USC has submitted initial plans for a pair of privately funded dorms to a city review commission, but many of their details — including who will build them — are not yet known.
Plans for the six-story dorms and a 782-spot parking garage appeared Thursday night before the city’s Design/Development Review Commission, though they had not been finalized and the university has not officially chosen a developer.
USC would lease six acres of land near the Carolina Coliseum, currently covered by two parking lots, to a private developer, officials have said. The land is surrounded by Blossom, Lincoln, Greene and Park streets.
In its proposal, the university says that construction should begin in March and be done in time for the 2015 academic year. To meet that deadline, it’s seeking the city’s approval now and plans to bring a contract to USC trustees at an October meeting, according to university spokesman Wes Hickman.
Hickman would not release details of the proposed deal, pending trustee approval.
The proposal up for review outlines plans for two buildings: a 716-bed building on Lincoln and Blossom streets featuring a swimming pool, a volleyball court and mostly one- and two-bedroom apartments; and a parking garage surrounded by another 203-bed building on Lincoln and Greene streets.
The development would also include classrooms, dining halls, retail space and two plazas — one by the pedestrian bridge to the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center and the other, called Foundation Square, at Greene and Lincoln — keeping with the university’s 2007 Innovista master plan.
The drawings also include a “future … academic building,” but the plan does not elaborate on it.
Dale Marshall of the D/DRC said that the Coliseum parking lots provide a “perfectly appropriate location for student housing.” USC university architect Derek Gruner said the location would “enhance student safety.”
Though the D/DRC did not take a vote on the privately funded dorm Thursday night, commission chairman David Ross told Gruner that the plans appear to be “on the right track.”
Renderings show the buildings would mimic other recent campus construction, like the Honors Residence and Patterson Hall renovation.
The development would advance the march of USC’s campus toward the Congaree River, following the construction of Innovista buildings and the new Darla Moore School of Business.
Officials say it would also add needed residential space to USC’s cramped campus and let the university cash in on Columbia’s off-campus housing boom.
Assistant New Editor Hannah Jeffrey contributed reporting.