Elements of Urbanism: Columbia, SC

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Columbia, SC



A look around the downtown of South Carolina's largest city: Columbia.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/825

[fsujax]

I spent lots of time in Columbia working at the Wilbur Smith Tower (first picture taller brown building). I was always pretty impressed with DT Columbia, especially the Conagree District and it does help that there is a major state college located basically in Downtown.

[copperfiend]

It's difficult to compare Jacksonville to a city like Columbia. I like Columbia alot. I have quite a few family members that went to USC. Columbia is alot like Austin, TX or Columbus, OH. They have certain built in advantages that we will never have.

[tpot]

Columbia is the armpit of SC.  The summers there are far worse than Jacksonville.  I lived there for 8 years after college.  I must admit that 5 points and the Gervais district blow the Jville night scene away. 

[TD*]

Not bad, Not bad.... But Im still waiting on an elements of Urbanism piece on Tallahassee

[GatorDone]

In these city comparisons, I would like to see crime stats - let us see just how much it affects or does not affect community development.

[Charleston native]

For a city the size of Columbia, the DT is indeed impressive. The main reason Cola has such a distinct and urban skyline is basically because since it is the capital, it is the state's central location for regional bank and finance centers. SCANA is basically the power company for the state. AT&T used to own the Capitol Center, and since they moved, they are located in a large footprint 8-story tower further away from the central business district.

My main problems with Cola are that it is too dependent on its university to sustain nightlife/entertainment, it does not take advantage of its natural resources (proximity to several rivers and a large manmade lake), scenery is fairly bland, and it has more rundown areas than some bigger cities. I see most of the pictures were taken probably during the winter. Most students are gone during that season as well as summer, and activity on the streets is bare minimal during those times. Shopping there is fairly boring, and if you're not a USC fan, you will feel like an outcast in the sports bars and restaurants. Another crazy thing: people there are not as friendly as you would think for a Southern town.

Cola actually has a fairly high crime per capita rate...it recently was measured close to Atlanta's. And as tpot pointed out, it has the distinction of being the armpit because of its oppressive heat...which reminds me: a city of Cola's size severely lacks swimming pools or other swimming locations. I did a comparison of Cola and Jax pools last year, and I found that Jax has far more pools per capita than Cola.

I could go on about why I wasn't really impressed with Cola while living here for 5 years, but that's over now. I start my job in Charlotte next week!

[thelakelander]

Congrats on the job in Charlotte.

[Charleston native]

Thanks! Though I wanted Jacksonville as my first choice, Charlotte will definitely be a viable alternative. Don't worry, I'll be trying for Jax again soon! 

[krazeeboi]

Charleston Native, now I see where you're hiding! Congrats on your move up this way. I tell you, it couldn't have come at a more uncertain time for this city, but that's another subject. I'm sure you'll be fine.

I'm going to try to add a bit more context to what's already been presented here (which is a lot).

Columbia is in a transition right now, or as the mayor would say, a renaissance. Presenting a better image is key right now for city leaders, which is why many streetscaping projects have been completed and are underway.

Here are some shots of the results of the first phase of the Main Street streetscaping. The 2nd phase is underway currently:









Besides retail businesses fleeing for the 'burbs, another thing that has hurt Main Street has been the lack of ground-level retail/restaurant space in the vast majority of the towers built along the corridor. The new glass tower under construction will be a welcome departure from that pattern:



Also, the part of Main currently being streetscaped has a few empty/underutilized historic storefronts that should see new life once investment follows (which it is sure to do).

As as mentioned in the overview, Gervais Street is the main drag of the Vista district. However, Lady Street, which runs parallel to Gervais and is located just north of it, is starting to give it a run for its money. Its streetscaping was completed about two years ago, and significant investment has followed, including restaurants and retail. Currently, a hotel, a luxury, LEED-certified loft development, and a parking garage which will have retail fronting the street are all under construction along the street. Some shots:









One thing I've noticed this summer is that after-hours activity seemed to be relatively high in the Vista, and particularly Five Points--which is definitely a good thing. Of course, USC contributes significantly to the city in that regard, but Columbia is beginning to hold its own more in that category during the "off seasons." Here are some Five Points shots (again, a streetscaping was completed a few years ago):









The convention center and the Colonial Life Arena, USC's arena, are located on Lincoln Street, which was streetscaped a few years ago:





To learn about the history of the Vista district, which has played a significant part in the transformation of downtown and is quite a success story in itself, check out this YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhyQuBjSWZM Here's something of a bird's eye view of the district, just west of the CBD:




(shots courtesy of Brandon Davis)

Assembly Street, as was mentioned in the overview, is a major thoroughfare which essentially splits downtown. It's definitely a psychological as well as a physical barrier:


(Assembly looking south, shot courtesy of Brandon Davis)


(Assembly looking north, shot courtesy of Brandon Davis)

Preliminarily, the mayor has called upon city council to OK a task force that will oversee the future $100 million streetscape project, which probably won't begin for at least 10 years. However, this project is the linchpin in creating a cohesive, synergetic downtown and has to get done sooner or later.

Charleston Native talked about the rivers being an underutilized asset in Columbia, which is largely true. However, this is changing. The Three Rivers Greenway, spanning both Richland County (Columbia) and Lexington County (suburbs of  Cayce, West Columbia), has so far been a success, mostly on the Lexington County side of the Congaree. However, on the Columbia side, a small riverwalk extension has been completed, a project called CanalFront behind the EdVenture Children's Museum which will create open space along the riverfront is planned, and the Esplanade, part of the CanalSide residential development on the old site of the Columbia Correctional Institute fronting the historic canal, is underway. One big reason why the riverfront has gone largely underulitized is because much of the land along the river is privately held by the Guignard family. However, this family has partnered with USC and the city to see to it that USC's research campus, Innovista, spreads west towards the river and part of this campus will be a large new waterfront park:











And here's how CanalFront is envisioned to look:



Something that wasn't mentioned in the overview is Columbia's center city park, Finlay Park, one of the nicest for a city Columbia's size:









Hope you guys enjoyed the "expanded" overview here.

[thelakelander]

Great update krazeeboi!  I love this plan. It has gridded streets, buildings that front the sidewalks and ample public green space that serves as a central focal point.  Hopefully everything works out.

[krazeeboi]

Yes, it's a rather ambitious plan that does a lot of things right and there's a significant amount of cooperation present among all involved parties, which is a good thing. Of course, it's a long range plan, but very much worth it. Extending the downtown grid is crucial in making this a truly urban research park, which will be the largest in the nation upon full buildout.

[vicupstate]

Thanks! Though I wanted Jacksonville as my first choice, Charlotte will definitely be a viable alternative. Don't worry, I'll be trying for Jax again soon! 

Congrats on the job!!

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it.  It will also be good to hear 'on the ground' reports of how Charlotte copes to the Wachovia transition.     

[Keith-N-Jax]

I love the landscaping very clean and green.

[stjr]

I recently visited Columbia and was pleasantly surprised by their downtown area and surrounding development.  It's amazing, compared to Jax, how many of their historic buildings, most industrial in nature, have been converted to restaurants and stores.  They appear to have either very good incentives or strict regulations insuring such renovations.  It gives Columbia character and a substantive and timeless presence not found in Jacksonville anymore and just adds to my regrets what Jax has missed out on.

The downtown definitely appears to be up and coming with the aforementioned high rise under construction.  I also noted that a parking garage had a full width of 100% rented street frontage stores, not the cold, vacant, concrete vent holes of Jax's garages.

Not highlighted in the article are a few areas I visited.  One is Lincoln Street which apparently housed the original train depot (not much compared to our Jax Terminal) and rail docks for the city.  The depot and assorted buildings have been converted into a bustling entertainment district with multiple restaurants and bars.  They even have a horse drawn carriage tour available.

Another area is their Riverfront Park.  This area took a greenway formed from old time and still used power line towers and their underlying right of way that lines the river on one side and combined them with an 1800's era preserved water works facility/pump house, early hydroelectric spillway, and a man-made canal that parallels the river on an embankment to make a unique and interesting park and jogging/bike path that lines the river for miles.  An early era or reproduction pedestrian bridge crosses over at the downtown park entrance.  All very imaginative and neat reuse and redevelopment of historic industrial structures.  On my Sunday afternoon visit, it was being well used by the locals.

By the way, USC was in its summer mode and I still found the night life to be bustling in the Lincoln/Gervais/Park street area which also features a new Hilton with a Ruth's Chris Steak House.  Jax could also learn a lot about the value of a college campus in proximity to downtown by visiting Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania/Drexel University complexes in Philadelphia, Georgetown/American U. in Washington, Columbia or NYU in New York, UAB in Birmingham, etc.  Such campuses can provide the necessary critical mass for a lot of downtown development.

Interesting tidbit:  USC's Koger Performing Arts Center was made possible by Ira Koger, a Jacksonville office park developer who developed the nation's first modern office park on Beach Boulevard (originally called the Koger Center, now called Midtown).

P.S. Yep, the Confederate Flag still flies in front of the State Capital!