Project awaits final OK from city on plan to paint exterior
A project that will convert the 21-story Palmetto Center into student housing on Main Street is still snagged by a question of how to paint the building, but construction is expected to begin next month.
Columbia’s Design/Development Review Commission (DDRC) took issue with a proposal that would paint the building in dark gray and off-white bands peppered with about a dozen accent colors earlier this month, so the project’s architects brought the commission a second proposal last week.
That mock-up drops the colorful accents and tones down the contrasting bands, but according to The State, the DDRC was still cold to the idea.
The second proposal — or a new, third one — will be up for commission approval at a meeting next month.
Core Campus LLC, the Chicago-based student-housing developer, hasn’t decided yet whether to draw up a third mock-up, but Benjamin Modleski, the company’s chief operating officer, defended the paint scheme, which architects say is aimed to make the concrete building more attractive to younger tenants.
“I think the paint adds vibrancy to the building and the area and would be well received by the community,” Modleski wrote in an email response.
Still, interior demolition in the building is expected to begin next month, according to Modleski.
The specifics of how it’ll look inside haven’t been set yet, Modleski wrote in an email, so the project’s budget isn’t final; it’s expected to cost “tens of millions of dollars.”
Once complete, the new dorm will feature a 5,000-square-foot fitness center, tanning beds, business center, sauna, steam room, yoga studio, study areas and game rooms, according to a press release. The project will also convert the top of an adjacent parking garage into a volleyball court, swimming pool and hot tub and make space for a bar and restaurant on the ground floor.
The project is expected to be completed by Fall 2014.
Rent will start at about $550 per month, and most of the building’s 851 beds will cost residents less than $1,000 per month, according to Modleski.
The development is expected to play a big role in the growing resurgence of Main Street by extending business hours and encouraging more student-oriented businesses and restaurants.
It also adds to a boom of student housing projects throughout Columbia.
USC is moving forward with plans to build a new 500-bed residence hall near the Colonial Life Arena with a private-public partnership, a Charlotte developer will add 600 beds with a project at Huger and Blossom streets, a Philadelphia firm is building an apartment complex near Granby Mills, and the DDRC will reconsider a proposal it rejected in December that would demolish the historic Palmetto Compress warehouse and replace it with an 818-bed complex.
The surge of housing projects comes as USC administrators say they’re expecting a period of slower growth for the university, which has seen rapid enrollment growth over the past few years as space is tight on campus.
But Modleski said he wasn’t worried about USC’s slowdown and thought the Columbia real estate market could still handle the influx.
“I believe there will be strong demand for enrollment at the university, and we also believe that the market will be able to absorb the additional beds,” Modleski wrote in an email response.