Pulaski Street expected to see about $100 million in investment
Pulaski Street — an area west of campus dotted with warehouses and undeveloped lots — is set to see a wave of development in the next few years, fueled by a surge in student housing.
A city commission last week approved a pair of student housing projects that would add 700 beds to the area, across a pair of railroad tracks from USC’s campus.
Along with a redevelopment of the Palmetto Compress warehouse, the projects are expected to bring approximately $100 million in investment to the long-overlooked area, said Fred Delk, executive director of the Columbia Development Corporation.
The projects are part of a growing student housing boom tied to USC’s swelling enrollment. As a result, Columbia’s downtown population (which currently numbers between 2,000 and 2,500 people) is set to triple in the next three years, Delk said.
The largest of the developments would go on either side of the Palmetto Compress warehouse, one in a wooded area beside the Blossom Street bridge and one bordered by Devine, Greene and Pulaski streets and the railroad tracks.
The project, which accounts for 580 beds, was introduced by Columbus, Ohio-based Edwards Communities, which last year proposed demolishing the Palmetto Compress warehouse to make room for an apartment complex.
The other proposal would add 40 3-bedroom townhouses on the corner of Pendleton and Pulaski streets.
Steve Simonetti, a vice president at Edwards Communities, said he thought that although USC’s growth is set to slow, he thinks there’s still demand for housing close to campus.
“We don’t think it’ll cause an oversupply,” Simonetti said. “The last thing we want to do is create a supply-demand imbalance that causes a price war.”
The coming boom of apartments raised questions for USC’s plans to build a privately funded dorm by the Carolina Coliseum, said Russ Meekins, executive director of USC’s endowment, which is selling land to Edwards Communities for the development for a “substantial profit.”
USC was scheduled to present the private dorm proposal to the city Design/Development Review Commission but pushed it back because the university is still looking for a contractor, according to university spokesman Wes Hickman.
“We think there’s such a shortage of housing close to campus,” Meekins said. “We think there’s plenty of demand to go around.”