lifer
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Posts posted by lifer
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Welcome I miss. If you don't mind, I would love to hear your comparison between Columbia and Raleigh. They seem like similar cities (Raleigh being a bit bigger). What are some things you like better about Columbia? Raleigh?
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.
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It is now March and there is still nothing going on at the Horizon II site. What's the hold up?
Several tenants have announced their commitment to the site, which still sits empty.still do not have a lease signed with one of the announced tenants - they can't start building until it's done
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Definitely a first-of-its-kind partnership. While it might smell slightly of desperation, I think it's a best-case scenario in this economy. Good for them for landing it... it shows real innovation that the parties involved could think outside the box enough to make it happen.
I do hope, however, that a truly major player comes on board in the future.
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.
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While I agree that sometimes the city takes too long to make decisions, the developers of this property were very inexperienced and are showing this with their attacks on city government. The biggest reason for the delay of this project was the necessary access to the tunnel under the property, though the debate about the parking and the height of the project caused some delays, also. I think it is interesting to note that experienced developers, like Holder Properties, have no problem getting projects off the ground. In reference to FPS' developers, I think it is wise to begin with small projects and gain some experience before trying to tackle a large project. As someone with many years of lending experience, I can almost guarantee you that when the city negotiated a smaller monetary contribution to the project, the financing fell through because the developers didn't have all of their ducks in a row.
If the owners of Yesterdays are smart, they will build a garage where their surface lot stands. Five Points acreage is worth too much these days to be occupied by a surface lot. IMO the FPS developers' best bet is to sell their property to an experienced developer or create a partnership with an experienced developer before proceeding with anything.
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.
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I agree Firefox. The BA building, with a little work, could definitely be made to house other colleges.
I hope USC doesn't start to neglect that side of campus. It's one of the nicest areas along with the horseshoe.
well - apparently the feds are willing to sign a very long-term lease for $100M. Hard to turn that down.
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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.
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Office or industrial?
I didn't ask - I assumed he meant office.
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Six hundred new jobs are coming to Newberry County.
Newberry is on fire!
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Very true. There has to be a place for those companies to locate. It seems like the northeast part of town off of I-77 is the most popular, followed by I-26 south of town and usually in Lexington County.
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.
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I do agree, as before, that the upstate malls are bigger. The driving time that I experienced between westgate and haywood was similar to me driving from my home in Northern Columbia to Harbison. I could only imagine the time it would take if someone in southeastern columbia wanted to visit Columbiana Center. Columbia is very spread out with its two largerest shopping centers at the edges of town. Once again, as I stated before, I believe that one of the main reasons Haywood has a better selection of stores (for my taste) such as aldo, j crew... is due to its ownership. Simon malls owns some of the most highly recognized malls in the US so it is only imaginable that their repetoirre of stores would trickle to all of their establishments. As I walked through heywood, I saw several places that were once in columbia but have left. Most of them left during those hard times of the late 80's and early 90's of Columbia. I hope that some of them will eventually find there way back to this home market. J. Crew being a prime example of this. It was once located in Columbia Mall, on the upper level near wha tis now the food court. Eddie Bauer, Jerman Shoes are a couple others which were once actually located at columbia place mall. All the rest of the stores at Haywood, with the exception of a few can actually be found in the Columbia area. Essentially there isnt just one shopping venue that houses everything in a similar fashion to that of Westgate. Which I think is a great thing due to Columbia's size and structural make up. It truely does need the shopping centers that it has, and could even use Midtown at Forest Acres. Maybe Simon Mall (wishfully) will aquirre MidTown...
What are the median income comparisons between the 2 ares? Anyone have the data?
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I heard they aren't selling.
They must not be since they were supposed to start construction in April of '06.
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If that's true, I think that will be very advatageous if it indeed takes off and can be successful.
As fas as ICAR goes, the surface is only being scratched right now, much like Innovista. You're missing the point of ICAR if you think it's going to just be an extension of BMW.
well time will tell but i have been pretty involved there and that's pretty much what i see right now.
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I just can't wait for the day we really start to hear some BIG names come to play with innovista. One thing I CAR has on it's side is BMW. That's a plus for them. We are competiting with bigger states in the hydrogen fuel cell research. California,Mich, New York, Ohio etc. One thing California is starting already are actually having stations that will allow cars to fill up on hydrogen fuel cells. And are predicting to have more than 20 stations available across the state of California by 2010. I like the emphasis we have here but were not the only state involved in this type of research. We really have to be more aggresive when trying to lure the big fishes.
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.
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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.
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I agree about the Kline Steel project. It will extend Lady across Huger and that should be quite the intersection once all the projects are complete.
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
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"Davis also has changed the construction of the building from structural steel to poured-in-place concrete, which will enable it be built quicker, he said."
Whoa! That is a major, major structural change. I wonder what the real story is behind that.
Is it cheaper to construct buildings that way?
Several tenants have announced their commitment to the site, which still sits empty.
Columbia is very spread out with its two largerest shopping centers at the edges of town. 
Once again, as I stated before, I believe that one of the main reasons Haywood has a better selection of stores (for my taste) such as aldo, j crew... is due to its ownership. Simon malls owns some of the most highly recognized malls 
in the US so it is only imaginable that their repetoirre of stores would trickle to all of their establishments. As I walked through heywood, I saw several places that were once in columbia but have left. Most of them left during those hard times of the late 80's and early 90's of Columbia. I hope that some of them will eventually find there way back to this home market. J. Crew being a prime example of this. It was once located in Columbia Mall, on the upper level near wha tis now the food court. Eddie Bauer, Jerman Shoes are a couple others which were once actually located at columbia place mall. All the rest of the stores at Haywood, with the exception of a few can actually be found in the Columbia area. Essentially there isnt just one shopping venue that houses everything in a similar fashion to that of Westgate. Which I think is a great thing due to Columbia's size and structural make up. It truely does need the shopping centers that it has, and could even use Midtown at Forest Acres. Maybe Simon Mall (wishfully) will aquirre MidTown... 
Innovista
in Columbia
Posted
I understand the skepticism - but I have seen the executed documents. Things should start happening very soon.