University may spend $50,000 for feasibility study
USC is exploring the purchase of the old ETV facility near Williams-Brice Stadium, according to a recent presentation at Friday’s board of trustees meeting.
The buildings and grounds committee of USC’s board of trustees said university officials could spend $50,000 to explore the feasibility of buying the property, which spans 137,000 square feet and 4.5 acres of land. The building is currently on the market for about $5 million, USC’s chief financial officer Ed
Walton told the board. The university would also face state approval before it could purchase the facility, Walton said. ETV spokesman Rob Schaller declined to confirm the price.
Walton said the space would be an ideal new home for University Technology Services, which currently operates on Blossom Street near the Quads. That space would be turned into academic space should USC buy the building. A large empty warehouse in the back of the building — where The State newspaper once printed its editions — would be a perfect location for USC’s constructions and facilities management department to work and house equipment, Walton said. The department is currently located in a small office behind the Colonial Life Arena.
For ETV, money from the sale of the empty building would be used to combine administrative and technical operations into its Telecommunications Center, Schaller said.
A state budget document says the funds from the sale would directly go toward the move into the Telecommunications Center.