This just in from Eva Moore over at the Free Times:
The developer who planned to build a Walmart on Assembly Street says the company has pulled out and he’s searching for another anchor tenant.
Matt Sasser of the Atlanta-based development company Bright Meyers says he has some new anchor tenants in mind but isn’t ready to talk about them yet. He hopes to have one secured by the end of January…
Dang. So there’s going to be a controversial shopping facility of some kind, but now there’s not going to be a handy downtown Walmart.
That sort of seems like the worst of both worlds, but maybe I’m looking at it wrong…
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More surprising is that Brad is disappointed that a big box store won’t be located in that section of town. I’d think you were more the mom & pop business supporter.
Given Wal-Mart’s labor practices, and their environmental history, I’m glad they won’t be there. I’d like to see some nice little shops or some such clustered there if they can do so in an environmentally acceptable way.
Rising soon on the site of the old ball park … another off-campus housing option.
As someone far wiser than me has noticed about development in the greater Columbia Metro area, if it isn’t on the railroad tracks it isn’t considered a proper high-end multi-family housing site.
Still, it was too bad the City of Columbia chose to sell this parcel. I hope they do get it back from the developer.
I’ve always been kind of torn about it. I’m all for Moms and Pops and all, but there are certain items I regularly buy that I go to Walmart for, because they cost like half of what I pay elsewhere.
Sometimes I need one of those things in the middle of the day, and I’m trapped downtown, with all the Walmarts out in the burbs. So I guy the item somewhere else at a big markup. Which always makes me feel like I’m being ripped off…
Maybe we should lobby for a Costco. At least they treat their employees well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/business/yourmoney/17costco.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
“So I guy the item somewhere else at a big markup. Which always makes me feel like I’m being ripped off…”
Put another way, I don’t need to buy a newspaper because I can read the same news elsewhere for less money.
We really should boycott Walmart. They condone extremely dangerous work practices in third world countries then treat their employees like crap. Not a very good corporate citizen in my view.
Good call, Mark Stewart! You ought to go into commercial real estate!
The monstrosity on the Palmetto Compress site was not approved at D/DRC last night, thanks to the excellent defense orchestrated by Robin Waites. Edwards wants to go somewhere near the Greek Village for, as they said last night, all the sorority girls who are paying for three meals in the houses but can’t eat there.
@bud – Maybe Obama could take them over and the government could run them. ObamaMart
Why are sorority girls paying for a meal plan they can’t use?
It is required by the sorority, we were told last night at D/DRC
I admire you for your civic dedication, Kathryn.
I haven’t attended any sort of local government meeting since the days when, as a reporter, I’d often have to attend several in a day — and then stay up all night writing about them (it was an afternoon paper, so my deadline was the next morning).
I think, as a result, I suffer from a mild form of Local Government Meeting PTSD. In any case, the idea of attending one sort of appalls me now…
No, wait — back in the early 80s, property behind my home was getting rezoned, so my wife and I attended the meeting about that and asked some questions.
So that’s ONE since my reporting days…
At the end of the meeting, the mayor (we had this weird form of city government, a city commission, in which the mayor was one of three guys who ran EVERYTHING, including zoning), asked for a show of hands for and against.
Then he said “against?” and looked at us and said “One against?” I said nah, we were just there to ask questions.
I was actually a little shocked, as a newspaperman, that the mayor thought I was there to AFFECT the outcome. Didn’t feel like I had the right, since I was the editor in charge of coverage of the city, and everyone knew it…
Kathryn,
We are gonna have to disagree on that one; it is unfortunate that Columbia’s historic preservation community decided to oppose reuse of the Palmetto Compress site.
This will only diminish their voices in the future. Becoming know as the obstinate, unreasonable obstacle to progress is very different than being a voice of reasoned leadership and accommodation. Not everything can and should be “saved”. Much of what we build must be swept away by future generations. What survives through time is the cherished, the adaptable and the lucky.
Look, I like driving by that building and seeing the 50,000 Bales signage from the overpass, too. But a left-brain review of the situation would never lead anyone to support saving this structure. There may well have been good reason why this is the last one left standing in the South. From all I have heard, this is an unredevelopable structure: the very nature of its construction is its own worst enemy. Demolition is probably the only option short of letting it decay in place for decades until it becomes a safety hazard.
Maybe someone will come along with a proposal to retain parts of the facade and build new inside the brick. Maybe… But it hasn’t happened in 25 years. Seems better to let an architectural salvage company strip the structure and let someone build something new on the site that might add to Columbia’s built environment and its tax base.
Hey, I still wish we had the old “thieves’ market” instead of the Greek Village. But then, I’d rather have almost anything there other than a Greek Village, so I’m prejudiced.
I would have preferred to see the University terminate the greek system as a physical thing and instead put its powers of persuasion to work advocating for a reduction in the state drinking age for full-time students. If state’s can now legalize recreational pot, then state’s ought to be able to stand up to bad federal policy that promotes irresponsible, shadowy and binge-inducing behavior in young, impressionable kids.
We continue through inertia to pursue strategies that have no positive societal outcomes.
Things must have changed since the 80’s. I know in fraternities, around 50% of the members didn’t live in the house.
Growing up in a construction related family, I find it interesting that developers and contractors down here are simply unable to level a floor. I’ve never been in the building but I’m guessing it has 10=12 foot ceilings. If needed the gap to level could be used for plumbing, HVAC, and wiring.
@Mark – I bet if the government would release that rubble pile called Fort Sumter, they could sell the island for millions.
Mark, if you could have heard what was said, or talk to local architects about, including Trudy Seibels…it is a valuable structure, both from its formal architecture and because it is a relic of Ward One and the once vibrant cotton industry. Richard Burts (701 Whaley) thinks it can be reused. He would know.
Plus, the garden apartment complex with no garden, as Lesesne Monteith characterized it, and no safe access likely to be used by students across the train tracks, as I said, and and and….the design was cheap and disposable, and clearly not in compliance with the Innovista design guidelines. That’s why 8-1 it was voted down. We didn’t go out on a limb here.
The Greek Village is an abomination architecturally, but at least it corrals them in one place under decent supervision. Our neighborhood got a lot quieter after it was built.
…but then fraternities and sororities are not something I think is a good idea.
Steven , the “government” does not own the Palmetto Compress property.
I think it is a lot more than the floors. I haven’t been in the bldg. either; so I will refrain from listing other potential pitfalls to reuse.
I don’t go to Walmart during November and December. I avoid Harbison Boulevard for the same reasons. My wife and I were in Walmart a month before Halloween and the garden center was taken over with Christmas items.
Kathryn,
Placing kids on the “wrong” side of the tracks was clearly an ill-considered problem. The developers were short-sighted to overlook that serious issue.
Cheap and disposable is what Cola specializes in. So I don’t see why that should be a problem there on that site.
And a relic is in the eye of the beholder. It is a neutral word to me.
“Mark, if you could have heard what was said, or talk to local architects about, including Trudy Seibels…it is a valuable structure, both from its formal architecture and because it is a relic of Ward One and the once vibrant cotton industry. Richard Burts (701 Whaley) thinks it can be reused. He would know.”
I was all for bulldozing the Compress. I could care less about USC or whoever bought it. Its private property and I feel that if you operate inside the boundaries of the law go for it. Make that Buck.
Seeing the grounds that they denied the request being it wasn’t in the established guidelines I’m not too upset either.
Just whatever you do PLEASE don’t dump in a bunch of city cash to fix it up. Let private industry stand on its feet and take care of itself.
Back to the topic at hand
I read the feed that Joe Azar put out a few nights ago from sustainable midlands. I was kidna shocked as well.
I followed up with Moe Baddourah and he confirmed the release.
He explained that the deal gets torn up if a lease doesn’t go through.
So they are looking for another chain store.
Not to beat a dead horse with wal mart but it was mostly hypocracy that drove the watershed push.
If Whole Foods had wanted to move their instead of garners ferry people would have raffled off the first whack of the wrecking ball.
People just don’t like walmart.
BTW if the deal falls through it does have consequences. The money the city put into the drainage study (want to say it was 50ksih from memory) will be a total waste.
Not to mention some of that money was earmarked to go into promoting the community.
Instead we lose those tax dollars and get to keep a run down stadium. Wee.
And thanks, Brad. My civic involvement is the most rewarding thing I have ever done! Helping to build and shape a stronger community is so gratifying.
“No safe access likely to be used by students across the train tracks”
I don’t buy into this. You can’t legislate all danger out of life. Whats the difference from having students live on assembly with lots of cars?
I’m with you on the innovista guidelines though. In the end if it doesn’t meet up with what the city set up then it doesn’t meet the standard.
And Tavis, while there were surely hypocrites, plenty of others truly care about Rocky Branch watershed and the livability of Olympia!
“And Tavis, while there were surely hypocrites, plenty of others truly care about Rocky Branch watershed and the livability of Olympia!”
There are many. Historically Columbia has a strong sustainability movement.
You can’t have parks everywhere though. Something has to pay for them. I thought the city study showing the minimal impact that the shopping center would have on the watershed was adequate.
“And Tavis, while there were surely hypocrites, plenty of others truly care about Rocky Branch watershed and the livability of Olympia!”
There are many. Historically Columbia has a strong sustainability movement.
You can’t have parks everywhere though. Something has to pay for them. I thought the city study showing the minimal impact that the shopping center would have on the watershed was adequate.
The city study was argued by USC scientists to be flawed. Agreed on how you cannot have parks everywhere. You can have them in ecologically fragile areas not suitable for development though.
@ Brad – I’ll send you an invitation for my next local government meeting. You can see me “in action”!
I remember a few years ago when the Rocky Branch watershed was flooding and backing up into 5 points. The city took backhoes and dug the creek out, straightening the channel, widening and deepening it all the way down into Olympia. Now that’s some healthy watershed management right there. Right out of the Best Management Practices handbook.
I remember a few years ago when the Rocky Branch watershed was flooding and backing up into 5 points. The city took backhoes and dug the creek out, straightening the channel, widening and deepening it all the way down into Olympia. Now that’s some healthy watershed management right there. Right out of the Best Management Practices handbook.
Whatever the developer planned for stormwater runoff detention and cleaning had to be far superior to the existing status of a fully paved site draining straight into the creek in a ditch.
Personally, I think the City – it’s citizens really – ought to be planning for the day that the Rosewood quarry is no more. Having a greenway along the creek from above Five Points to the Congaree would be the beginnings of a park that people from all over could actually use and enjoy. The monster move would be to fill the two quarries to create lakes for in-town recreation.
But since this is South Carolina, County Council will probably permit the quarry’s transfer to Waste Management for a super dump. And people will probably continue to rule out commercial development in other areas for the easy narrow-minded objectionsm that is less about saving the worthy and more about retarding progress. It is a mindset that is self reinforcing across widely varied areas in SC.
If there is anything Columbia, and South Carolina, needs most it is vision – and collaborators willing to buy into a unified front and offer sustained leadership. It’s so much easier to say what can’t be than to work for what could be.
The baseball stadium is fully paved? I thought it was grass.
@ Mark Stewart – re: The Rosewood Quarry, my thought on the quarry’s post extractive future would be to cut a channel from the pit over to the Congaree and turn it into a 200+ foot deep swimming hole and/or marina.
I’m glad to see y’all engaging a hyperlocal issue so fully and from such informed perspectives.
When I started blogging in 2005, if I tried to start a thread on a metro issue, it just sat there…
This is progress…
Been on the Congaree lately? Even after the recent rains, I think you could walk across at the quarry and not get your shorts wet. Not much to float a boat with….
Funny Kathryn. The playing field is grass, the parking lots are paved.
Don’t former quarries that become lakes tend to be sort of biologically unstable? Like, you can swim in them but don’t eat fish from them?
That’s totally anecdotal on my part, and based on (near as I can recall) two works of fiction. There’s a mention of a former quarry in Maryland that fits that description in Tom Clancy’s Patriot Games, and the same is said of the former quarry that the guys swim in in “Breaking Away,” which I presume is based on an actual quarry in Bloomington, but may not be…
Normally, when I talk about things I THINK I know, I’m not that frank in disclosing exactly where I picked up the (often questionable) information, because I’m sort of embarrassed by how SPECIFIC my memory is with regard to total trivia…
But way more often than is normal, I know just where I heard something. If it’s insignificant. If it’s important, my memory tends to be vaguer. I think…
If I could find a way to monetize comprehensive knowledge about totally fictional universes such as the one in “Firefly,” or semi-fictional ones such as in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, I’d be a very wealthy man…
Science can engineer solutions. It needn’t be too different from Lake Murray. Plus, it would have the added advantage of not being the drainage basin of hundreds of chicken farms and thousands of substandard septic fields.
I wasn’t trying to be funny. Aren’t some baseball fields paved then covered with AstroTurf? I loathe baseball, so I never went to the stadium…
Wouldn’t the field absorb plenty of water that a Walmart would have displaced, absent civil engineering?
I actually supported the Walmart. I think there were some engineering issues yet to be adequately dealt with, but I think the proximity of somewhere residents otherwise have to drive five miles to would have been an environmental plus.
There are pretty much no local businesses left for Walmart to displace, anyway.
The reason that quarries are generally regarded as bad to eat fish from is because years ago people dumped dangerous stuff in them. The one I recall from back home had a bunch of electrical transformers containing PCB-laden oil dumped in them. There’s no reason that a quarry that starts out clean, fills with rainwater, clean groundwater or surface water won’t be clean.
I used to go diving in a quarry near Gallatin, TN that had been an operating quarry until one day they hit water and couldn’t pump it out fast enough. A bunch of buildings and equipment were still there, and you could dive through them.
If you’ve ever taken the train at the SC Railroad Museum in Winnsboro, it uses a short line that runs to an old granite quarry in a place called, fittingly enough, “Rockton”. The Winnsboro municipal water system has used the quarry as a reservoir in recent summers when their normal water sources haven’t been sufficient.
There’s no reason that the Rosewood quarry and it’s twin across the river in Cayce can’t be put to some sort of creative and adaptive use one they’ve played out. Rock climbing, boating, who knows what else.
The reason that quarries are generally regarded as bad to eat fish from is because years ago people dumped dangerous stuff in them. The one I recall from back home had a bunch of electrical transformers containing PCB-laden oil dumped in them. There’s no reason that a quarry that starts out clean, fills with rainwater, clean groundwater or surface water won’t be clean.
I used to go diving in a quarry near Gallatin, TN that had been an operating quarry until one day they hit water and couldn’t pump it out fast enough. A bunch of buildings and equipment were still there, and you could dive through them.
If you’ve ever taken the train at the SC Railroad Museum in Winnsboro, it uses a short line that runs to an old granite quarry in a place called, fittingly enough, “Rockton”. The Winnsboro municipal water system has used the quarry as a reservoir in recent summers when their normal water sources haven’t been sufficient.
There’s no reason that the Rosewood quarry and it’s twin across the river in Cayce can’t be put to some sort of creative and adaptive use one they’ve played out. Rock climbing, boating, who knows what else.
“Brad says:
December 18, 2012 at 6:11 pm
If I could find a way to monetize comprehensive knowledge about totally fictional universes such as the one in “Firefly,” or semi-fictional ones such as in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, I’d be a very wealthy man…”
I loved firefly. Great show.
Its funny how Brad is derailing his own thread.
“When I started blogging in 2005, if I tried to start a thread on a metro issue, it just sat there…”
Thats why I focus on Richland and Columbia politics on my website. Its the easiest government to access and affect. Yet everyone ignores it.
Meetings are BORING though. I get much more out of the work sessions. At least I can walk out when I want to.
“Kathryn Fenner says:
December 19, 2012 at 12:40 pm
I certainly don’t ignore local government”
You certainly do not. I’d love to get together sometime and see if our efforts and concerns overlap anywhere.
I’m all about building a caucus and doing positive things in Columbia and Richland.
Here is my contact page on Columbiacents. if you are interested.
http://www.columbiacents.com/contact/