lifer

I understand the skepticism - but I have seen the executed documents. Things should start happening very soon.

Good news - financing has finally been completed for Horizon II - construction will start ASAP.

I'm in Raleigh every week. I think the Wake County population is now 1.1M so the metro area is a good bit larger than Columbia's, and Raleigh continues to grow faster than Columbia. The downtown area is becoming a real downtown after years of neglect. When I first started going there about 20 years ago Raleigh and Columbia seemed very similar, but now Raleigh has much more of a big town feel than Columbia does. I'm not disparaging Columbia at all as comparing the two is probably not fair since Raleigh has grown faster than almost every city in the US. Having RTP drive the economy there is a huge advantage.

still do not have a lease signed with one of the announced tenants - they can't start building until it's done

I'm pretty involved in this deal and I don't think it is desperation at all. BCBS, IBM and almost everyone else in the IT industry have a serious business problem that we are attempting to fix with this consortium. If we can be successful here, and I believe it will take 5-7 years to really make an impact, this area can be a magnet for IT talent. It could be a really nice economic bump for the midlands and SC. My opinion all along has been that Innovista should be a place where new companies form and grow around technologies that are developed at USC, or other in state institutions. I just don't think it is realistic to expect big, established companies to set up shop there.

Stan Harpe is a very experienced, successful developer. The Wales Garden association killed this deal. They are a strange bunch. I hope they enjoy what they are going to get because they deserve it. I lived on Saluda Avenue for 15 years, the view of the original FPS coming down that hill would have been awesome. Yet another case of Columbia's small mindedness killing something that could have been awesome.

what a change from that ugly parking lot that was there before, amazing.

well - apparently the feds are willing to sign a very long-term lease for $100M. Hard to turn that down.

I didn't see this posted anywhere and I think this is the right place for it. http://www.thestate.com/local/story/256352.html Pretty impressive IMO.

I didn't ask - I assumed he meant office.

Newberry is on fire!

I spoke with a commercial developer last night at a party and he told me he had 20 clients who want to move here but there is not space to meet their needs. He was very optimistic about continued high vacancy rates and demand for new space in Columbia.

What are the median income comparisons between the 2 ares? Anyone have the data?

They must not be since they were supposed to start construction in April of '06.

well time will tell but i have been pretty involved there and that's pretty much what i see right now.

I don't think you will see big companies flock there. The whole point of innovista in my opinion is to get young companies started and grow, develop local headquarters, be a Columbia company. The intel episode illustrates why that will be necessary for innovista to succeed. The plug was pulled at the last minute from headquarters in Oregon. The Columbia operation is a nit to them. As far as ICAR goes I am not sure it is ever going to be anything more than an extension of BMW, with BMW running the show.

It was Intel. They have close to 200 people located at a building off of I-26. I know the local management team still wants to make it happen at some point.

Has anyone heard any news on the Kline property? Last I heard they were focused on some site cleanup issues. That property has been clear for a long time now.

developer told a friend of mine they were dealing with site cleanup issues and that was taking a while. No idea how accurate that is but i did notice a backhoe had been unloaded there when I drove by yesterday

Is it cheaper to construct buildings that way?