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I don't see Palmetto Compress coming on to the market for a very long time, if at all. With the number of challenges outlined just from the news stories about the property, I find it hard to believe that the women who took it on will be able to overcome everything. Then again, the Babcock Building is probably in even worse shape, so if that can get done then this probably can too.

 

Well Fred Delk when I talked to him said the lady wants start in November and has plans laid out for the building. 

Edited by SouthernBorn
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Well Fred Delk when I talked to him said the lady wants start in November and has plans laid out for the building. 

You're forcing me to play the role of optimist and I hate it haha. I think it's all going to be a reshuffling of the area if all of these developments restrict themselves to students; the newer places closer to downtown take bodies from the apartments further from the city, so the newly empty complexes have to either market to a different population, reinvent themselves, or die. Even if demand is being satisfied right now (which it is not; residential rental is very much a seller's market in Columbia) the supply isn't static. Two more things to remember: (1) not all of these are going to be built, and because construction is going to be staggered (by the nature of it, not by design) if the new supply saturates the market the late-comers are going to cut their losses and go elsewhere (2) you're not talking about needing 4,000 more people to fill the beds, you're talking about moving those 4,000 people into a more efficient area (which also happens to make the developers a pretty penny).

 

The same thing is happening in Clemson right now. There's a giant student population (albeit smaller than USC) developers have catered toward for a long time with apartments and housing, but the amount of available housing downtown (if you can call it that) has been the same for years, and all the developments were much further from campus. Now that more developments are going online in Clemson proper, and the University is building more (and better) student housing, if the trend picks up then those that put their money into the suburbs are going to be left holding the bag later on down the road. Capitalism!

 

I think the smart play here, though, is not to restrict these developments to students both because it's a dubious bet to put all your money on one pony, and because as far as building an area making the area solely a student district could be counterproductive. Obviously this is the pool that's most available and they're going to go after it first, and if the area is nice enough other people will want to move there, but it can't hurt for one of these developments to start marketing to YoPros. I put my meaningless vote on Palmetto Compress and the Edwards project. I think ideally, from an urban planning perspective, the most desirable outcome is for these new apartments and dorms to move the student population into a dense university footprint supplemented by YoPros, grad students, etc... (think College of Charleston) and make the current glut of student housing in Shandon, Rosewood, and the like more of a young family area. This is in a perfect world, twenty years down the road, accounting for weather patterns in Beijing, though. 

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You're forcing me to play the role of optimist and I hate it haha. I think it's all going to be a reshuffling of the area if all of these developments restrict themselves to students; the newer places closer to downtown take bodies from the apartments further from the city, so the newly empty complexes have to either market to a different population, reinvent themselves, or die. Even if demand is being satisfied right now (which it is not; residential rental is very much a seller's market in Columbia) the supply isn't static. Two more things to remember: (1) not all of these are going to be built, and because construction is going to be staggered (by the nature of it, not by design) if the new supply saturates the market the late-comers are going to cut their losses and go elsewhere (2) you're not talking about needing 4,000 more people to fill the beds, you're talking about moving those 4,000 people into a more efficient area (which also happens to make the developers a pretty penny).

The same thing is happening in Clemson right now. There's a giant student population (albeit smaller than USC) developers have catered toward for a long time with apartments and housing, but the amount of available housing downtown (if you can call it that) has been the same for years, and all the developments were much further from campus. Now that more developments are going online in Clemson proper, and the University is building more (and better) student housing, if the trend picks up then those that put their money into the suburbs are going to be left holding the bag later on down the road. Capitalism!

I think the smart play here, though, is not to restrict these developments to students both because it's a dubious bet to put all your money on one pony, and because as far as building an area making the area solely a student district could be counterproductive. Obviously this is the pool that's most available and they're going to go after it first, and if the area is nice enough other people will want to move there, but it can't hurt for one of these developments to start marketing to YoPros. I put my meaningless vote on Palmetto Compress and the Edwards project. I think ideally, from an urban planning perspective, the most desirable outcome is for these new apartments and dorms to move the student population into a dense university footprint supplemented by YoPros, grad students, etc... (think College of Charleston) and make the current glut of student housing in Shandon, Rosewood, and the like more of a young family area. This is in a perfect world, twenty years down the road, accounting for weather patterns in Beijing, though.

True, all these won't get built seeing that USC beat them to the punch. But I really hoping all these except one get built. And the one that I don't want built is a two possibly three story one that has a parking lot in the middle.

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I like it:

 

studenthousingdevelopment_zpsc4017a0c.jp

This does really look nice - hopefully it will really happen. Looks like they did an extensive traffic study - was that really necessary for an urban project on Assembly? Hopefully the city doesn't put people through too many hoops, and that they make it possible to bring to fruition.

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(2) you're not talking about needing 4,000 more people to fill the beds, you're talking about moving those 4,000 people into a more efficient area (which also happens to make the developers a pretty penny).

 

You're definitely right about this, though it's worth noting that the freshman class has increased 600 students over the past four years. Each year brings more students and assuming the university does not drastically decrease the number of transfer students it admits, the university will increase as these students move into progressively larger sophomore, junior, and senior classes. The University announced that it would freeze the freshman class several years ago and has since continued to let in more students (side rant: this is due to mismanagement of the process by the Admissions Office). I think developers are betting that this trend will continue.

 

 

Well Fred Delk when I talked to him said the lady wants start in November and has plans laid out for the building. 

 

My concern about Palmetto Compress is financing. With so much available land in that area and so many apartments coming on to the market, it would seem like a huge renovation with a longer break even period would be less attractive to lenders than a stick-built complex by a national developer. I don't doubt that these women have great plans for the building. I too would love to see this developed into a great mixed use complex. If this were strictly a hotel, I would be bullish on its chances for redevelopment as the city is hugely underserved at the moment. With the economy rebounding, retail is not the easiest sell unless it abuts an existing district (i.e. The Vista). Similarly, the condo market is still pretty weak outside of a few major cities. Even Charlotte, one of the fastest growing cities in the country, is have difficulty getting rid of its condo inventory. The mix would undoubtedly make for a better redevelopment, but selling the idea to lenders should prove to be a very difficult task.

Edited by carolinagarnet
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  • 2 months later...

The USC Tech Incubator got a $1.9M grant to move their HQ to Innovista. Google Maps shows an old light industrial building there now. I'm not sure if they'll retrofit it or build a new one entirely. Either way, this is great for the area.

 

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news/52357-usc-receives-1-9m-for-new-incubator

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Seems like there is already something down by the railroad tracks, on the opposite side of Assembly from California Dreaming (maybe an old brick warehouse near Whaley)..but that might be something entirely different. Perhaps they will add on to whatever is presently there.

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The property mentioned in the article is 707 Catawba Street, just southwest of the Greek Village. The building there at the moment looks pretty old and outdated. It might make sense for a manufacturing center, but probably not for a technology center. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine that the Incubator could afford to demolish the existring structure and build a 50,000 sq. ft. building from scratch with a $1.9M grant and whatever other money they are getting from USC, the City, and private companies.

 

Streetview: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9866628,-81.0359386,3a,75y,18.17h,81.4t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s8APNR2b4X9r-XRv5RdQaUA!2e0

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  • 3 weeks later...

If anyone can get down to the Coliseum area and snap some shots of the dormitory/apartment progress, that would be great. I'd assume they are making some progress with the skeleton of it. Once it gets built, and the other Innovista research building is constructed, there is going to be some good density. 

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If anyone can get down to the Coliseum area and snap some shots of the dormitory/apartment progress, that would be great. I'd assume they are making some progress with the skeleton of it. Once it gets built, and the other Innovista research building is constructed, there is going to be some good density.

They're on the second floor of the 1st part and 1st floor of the second part. They also do have the other parking lot fenced off. Progress should move fast with the crane up. Edited by SouthernBorn
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Some pics I took today.

650 Lincoln

Don't quite know what this is. I've heard rumors of student housing and a look alike public health building.

Greene Crossing
Edited by SouthernBorn
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Yes, you are talking about the corner of Assembly and Pendleton. I was also wondering what they are doing there. I thought that the potential new private dorm was across Pendleton on the other side of the street. I am not sure if they are just cleaning up the dirt on this block (next to the Public Health building) if it had asbestos, or if they are actually building something - if so, I hadn't heard anything about this.

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The plan is some student dorms right there on Pendelton st supposed to be 12-15 stories high. a great fill in for that area or downtown since the Carolina Hotel been taken down from there.

That's across the street from the project I took a picture of. That isn't supposed to start until the spring or summer of next year.
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The fenced off lot directly next to the school of public health is the construction staging area for the student housing project (650 Lincoln). No current plans for development there.

Wrong lot still. We're talking about between assembly and park street on Pendleton. Diagonally across from the state house. And yes the lot you're talking about is slated for development as another student housing project starting in the spring of 2015. It is phase 2 of USC's joint development with holder properties.

 

See Proposal here for the lot you're talking about:

https://columbiasc.gov/depts/planning-boards-commissions/ddrc/agendas/20140213/pds_ddrc_2014-02-13_pkt_park611-701.pdf

Edited by SouthernBorn
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