Columbia Bus Barn

[Spartan]

Part of the deal that led to the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority taking control of the bus system was that it would relocate the Bus "barn" to a location other than on Huger St, but within the city limits. They thought that had the location hammered out on Sunset Dr. in the Eau Claire neighborhood, but apparantly they didn't. That article clearly identifies NIMBYs as the problem here.... but I cant say that I blame them. I know I wouldn't want a bus depot being built next to my house. This part of town has been struggleing to develop and redevelop. Its kind of a rundown area.... but adding this depot wouldn't help anything according to those that live there.

My opinion is that the bus "barn" needs to be out of downtown on Huger St. It's a horrible eyesore. I think somewhere off of Assembly St. near the the stadium would bemore appropriate.

Bus barn move appears dead

Council expected to veto plan to relocate facility in north Columbia

By JOHN C. DRAKE - Staff Writer - The State

The plan to move the regional bus headquarters to a site on Sunset Drive near S.C. 277 apparently has fallen victim to vigorous neighborhood opposition.

At least three Columbia City Council members have vowed to vote against a zoning request that would clear the way for the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority to move the bus barn to the 25-acre site on Sunset Drive just east of Main Street.

[monsoon]

[Spartan]

It is a service, refueling, and overnight storage area.

There is a central transfer station downtown on Sumter St. at Hampton I believe. (Sumter is one street to the east of Main on this map)

[emerging.me]

Bringing back an old post... I talked to a contact of mine in downtown planning and they tell me that the Bus Barn site will be redeveloped in around 3-4 years. My friend added that the bus site plus the former Kline Iron & Steel facility land will make a combined 13-15 acres, Huger to River, Gervais to Hampton. Some really awesome development opportunities there!

[Spartan]

Thats great news! All they have to do it get the bus-barn somewhere. What they need to do is annex some where then use that land... ( I was thinking along the southern end of town where there isnt much development, and the city limits woudlbe easier to extend.

[emerging.me]

I think somewhere around Williams-Brice would work. Maybe over there in that heavily industrial area by the river?

[Spartan]

exactly

[Spartan]

The only problem might be during ball games... but those are only a few times a year, and usually on Saturdays.

[emerging.me]

Good point. That would be a real mess. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Maybe the current Bombers stadium location?

[Spartan]

[emerging.me]

New Bus Barn site in Earlewood???

RTA eyes new site in Earlewood for

[ResearchMan]

Sunset Drive would have been better. But this is another good site.

I never understood why the former site was fought by the area

residents .. there are very few houses close by. I'm glad you posted

this. I skimmed in the monrning paper and got more out of it in the

second reading! The current depot is across the street from me

now so I'm looking forward to my new cityscape.

[Spartan]

Anywhere is better than where it is now. Huger is a highly travelled road, and would be a great location for some apartments or a commericial area. They also need to remove that state office building that takes up so much room. I forget what it is called though.

This might seem weird, but I want to see new development in that area that includes the restoration of the original grid. The plan I saw of CanalSide did not do that at all. It seems that developers want to recreate sububia downtown sometimes.

Does anyone know what they are going to build on the Kline Steel site(i think thats what it was called) ? I know that they have started tearing down parts of that building.

[ResearchMan]

If the building you are talking about is across the street

from the bus depot that is the old Sheriff's department.

I think they have traffic court there.

Kline is only a facade now. The building is gone except for the

very front. This is across the street from my office. I

believe the city owns that all the way over to the Hampton.

The city wants more people livng in town. The office leasing

market is in the basement now. Vista office space occupancy

is about 75 percent now.

[Spartan]

Thats the one. There is an awful lot of wasted space there in my opinion. Surely they could find a better place for traffic court.

I thought some family owned all that land?

[ResearchMan]

It used to be the sheriff's department. When I was like 12 I ran away from home

with my little brother and a pal. Unfortunately we had borrowed the friends brother's

car. Long story short we got to see what happens to bad little boys when they

don't follow the rules of the community. My old man LOVED that caper. I

was grounded for like 3 years.

From south to north there are 4 big parcels fronting Huger, each about the

same width along Huger. First is privately owned, the next two belong to

the County and the fourth is owned by a law firm.

Maybe you were thinking of the Guignyards who own MUCH of the east and west bank

of the Congaree. I think they own the city side Gervais to Blossom and much along

the W. Cola side. I noted last month the land along that bank is being denuded. Pat

Gilmartin last week wrote a letter to the editor of the State about it.

[emerging.me]

It used to be the sheriff's department.

Are we talking about the sort of orange-ish brick building that's kind of 70s-modern style? With the planted cedar trees along the road in front? Isn't that building for sale now?? I thought I saw it listed on some commercial real estate site.

[Spartan]

Yes! It is that Guignyards. Thats exactly what I was thinking about. I guess I got my locations mixed up. I didnt realize they woned the area around W Cola too. I am wondering what they are going to put there.

What did Pat have to say about it?

[Spartan]

Are we talking about the sort of orange-ish brick building that's kind of 70s-modern style? With the planted cedar trees along the rode in front?  Isn't that building for sale now?? I thought I saw it listed on some commercial real estate site.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats what we're talking about. I didn't realize it was for sale... but then again, I don't put alot of effort into looking at it.

[emerging.me]

Hehe. I'm wrong! I checked and it was another building in the listing that looked kind of similar. Anyway... It's not for sale.

[ResearchMan]

You can safely bet it's in the mayor's development plan. He was talking about

Kline property 3 years before they closed up. Richland County will trade

the land to the city eventually. There's always a Mayor Bob deal

percolating. It's too valuable not to be developed. My guess is upscale

housing. Those parcels are big and deep across the entire block. I think

the 4 big lots are like 170 foot facing the road and 400+ feet deep.

Also there are 3 tiny lots facing Huger up next to Publix..someone there is going to

do ok with their investment. Another good place to own land is the block where 12

takes a bend around next to the old prison. I researched property there for a

friend last year. Many small lots bought up by groups of investors. It's

the entrance to CanalSide. Something will happen to it sooner or later.

The city already owns a couple of parcels there.

[emerging.me]

Yeah, I've done some research on that block myself -- looked into buying that old church property at 1515 Huger with a friend of mine at one point. I even talked with the Columbia Development Corporation about it and an architect that had drawn up plans to convert the church into an office/loft space. It was just too pricey to buy it and then do all the work -- and then still have zero parking. CDC wants to snag the property and move the church down to Canal Front park -- next to the old schoolhouse, but who knows if that'll happen. You're right... it'd be nice to own some of that.

[ResearchMan]

I thought you could park on the back side of the church but now see the

property is only a quarter block deep. There is some kind of slim alley

or right of way on the right side. I always notice that church when

turning left there. Good of CDC to try to and save it.

[emerging.me]

Yeah, I hope they can save. There's probably some kind of grant money out there that could be obtained to help fix the place up -- I don't know if it's historical or not. I've been meaning to look up the history of the place at the Archives, but I haven't yet -- wonder what kind of church it was, etc.

[ResearchMan]

I always thought the Huger church was too small and the church relocated around

the corner to a larger building. They are named as 'Apostle Fired Baptist Holiness'

and 'Canaan Apostolic Church of Christ'. The county often has a date a building

was built but does not list one for the Huger church.

I remember when they were tearing down the first prison buildings that Jakie Knotts

was mentioned in an article as helping to save a church steeple (at least the bell)

around there somewhere. Do you know of another church in the area that was

torn down somewhere around the prison? There are several very small churches

in the area that should cash in..they can build themselves a nice big church for

the money they'd get from selling Vista property. One at Pendleton and Huger ,

another up the hill from Cogdill carpets. I'm sure there are more. The congregations

may not want to move..they serve in the historical black part of Columbia so their

is likely a legacy for each.