Bull Street Common

[growingup15]

www.thestate.com/news/business/article128671679.html

 

Bad news

[growingup15]

Looks like they are gonna get another theater company to open up there. http://www.wistv.com/story/34344114/bullstreet-city-leaders-say-they-are-moving-forward-on-new-plan-for-theater

[wwmiv]

There seems to be an ongoing discussion about whether the city got ahead of itself with the size and scope of this development given the size and scope of the regional economy, with comparisons I've seen made to Greenville, Charleston, and Charlotte. I'm gonna just throw away Charlotte, because that is an illegitimate comparison, being the urban core of a metro area that is almost precisely 3 times as large in population and whose metro area commands 4.5 times the GMP:

https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_metro/2016/pdf/gdp_metro0916.pdf

Greenville's economy is only slightly larger in 2015 than Columbia and has a lower GMP per capita than Columbia. Both grew at similar rates (2.4 to 2.1) year over year. Charleston's economy is actually slightly larger than both, and therefore has a larger GMP per capita, too, than both other cities and they also have a faster economic growth rate as well. As to population, same thing. But here's the thing, Columbia isn't behind the other two in any meaningful sense. They're all peer cities (I'd add Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Knoxville, and prospective planning to follow slightly larger cities like Raleigh, Birmingham, and Richmond, or a city that is the same size but acts bigger, Baton Rouge*, to that list) with similar fundamentals to the other cities. If they can maintain a number of urban clusters economically, Columbia should be able to as well.

Why aren't they succeeding in a real way? Because they aren't interconnected into the existing urban fabric in a walkable way. There's no reason to walk over that way at all from the current urban clusters. That's the recipe for success. Taylor street from Main all the way to Allen / Benedict Colleges has historical architecture that could be reconfigured and revitalized in the same way as Gervais pretty easily. Many of these places already have tenants. All that would need to occur is streetscape improvements with a planted median, and large tree shaded sidewalks. That would connect the two HBCs into the urban fabric of downtown, but it would also help to connect Bull Street as well when seen in combination with the cultural landscape master plan walkability improvements (which are... meager). Essentially, this would turn Taylor street into the Gervais street of East Downtown. Blanding, also should have the same streetscape pedestrian improvements that Lady has recieved as an ancillary urban street to Gervais. Harden Street all the way from five points to Calhoun should also have a planted median and wide sidewalks with large tree planters and parking bays, which would better connect Five Points into the urban fabric as well. Pedestrian improvements to Pickens should then also extend all the way to the University. I'm sure the University would help in that, given that they have office along this corridor, and it'd help to connect those offices to the University better. 

http://www.historiccolumbia.org/Media/Default/PDFs/HC Cultural Landscape Master Plan.pdf

Columbia is currently large enough to support ALL of these improvements, which would encourage walking between the areas. 

There are a also number of warehouses on Sumter north of Elmwood which could be redeveloped quickly and cheaply as coffee houses and restaurants if the city simply did streetscape improvements on its own. I'm sure the Cottontown residents would love that, actually. Each of these corridors (Taylor, N. Main/Sumter, Harden, only need two or three small apartment projects with good street interaction each. We don't need big box apartments. The city should be think small: boutique apartments. The Capitol Places consortium of apartments is a good model to follow, where the manage their smaller properties as a collective and market them together. That way you get the feel of a small and family feel of the apartment itself in the middle of a large city while getting the high market visibility of being collectively a large number of units. Of course, that can only happen once the streetscape improvements happen. But the city doesn't have the leadership or the courage to politically market the proposals necessary to actually help accomplish the goals it has set out for itself. 

How do they get there? It's largely out of the city's control and instead in the state leg's. How much the state leg decides to help the University. The endowment should be much larger than what it is. The enrollment here should increase and we should decrease in-state tuition while increase out of state tuition and continue to aggressively pursue foreign students. But state funding needs to increase to ALL departments in the university. We focus on our law school, our business and public health stuff and we obviously have great sports and arts venues, but we're largely ignoring the humanities and social sciences and some of our stem facilities need significant expansion as well. Many of the buildings that the humanities and social science departments are in are falling apart and need to be replaced. These faculties, some of which used to be highly regarded in their fields, are similarly atrophying. The political science department, for instance, has lost a number of world renowned and nationally regarded people over the last five years that have never been replaced and is in a building with asbestos. Why? Because the state has cut funding too much. 

*Look at Baton Rouge's economy v. their population size. They're the same size MSA (rank #70 v. #71, with 20k separating the two in 2015), but are a significantly larger economy: 54k to 38k million GMP in 2015. Why? Because Louisiana is historically a more activist state, and thus Baton Rouge's economy has benefitted. 

Edited February 6, 2017 by wwmiv

[Spartan]

One of the good things about Columbia is that they never built a downtown highway loop. It allows for the grid of streets to extend uninterrupted into the surrounding community. However, that presents a challenge because the City only can only focus on so many things at the same time in terms of trying to connect everything.

I think they need to continue focusing on connecting downtown to the Congaree first and foremost. Opening up the riverfront will create a lot of opportunity if it is done well, and there is a ton of land to work with over there. They also need to focus on Main Street. That area seems to be making very slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Once those areas are more well established and have their own momentum, then I think it does make sense to start looking at the surrounding areas like the Allen/Benedict area and Cottontown. 

The biggest challenge, IMO, is that the City generally doesn't seem eager to spend much money on transportation issues combined with the fact that the State has different priorities. A perfect example is Bluff Road getting a makeover. Its nice, but is really not necessary. It's over built as-is and while I would love for it to look nicer for Carolina games, the road functions quite well without upgrades (other than sidewalks). I realize that the county passed a transportation sales tax, which I think is a good thing overall but I haven't seen how that will translate to infrastructure improvements in the urban core considering that there are likely just as many needs outside of it (side note, I have not looked for this information either).

[growingup15]

http://www.wistv.com/story/35552851/ua-push

 

Ok now this looks like it's gonna be nice when this is finished at Bull Street it's gonna bring a lot of for traffic to that area.

 

2 thumbs up.

[carolinagarnet]

For those of you who haven't been to Bull Street in a while, this is what the rest of the campus looks like at this point. 

Soon-to-be BBQ joint

The Ensor building (I believe)- amazing detail but as yet unleased

Buildings that have not yet been touched

New townhouses starting construction 

The Bakery/SOCO shared space flanked by unrenovated buildings

The power plant/new church, which did not appear to have broken ground at all

Looooots of untouched land

[Spartan]

A large tech firm, Capgemini, is bringing 200 jobs to Columbia - specifically in the Bull Street development. They specifically chose Columbia because of the presence of USC. It's not clear to me if they are going to build something new or move into the First Base building. Either way, its still exciting.

I also learned that there is a public park, 28 townhomes, and a senior community being developed there. That may have been documented in this thread... but it was news to me.

 

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article216435090.html

[vicupstate]

It sure read to me like they are in the First Base building. I would imagine that fills it up, so that should mean a new building soon. 

[Spartan]

I confirmed that it is the First Base building, oddly enough, on Instagram. One of the Cola accounts I follow posted the info.

[krazeeboi]

The company already has a presence in Columbia and is expanding there. It acquired a start-up that was established at the joint  city/USC tech incubator.

[krazeeboi]

The city approved a tax break for residential and retail development at Bull Street: https://www.free-times.com/news/local-and-state-news/despite-objections-from-competing-developer-city-gives-tax-breaks-to/article_2a791fbc-1391-11e9-878e-6305cbcbe283.html

[vicupstate]

I thought the city itself was on the hook to build the garages at Bull Street? 

 

[SouthernBorn]

I thought the city itself was on the hook to build the garages at Bull Street? 
 

I think they’re still on the hook for the two independent parking garages. Unless this really is the way they’re going to get by the parking garage ordeal.


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[Desert Power]

On 2/5/2017 at 11:27 PM, wwmiv said:

There are a also number of warehouses on Sumter north of Elmwood which could be redeveloped quickly and cheaply as coffee houses and restaurants if the city simply did streetscape improvements on its own. I'm sure the Cottontown residents would love that, actually. 

Well this has certainly come to pass in the last two years.  I just don't know how much upside is here

[krazeeboi]

I'm hearing a rumor that an anchor retailer could be announcing a Columbia Common location in a new building in the near future. We'll see if it shakes out.

[Spartan]

I hope so. That place has a ton of potential, but if feels like it has stalled... that said, I know the development process is incredibly slow so it may just be that I'm not local.

[SouthernBorn]

It’s REI.


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[krazeeboi]

Yep, REI...huge win for Columbia Common and hopefully more retailers will follow in short order. Article from The State: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article228373719.html

Rendering from the article:

 

[vicupstate]

Big get for this project. 20k ST seems a bit small but I have only been in the Greenville store once.

[CLT_sc]

REI At 20k is on par with the other stores, I don’t see it as being too small.  But, I am anxious to see what comes next.  With REI, I would expect to see more retailers coming on board.  I hope the old Babcock building gets renovated sooner rather than later.  

[CLT_sc]

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/outdoor-retailer-rei-s-move-seen-as-sign-that-columbia/article_2e44cb28-702f-11e9-8cff-73714bfa8eb5.html

some interesting notes in the article, specifically it sounds like more retail is on the way.  And, that would make sense with REI coming.  Would love to see renovation on the Babcock Building get started.

[krazeeboi]

The REI store is officially under construction. https://columbiabusinessreport.com/news/construction/76849/

[krazeeboi]

A nice write up about Bull Street Common in the NY Times. The development could definitely use this level of exposure and hopefully city leaders and developers use it as a marketing tool not only for Bull Street Common, but for the rest of the city as well.

[krazeeboi]

Segra Park, home of the Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball team, has been named the Class A Ballpark of the Decade by Ballpark Digest.

[CLT_sc]

https://columbiabusinessreport.com/news/construction/77249/

I really like the direction of this project.  Retail has been a little slow, but that is more of an industry trend than commentary about a Bull Street.  Reid should help move this forward. The stadium has won numerous  awards nationally (although the best baseball stadium in SC still sits on the banks of the Congaree River).  Capgemini provides a good anchor into tech and 9 historic buildings have been saved.  And, residential properties are sold out leading to more construction.

But, the one thing I like seeing is that development is close for the Babcock building.  That is a significant building which visibly shows the project is moving forward.  Another significant development will be when the USC Medical School moves to this site.....the state needs to fund this properly.