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The Village at Sandhill

StevenRocks

By StevenRocks
in Columbia

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Coop1979 Crossroads

Coop1979

Posted
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I don't think the stadium will be built without county funds and I doubt the county wants a baseball stadium built there.

I felt the need to come in and voice my dissenting opinion about the NE stadium. I believe that a NE stadium is a good idea and a downtown one is a bad idea.

First I think we need to face a few facts when it comes to downtown Columbia - people only come from the suburbs to Downtown in order to hang out at the bars. Walk into the Colonial Center any night (other than the KY game) and you won't find a bunch of suburbanites that came in from Irmo or the NE to watch the game. The same is true with a baseball stadium. A baseball stadium is not a draw to force people to come downtown, deal with parking, traffic, etc. So the next logical step is to build the stadium where the largest # of people will be able to take advantage of it.

Well, right now NE is the fastest, largest growing section of Columbia. Irmo is basically saturated and has no viable space for a suburban stadium, but the NE still has room to plan for it.

I grew up in Greenville, SC, and we had the GBraves' stadium located just outside of Mauldin. It was a great suburban location and always drew large crowds until the last few years of its existence. Is a downtown stadium in Greenville a good idea? Yes, because you can get to downtown Greenville in 10-15 minutes from basically anywhere in the city. Columbia is another beast - it takes me 25 minutes in very light traffic to make it from the NE to downtown. Not exactly worth going down there just for the fun of it, and to me, baseball games are just for the fun of it.

I think that the NE stadium is a great idea. It'll keep the NE side of town entertained, and honestly who cares if other parts of the city come - the NE is growing large enough to sustain it on it's own.

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Charleston native Burg

Charleston native

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I felt the need to come in and voice my dissenting opinion about the NE stadium. I believe that a NE stadium is a good idea and a downtown one is a bad idea...

...Well, right now NE is the fastest, largest growing section of Columbia. Irmo is basically saturated and has no viable space for a suburban stadium, but the NE still has room to plan for it...

...I think that the NE stadium is a great idea. It'll keep the NE side of town entertained, and honestly who cares if other parts of the city come - the NE is growing large enough to sustain it on it's own.

That last statement I have to completely disagree with. Remember, we're dealing with a minor league baseball team representing a mid-size city that is infatuated with its college sports. The NE area is not big enough to sustain a minor league team that people will care about. A stadium built there will isolate any potential fans from Lexington and Irmo areas, not to mention West Columbia and Cayce.

The market for the Cola metro area is, for the most part, saturated with USC sports, and this market completely covers NE Cola. That is one of the reasons why Cola lost its minor league team...USC's baseball team has a much stronger following. You referred to G'ville's Braves being in Mauldin. Well, G'ville does not have a major university taking the majority of its sports market (Clemson is near, but not central to Greenville). Also, the drive to the NE from any part of the metro in Lexington County is near 30 minutes, and that's on a good day. If the team played DT, most of the metro area citizens would have a travel time of approximately 15-20 minutes, along with access to other amenities, restaurants, and BARS.

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Temeteron Burg

Temeteron

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It makes sense for them to annex.....but they need to accomodate the traffic by making the roads bigger...more turning lanes are needed at Clemson/North Springs intersection......that left hand turn onto Clemson from N. Springs is a nightmare.....they need an extra lane, and an extra one for right hand turns....and they need some Street signs posted on the traffic lights like how they have them in downtown, and in Charlotte(all over town).....It's so much easier, especially for out-of-towners or for people who live on the other side of town, to know where you are like that

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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That last statement I have to completely disagree with. Remember, we're dealing with a minor league baseball team representing a mid-size city that is infatuated with its college sports. The NE area is not big enough to sustain a minor league team that people will care about. A stadium built there will isolate any potential fans from Lexington and Irmo areas, not to mention West Columbia and Cayce.

The market for the Cola metro area is, for the most part, saturated with USC sports, and this market completely covers NE Cola. That is one of the reasons why Cola lost its minor league team...USC's baseball team has a much stronger following. You referred to G'ville's Braves being in Mauldin. Well, G'ville does not have a major university taking the majority of its sports market (Clemson is near, but not central to Greenville). Also, the drive to the NE from any part of the metro in Lexington County is near 30 minutes, and that's on a good day. If the team played DT, most of the metro area citizens would have a travel time of approximately 15-20 minutes, along with access to other amenities, restaurants, and BARS.

GREAT points, CN. Now I realize that the suburbs are here to stay, but suburbs need to know their place within the metro area. DT Columbia will ALWAYS be the focal point and the primary representation of the metro area. Growth in the suburbs goes through cycles--ten years ago, it was the Irmo area that was exploding with growth, now it's NE Richland, and in about 10 years, it could possibly be lower Richland. However, downtown is the primary gathering place for the metro area. The bulk of the metro's amenities are clustered there so as to provide access for the ENTIRE metro, and not just the area that is presently the fastest growing. Also, keep in mind that downtown Columbia and surrounding areas are beginning to see significant residential developments in the works (e.g., CanalSide, Bull Street project, mill villages, gameday condos, developments on the west bank, etc.).

By the way, we're glad to have you aboard Coop1979. :thumbsup:

What do you mean that its not in Columbia.......i was meaning NE Columbia.....meaning NE Richland....not NE united states

I meant NE Columbia

CorgiMatt means NE Richland is not in Columbia city limits.

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waccamatt Town

waccamatt

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It would require Lexington County voters voting in favor of it though, and somehow I don't see that happening, based on the bad blood that was created when Columbia annexed the Mall that was paritally in Lexington County.

True, but I kind of have to laugh about that now that Lexington County taxes have gone sky high and most people in Lexington County don't even have city water and sewer, adequate police or fire protection. Be careful what you ask for.

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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The Richland County Council representative from the Northeast area has voiced his disagreement with the current plan to build a ballpark in Richland Northeast in The State. However, it doesn't appear that he against the idea altogether. He would rather the team pay for a stadium to be built rather than using taxpayer money. So in a way, we're back to square one on this thing.

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CorgiMatt Town

CorgiMatt

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I think Columbia is going to try to do a sneak attack and annex the Village at Sandhill....City limits aren't that far away from it...Anybody think we'll see another repeat of Columbiana or is it to late because it's already built?

Too bad Columbia would have to sneak to get this done.

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