Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was in Columbia today. Killian Road had surveyors scoping out future construction, I guess.
Gotta say: Driving into downtown on Bull, the REI pushed back and a couple of parking garages under construction as the prominent structures from that angle are a big disappointment, a huge missed opportunity to set a defined, urban tone for the introduction to downtown, and not aesthetically pleasing at that.
By off the road do you mean Bull St or Colonial? And the city is trying to complete their required investment in the property so the garages were built now. Master plan has buildings in front of them.
By off the road do you mean Bull St or Colonial? And the city is trying to complete their required investment in the property so the garages were built now. Master plan has buildings in front of them.
When sitting at the light on Bull at Colonial and looking across REI’s paved parking lot on that corner, which isn’t a good look, and beyond, the visibility of a parking garage isn’t a good look either. There’s another parking garage under construction sitting directly far behind REI that may have a building put in front of it eventually. That would be good, because it’s a solid wall.
If REI weren’t set back and weren’t so motorist oriented and were two or more stories, I don’t believe the parking garage behind the next building would be visible from the traffic light.
When sitting at the light on Bull at Colonial and looking across REI’s paved parking lot on that corner, which isn’t a good look, and beyond, the visibility of a parking garage isn’t a good look either. There’s another parking garage under construction sitting directly far behind REI that may have a building put in front of it eventually. That would be good, because it’s a solid wall.
I’m not sure if it will be connected or stand alone but on the most recent master plan there is a larger building (about 2-3x the seize of REI) connected to or next to REI which will hopefully make the corner look less bare and explains the size of the parking lot.
I’m not sure if it will be connected or stand alone but on the most recent master plan there is a larger building (about 2-3x the seize of REI) connected to or next to REI which will hopefully make the corner look less bare and explains the size of the parking lot.
As long as it hides the cement-appearing parking garage it will be a big help. And the trees will help mitigate the paved corner REI parking lot. That corner would have been a fine start to an urban, commercial downtown footprint on that side of Colonial across from the institutional DHEC setting.
As long as it hides the cement-appearing parking garage it will be a big help. And the trees will help mitigate the paved corner REI parking lot. That corner would have been a fine start to an urban, commercial downtown footprint on that side of Colonial across from the institutional DHEC setting.
That cement wall could be the perfect spot for a huge mural. They have started painting murals all over town and that could be the next great location. The perfect mural could set the tone for that district and downtown in general for those coming from 277.
I was in Columbia today. Killian Road had surveyors scoping out future construction, I guess.
Gotta say: Driving into downtown on Bull, the REI pushed back and a couple of parking garages under construction as the prominent structures from that angle are a big disappointment, a huge missed opportunity to set a defined, urban tone for the introduction to downtown, and not aesthetically pleasing at that.
Finally someone gets it. They are already starting off this project with it being suburban car centric style. instead of catering to humans they catered to cars once again. That's dissapointing in a downtown to have so much car centric stuff. we haven't learned anything in the past 70+ years. the oppertunity for bigger and more dense development is being pissed away with these developments with huge parking craters in front of them.
Finally someone gets it. They are already starting off this project with it being suburban car centric style. instead of catering to humans they catered to cars once again. That's dissapointing in a downtown to have so much car centric stuff. we haven't learned anything in the past 70+ years. the oppertunity for bigger and more dense development is being pissed away with these developments with huge parking craters in front of them.
I can agree to a point.. I think the challenge is Bull Street.. the actual Street.. It is a connector to funnel traffic from two inner city highways into the downtown area... I think the developer and the City Leaders are/were more focused with the visitors' experience on site than how it relates to areas off site or how it looks from the street or at least Bull Street. In fact.. since most of the traffic is coming from the suburbs.. I am sure suburbanites are thinking..."wow look at that development over there.... there are plenty of places for me to park..so let me go in and see whats going on" LOL
To the west you have Cottontown which is a low density single family neighborhood separated by a wide street. No real way to tie to two together on a human scale because of the wide street and the types of uses..To the north you have a 1960s style suburban office park dominated by aging State Office Buildings. If that site is ever redeveloped say for new state offices.. there will be a huge opportunity to tie Bull Street with Prisma Health with a more urban campus opposed to the wide open spaces that are there now. Same could be said for Harden Street corridor which is a mix of a wide street and older suburban state office complex on a large green space.. The only area where there may be existing "fabric" is to the south and the "Robert Mills District" and the design seems to want to tie in and respect the connection to that historic district with the rehab of the Babcock Building and some of the other properties on site and it is separated from the site by the more human scale Calhoun Street. The other issue is ... I believe Harden and Bull Streets are State Roads.. which means to do any type of traffic calming or "humanizing" those streets will require state approval. The SCDOT is first and foremost interested in moving traffic/cars... So the City would have to take them over or work out some other arrangement like they have on Gervais in the Vista and along Assembly
Again.. just my thoughts.. though I am not an urban planner/designer...
Last edited by Woodlands; 12-03-2021 at 09:11 AM..
No paved parking lots on the corner in new developments on the grid.
No paved parking in front at all for new developments.
The suburbanites need to see something distinctly different when they hit the city grid. The oak grove was nice enough to be on the corner as a border for the old institutional state hospital.
Aesthetics in land development rule for me. The corner as it is now is an example of something that disappoints me but at the same time I do my darnedest to rationalize it and make it okay or even somehow make myself think it’s the best, most sensible way.
I will say that had I still lived in Columbia I would have stood at the podium and had my say emphatically against the proposed design with reasoning to back it up. I would even venture to guess that some among city development officials wondered where “that guy” (me) was.
The latest redevelopment is coming to the former laundry building, this area seems to be blowing up. Can’t wait to see what’s next with the first residents of the Babcock moving in this spring and another 500 potential residents coming on line with the Bennett apartments. Still interested to see what’s coming along Bull St between Matilda Evans St and Elmwood as it seems to be a lot of work occurring in that area for nothing to have been announced.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
