The rendering image is not good quality, so I hope that I'm just misreading what is there.

That being said, another hotel will add some more density and foot traffic, hopefully, to that part of town.

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I think this hotel fits nicely with the surrounding buildings. Hopefully it'll look much better than the rendering. I would also have liked to see the main entrance at the corner of Huger and Lady, but most hotels have a covered drive up area at their main entrance. I wouldn't want to see the curb cuts at this location. Perhaps having two entrances, a smaller pedestrian only entrance at this corner and the drive up entrance in the back.

There is a structure going up on Taylor St, next to the Congaree building (which is at the SE corner of Huger and Taylor). Anyone know what's going up there?

Edited by BrasilnSC
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If I understand you correctly, then we are looking across Huger at Lady Street. If that is so, then this is not a good design, as the building turns a blank face to Huger.

I'm not seeing how this hotel does that. The main pedestrian entrance faces Huger, on the same section with the name of the hotel at the top. But I do agree that the something more should have been done at the corner of Huger and Lady.

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What a generic building. How did that one get by the review people?

What corner are we looking at in that rendering?

Spartan i don't think for this brand of Marriott that this design is generic. And i don't think it's a bad fit for the district it's located at in Columbia. Most Springhill Suites that i've seen have a pale yellow [or tan], stucco and light brown shade to them...while this one seems to be brick themed to fit the old warehouse district. So while it may not have any flare that will stand out...i don't think to many Springhill Suites are built with "flashiness" on mind.

If I understand you correctly, then we are looking across Huger at Lady Street. If that is so, then this is not a good design, as the building turns a blank face to Huger. Ideally, the main entrance should have been right at the corner of Huger and Lady, to bring some life and color to the major intersection, with the parking lot relegated to the side of the building. From the way this rendering looks, I would suspect that parking lot and main entrance for the hotel are on the back side of the building. If that is the case, then the designers, and the city, seem to have made no efforts to changed the standard suburban parking lot-base design for this kind of hotel. That's too bad, because it seems like a real missed opportunity. The rendering image is not good quality, so I hope that I'm just misreading what is there.

That being said, another hotel will add some more density and foot traffic, hopefully, to that part of town.

I think it works because the last thing you want right now is people walking aimlessly on Columbia Speedway Blvd aka Huger St. A vision that the city has is to turn LADY st into a shopping corridor one day in the future. To have the entrance where it appears to probably be is an attempt to allow pedestrian traffic to walk the wide streetscaped & treelined sidewalk and narrow Lady St. towards the live/work stores, Wildwings cafe and other bars and shops on that street and in the area. Now if something get down with the old Kline Steel site, then i could agree with you more...but right now the hotel serves a good purpose....adding more rooms to the downtown area.

I think it was wise not to have a covered drive up entryway on Huger

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Thats a good point, most of the other Spring Hill Suites that I have seen have been yellow stucco, :sick: and I dont think that would really be the best design for that area. :good: Maybe if it were closer to USC but down there most of the buildings are brick. I think it will be a nice addition. They could have thrown a few more stories on it but hey, at least its something. :tough: Plus we have to remember its just a Spring Hill Suites and not a Marriott Marquis! :camera:

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Spartan i don't think for this brand of Marriott that this design is generic. And i don't think it's a bad fit for the district it's located at in Columbia. Most Springhill Suites that i've seen have a pale yellow [or tan], stucco and light brown shade to them...while this one seems to be brick themed to fit the old warehouse district. So while it may not have any flare that will stand out...i don't think to many Springhill Suites are built with "flashiness" on mind.

Precisely. While we tend to complain about the overabudance of "Vista brick" on the exterior of many of the Vista's buildings, brick is an authentic exterior building material. Here are various examples of SpringHill Suites I googled:

SpringHillAlexandriaRendering-2.jpg

Alexandria, VA

MIA_BLAG-exter-1.jpg

Miami

springhillsuites1.jpg

Orlando

Image6.jpg

Seattle

Springhill%20Suites%20pic.JPG

Peoria, IL

I even think it will look better than this one in Norfolk, which I was hoping it might somewhat resemble (since it was the best design I could find online):

orfod_phototour01.jpg

orfod_phototour03.jpg

The only other SpringHill that I could see that used brick extensively for the exterior is this one in Pittsburgh, and I think the one in Columbia will look much better:

springone.jpg

All in all, I think this will be a good job for a chain that really knows nothing other than a dull, generic suburban design.

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