Doug L

This sounds like something that is tailor made for the Guignard property under discussion.

Vicupstate: In your reply you said "So, you have to wonder why there is a problem on the Columbia side of the river." I'm not sure how intimately you know the Columbia area, but there is so much prejudice in this area against the City of Columbia nothing surprises me when it emanates from outside of the city. The Guignards, I do believe, are from Cayce.

I just e-mailed the following to the editor of the STATE NEWSPAPER; lets see if they have the B@%%$ to print it. "The headline on the front page of todays, Saturday, August 06, 2005, State

"Columbia's skyscrapers look very nice from a distance, but up close and personal, they suck. They offer nothing for the everage pedestrian to stop and look at unless they like highly reflective windows. They should be rennovated to allow for restaurants and shops, and minimize the blank walls that these towers provide." Spartan: You are 100% correct. The bigest 'street killers' are the reflective and/or no see through glass at street, street level parking lots, and blank walls. The last block of Main Street will never recover its pedestrian traffic until something is done about the existance of all three of these items.

The purchase of the old Ritz theater by the Nickelodeon is certainly a positive step. I know the Workshop Theater has been trying to purchase the old bank building between the Barrenger Building and the Washington Street entrance of the Arcade Building which would of course be another positive step. We NEED something for young people to do also. The empty space between the two glass towers across from the Wachovia Building would be a great place for an outdoor ice or roller rink. If the city would put in a world class skateboard park there that would be an attraction not only for our youth but out of the area youth also. Having lived in Philadelphia, PA, I remember how Love park attracted skateboarding youth from all over the country and Europe. Since Columbia is named after Christopher Columbus, I have suggested in a number of different places that we replace the Three Rivers Festival with a Christopher Columbus birthday party. Main Street just might be the right place for that....One big block part from Gervais to Laurel with band trailers setup on selected side streets.

I agree that parking decks at ground level are tacky. All you have to do is look at the ugly duckling that the Meridian Building built. If at ground level there were shops and services it would be fine. Street level parking except on the streets themselves should be outlawed in the zone bounded by Gervais, Assembly, Elmwood, and Bull. In cases where the lots already exist require them to be hidden with a brick, stone, or other attractive masonry privacy wall. Parking decks do NOT have to be ugly! With parking on top of retail then either office space or apartments on top of that can be done beautifully. That type of architecture is a mainstay in Chicago. waccamatt, when I get my first $100,000,000.00 I will fulfill my daydream of taking one city square, put retail on the street level all the way around plus an arcade through the middle, put a ten level parking deck on top of that with a 20 story office building on one corner and a 20 story apartment building on the opposite corner. The top of the parking deck would not be parking but amenities for the apartments like a swimming pool, tennis/badmitten court, etc. If we are going to dream, lets dream big! B)

Everyone here has good ideas: Density; good Grouping the tall buildings; good More tall buildings; good (some 30 to 40 stories sprinkled among the 10 to 20; very good Less open space in the city; good What does everyone think of the new First Citizens building AND all of the blank space behind the building? They are going to have new ground level open parking lots with some sort of plaza separating them. You will be able to see all the way from Lady Street across Gervais to the Capitol. My opinion is that they are building a beautiful 'ground scraper' but we really don't need more open spaces in midtown. If that underground lot had been built not out of sight but ground level retail, several parking decks above that, then the banks tower on top of that we would now have a new 12 to 13 story building and would have done away with all that ugly open parking lot and counterproductive open space. I still hate to loose the old Radisson if for no other reason than it is more than 10 stories tall.

Me too krazeeboi. Columbia is a beautiful city but lacks an impressive skyline. I hate the fact that USC will be destroying the old Radisson Hotel building....it is probably the best example of tacky, 1950s, generic, utilitarian architecture in midtown Columbia. I like the Bull Street layout that had the diagional boulevard. I'd anchor that puppy witha 50 story drop-dead georgeous apartment building.

Yesterday afternoon I drove through the old Bull Street hospital property. What a magnificent opportunity for Columbia! One of the suggestions the architect had was for the Babcock building to used as city hall. I couldn't agree more. The building is not only historic; it has the potential of being beautiful and it is huge! The city should take over that one building, place ALL of the cities offices in that structure and lease out the balance of the building as office space. The money raised from rents would no doubt cover all the expenses of maintaining the facility plus make a profit for Columbia. An additional perk would be to have the room for expanding city hall and/or offices as the need arises.