mainstreeter

Yeah! 2nd half of streetscape to be done!

Some new pics on Capitol Places website on Barringer Building

How about an outdoor amphitheater complex. It would take advantage of bringing life to main st during nights and weekends and has plenty of parking in the area at that time as well.

More investment on Main Street announced. Last week Main St received news of a new restaurant, spa, retail, condos and corporate HQ for a tech company going in the McCrory's Building. Now a new private club coming! This will all help the night time traffic on Main. The club looks like it will be very unique and has some cool amenities. Great news. Here is the link to the story

Note that Capitol Places DID NOT renovate the Tapps building. They took over the management this year. They have completed Kress, Berrys, and Silvers. Now 1520 and Barringer will be completed soon. 1520 is more tradtional than I like, but the target market is empty nesters and Columbia is still pretty traditional. I have also been in Barringer and they used some neat "soft loft" designs with half walls, high ceilings. I think they will turn out nicely.

I agree. No other units will have views of the riverfront. They should keep those low rises and build like stadium seeting with either height of buildings or elevations.

he has done more for Main St than the city has i have been shocked on some of the negative comments on the webpage blog under the article for this project from the State paper. I guess a lot of people still don't believe in downtown yet or the incredilble positive impact that infill contributes. If you read some, it is quite stunning

rendering now up on their website. looks like there are two floor lofts on top floor and lots of glass. I like. A lot better than the old office building that is there. Should be a nice little addition to the area.

It would be cool to have a high rise residential, but this kind of does fit within the landscape on that block of Main St. Other Main St News: Columbia Museum of Art Announces Major Commission for Boyd Plaza The Columbia Museum of Art has commissioned a major fountain sculpture for a prominent spot on Boyd Plaza in downtown Columbia. Nationally known sculptor, Rodney Carroll will be creating a monumental sculpture with an interactive water feature for the corner of Main and Hampton Streets on Boyd Plaza in front of the museum. The sculpture design incorporates a play and interaction between lyrical, organic shapes in a variety of metals and alloys that add color and motion to the abstract sculpture that mimics the play and activity of its many water elements. Colliers Keenan, a statewide commercial real estate firm headquartered in Columbia, has pledged a leadership gift for the development of this project. Completion of the project is scheduled for fall of 2006 in time for the Colliers Keenan 100th anniversary gala celebration. The museum has launched a capital campaign to raise additional funds to cover the project budget. Fundraising efforts will begin immediately and continue throughout the summer and fall. There will be a recognition wall for all major gifts. Rio Nightlife’s Custom Car and Bike Jamboree Saturday, April 29 from noon until 7 pm Located at Main Street between Laurel and Blanding Streets, Rio Nightlife will hold a Custom Car and Bike Jamboree. Winner of custom car and motorcycle contest will receive $500 each. Hot 103.9 will host a DJ Spin-off and the winner will receive $500. All DJ’s must send in audio files to 103.9 to qualify to enter into the contest. A NFL meet and greet with John Abraham from the Atlanta Falcons defensive end, Laveranues Coles of the NY Jets wide receiver and Troy Williamson from the Minnesota Vikings wide receiver will also be a highlight. Food will be provided by Mac’s on Main and beer provided by Budweiser with balloons for kids. Join City Center Partnership for its Spring 2006, Moonlight Movies on Main City Center Partnership’s Moonlight Movies on Main will premier Friday, April 28 and Friday, May 5. Outdoor movie series will be held at the corner of Hampton and Main downtown. The movies will be shown on a giant 15’ x 20’ screen, which will be hung from the top of the Columbia Museum of Art’s entrance. Bring your chair or blanket. Admission is free. Friday, April 28 The April movie will be Driving Miss Daisy and will start at 8:45 pm. Come early to enjoy seeing vintage cars. Friday, May 5 The May movie will be Breakfast at Tiffany’s and will also start at 8:45 pm. At 8:00 pm enjoy entertainment featuring fashions, dance and the musical score of Henry Mancini. Seven Doors Salon will be apart of brining Breakfast at Tiffany’s to life on Main Street.

i went to a similar event about 2 or 3 years ago and really enjoyed it. Not there is even more residential to see.

Great pics on the progress on the new condo projects krazeeboi! Wow on the Holder Project. Nice project to jump start that area but, $275,000 for a 1 bedroom? Seems little high to me. Even hot markets like Charlotte and Atlanta you can get a 1 bedroom in the low $200,000's. Hope they sell them though so the project becomes reality.

I had heard some developer out of Miami bought Powell and the building next to Main & Taylor Shoes. I don't know if it is under contract or if he has actually closed on the properties

From someone who knows a developer that works downtown somewhere Also, i do not know where the HQ is now but i assume somewhere in Columbia not at there current location.

Heard today that Granger Owens is moving from Main Street to around the corner on Washington St. in the old Republic Bank building which is in between Barringer and Arcade on Washington. They said it will be a true showcase and has like 20 ft ceilings and dramatic entrance. THey are also moving the corporate hq there.

That is exactly where it is. It has been extremely busy everytime I walked by.

I talked to Jammin' Java last week while eating lunch and they are closed for the holiday. There is some construction being done over there this week while they are away that this why the sign is down. If you do look at the rendering, the door all the way to the left next to Canal Dime will be the entrance to Jammin' Java I was told by Nate of JJ.

Capitol Places updated their website and said The Barringer Building would be ready late summer 06 and that they will be taking reservations soon. This project will nearly double the amount of people living on Main St. Maybe one day the retail will follow - lets hope so

This will be a another great looking building for that block on Main. For Downtown Columbia to become a true 24/7 city, this kind and more developments must happen. Columbia is at a critical point in its growth and I just hope all of this residential develpments on Main St and Vista continues. It will add a tremendous amount to our city and how it is perceived.

Capitol Places has started a new website on city living and developments. must be fairly new because it was not there last week when i was looking at the website. www.livecolumbia.com

looks like Main Street will be getting a nice gym in the Tapps Building http://www.thefactoryattapps.com/ Nice addition to Main St and the residents and employees of downtown

No. The Nick has bought the old Fox Theater next to Louries and will now have to do some fundraising to renovate. I would expect that to happen and will benefit the Nick and downtown revitalization. The Workshop looks like it may have failed in their efforts. The have drug their feet for so long, i understand someone else has it under contract for offices and a pub in the basement.

Last I heard, Sherlock Holmes will locate to the basement of the new condos at the corner of Main and Taylor where the old dollar store used to be on the opposite side to Berry's on Main apartments. The website for the condos is www.1556main.com . The basement is supposed to be huge and I know they have been doing a lot of work on the building lately.

The least of Main Streets problems is the name right now. With the new residential coming it should spark some retail. The perception of safety and homeless people is always a concern with people and they will need to be addressed by the city to make it a truly vibrant area. There is currently no night time patrol going down Main Street by the police. Right now they just go through the cross streets such as Taylor, Hampton, Washington, etc... This happen every few hours. There are people cruising the streets until late in the hours and other people lingering around the corners and up to no good. Houston TX has a Main Street and that is a pretty large city.

I appreciate everyones views on where Columbia should grow but that really should go under a seperate thread. There are many great things that need to (and will) happen to this city. Innovista is a great thing and will add a lot for this city byt this thread is for ideas on how we can improve Main St. Main St area is our Central Business District and has a tremendous amount of visitors every day while doing business in our city. It would be great if they saw a vibrant city while walking our street in a pedestrian friendly downtown. So lets see if we can get back in the box and talk about ideas on how to make our CBD (Main St) a better place to visit, possibly shop, and live.

I was thinking like a small grocer with breads and fresh foods. To think about it, I guess a minature scaled down version of "The Fresh Market" would be great.