CanalSide

[JT Boy]

I understand that a lot of the old CCI land has been cleared now, but has the city set a start date for this project and has anyone heard any real committments for housing or business construction there?

This scheme has wonderful potential for Columbia, but it seems to be taking a very long time getting off the ground and I'm wondering why.

THanks for any info.l

[Spartan]

CanalSide

Columbia, SC

■ Residentially focused community along the historic Columbia Canal.

■ 25-acre residential/mixed use development of a former prison site

■ 400+ residential units (rented & owned)

■ 160,000 sq. ft. commercial office space

■ 75,000 sq. ft. hotel called the River Inn

■ An assortment of visitor attractions and recreational amenities similar to Riverfrot Park

■ $12 million development cost

■ expected to produce $100 million in private investment

-Thats all I really know about it. They won't be continuing the downtown street grid, and nothing highrise. However, this is good news for the downtown area's population. This area has been growing alot over the past few years. What I think is key is if there is alot if interest in this thing and it is successful. Because if it is, I bet we will see a residential highrise in Columbia in the next 5-10 years.

I suspect they are having to make sure that the site is secure and cleared of hazardous debris (like asbestos). All that can take a while.

[Spartan]

BTW JT Boy, welcome to the forum!

[emerging.me]

I have, on my computer, several VR fly-overs that were created for the CanalSide design. The buildings are really cool and cohesive with the old-school look of the rest of the stuff in that area. If someone can provide a way of posting them, I will. There are 4 MPEG files -- 5 MB, 10 MB, 10 MB and 15 MB. They were originally posted (for a short time) on the website of the firm who created them, but have since been removed. As far as I know, there are no other CanalSide designs online anywhere (I've looked).

The land is cleared for CanalSide and we're just waiting on something to happen. Right now, actually, the grass is growing *really, really* high (I gotta take a pic before they cut it -- looks like a wheat field or something). The project is being spearheaded by Columbia's Economic Development Department. I'm not sure what the current holdup is. Wish they'd hurry up... definitely a candidate for my next move.

All the Riverfront development going on is really exciting. They just announced a new stretch of the Three Rivers Greenway yesterday -- the Olympia part. That's gonna be a really neat area in a few years. Good investment right now if you've got the bucks to buy up some of those old mill houses.

In other news... they put the sign up on the new Publix (the old Confederate mint building) last week. Very cool to see that... finally.

Regarding other downtown residential... There is a condominium project planned for Lady Street (one block over from Gervais -- the main Vista stretch -- where they're currently enhancing the streetscape). It's by the Windsor Aughtry firm in G'ville and is meant to continue the trend of "upscale owner-occupied housing." It will offer "daytime and nighttime activity."

Edited July 22, 2004 by emerging.me

[Spartan]

Ive only seen one graphic for CanalSide, and that was on some city website, but it was a.pdf of the layout of the thing, and I can't find it anywhere. But that is where I got that info above. I am also looking forward to the Olympia Mills getting fixed up. Those are the coolest buildings, and its really awsome to look south from downtown an see the towers sticking above the trees.

[emerging.me]

Just to clarify... If anyone knows a place I can upload these files to, I'll post them. Thanks!

[Spartan]

here it is- you have to look at the .pdf file, then scroll to page 7.

http://www.columbiascgateway.com/content/p...onDevUpdate.pdf

[emerging.me]

Very cool! I see we have browsed the same sites digging for stuff! I think there's a larger JPG of one of those map images linked in the "Columbia Neighborhood Development" thread. Gonna be a neat area!

[Spartan]

Just to clarify... If anyone knows a place I can upload these files to, I'll post them. Thanks!

You need to have your own host site that you can upload them to. You could create one at Tripod.com or just do a search for one. there are tons of them. Just don't use netscape. The only problem is that you have to pay for it if you want file sharing. You could always post a link though.

[Spartan]

heew is the only jpeg I could find... its an overview of the whole site:

awsome.... just awsome.

[emerging.me]

NICE! That is awesome.

I've got a tiny bit of web space -- working on uploading the files now. Might not be able to host them all, but I can put a few of them up for at least long enough for interested people to grab a copy. Will add links in a few minutes...

Edited July 22, 2004 by emerging.me

[emerging.me]

Let's see how this works. Here are a couple:

CanalSide -- "Overview"

Canalside -- "Balcony"

[emerging.me]

I was able to get them all up there, but I don't know how long I can leave them up. Get 'em while they're hot! Here are the other two:

CanalSide -- "Esplanade"

CanalSide -- "Taylor Street"

[Spartan]

Great stuff. I just watched the first one........ 3 more to go.

56k beware though~

[emerging.me]

Hope Spartan and JT Boy can at least grab the vids. I'll probably take 'em down Thursday night -- I have some bandwidth restrictions and I'm probably getting close to my disk space limit. Maybe someone can repost them.

Gotta say again... this is a cool little community. Glad to have found some place to blog with people about the local urbanism. Hittin' the sack.

Edited July 22, 2004 by emerging.me

[Spartan]

Those were all execllent, thanks for sharing them!

The ony about Taylor St does lead to an interesting question: How will they redirect traffic flow from Taylor St (one way) around to the Hampton St bridge? The rendering above doesn't lead me to a simple soultion.

[emerging.me]

Good question! There will definitely have to be some rerouting -- looking at the drawn map doesn't really clear up exactly how it will be either.

Not directly on topic: Just took a look at the drawing again... Noticed it shows the "Canal Front" area which will be just down below the EdVenture children's museum -- I think that'll be really cool. And, if you look at the State Museum, it shows the potential add-ons of an IMAX theater and a new planetarium. That'd be awesome.

[Spartan]

I agree, that will be very nice. I'm looking forward o the IMAX. I went down to Charleston to watch Star Wars II on theirs- its great.

Here is the map again:

[JT Boy]

Thanks for all the information on this potentially terrific development! Looking forward to seeing any progress on this or the new Main Street building on my next visit to Columbia.

[emerging.me]

FYI, gang: I'm taking down Canalside movies from my site. If anyone really wants them, post here and I'll get 'em to ya.

[Spartan]

If you're interested in that development they are definately worth a look ^

[emerging.me]

From THE STATE...

Columbia to sell riverfront site

Columbia has abandoned its four-year effort to act as developer for the downtown CanalSide property and will again seek a private developer willing to purchase the 18-acre site and build a riverfront community.

City officials are convinced the market for residential developments downtown has substantially improved since 2000, when the city failed to find any takers for the former site of the Central Correctional Institution.

Edited August 5, 2004 by emerging.me

[emerging.me]

And from WIS...

Columbia agrees to offer CanalSide as one project

(Columbia) Aug. 4, 2004 - Columbia Council on Wednesday agreed to a change in the way the Canalside project will be sold.

Council agreed to offer up the old CCI site as one development project.

The plan had been to make the 13 parcels available to up to 13 different developers, but city staff says that idea was making the process far too complicated.

Assistant City Manager Steven Gantt says, "Prior to today we had letters of intent from 13 developers, and we had sub-divided that area, and we were going to have to manage 13 developers putting all that together, and that became a little more cumbersome than we could handle."

Gantt says offering the 18-acre property up in one chunk makes more economic sense. Whoever buys the land could then divide it up among several other projects.

[emerging.me]

If Mungo gets it... all hope is lost for a true New Urban-style development.

[Spartan]

If Mungo gets it... all hope is lost for a true New Urban-style development.

Yeah... I hope he doesn't. For non Columbians, Stewart Mungo is a major contributor to Columbia's sprawl. He recently started a new 500 home subdivision. He is not known for dense development.

This is prime real estate in the Columbia market, I hope it is developed well. As long as the city has it zoned properly it shouldn't be much to worry about.