A Fortune 100 company is eyeing a move into an office building that a private contractor has planned for USC’s campus.
USC officials wouldn’t discuss the project, but the university will ask the state Budget and Control Board today for permission to negotiate with the company directly and to enter into a contract later without further board approval.
In its request, USC said the company would bring a “new business venture” to Columbia and do research and development work in the new building, which will be built at the corner of Assembly and Blossom streets.
Citing an anonymous source, The State reported that the IBM and construction company Fluor, both Fortune 500 companies, are interested in the space.
The company will also provide USC with undisclosed services. The contract for those services would have to be approved by the state Department of Commerce and USC.
USC said in the request that bringing the company to campus “would bring significant business to, and create new jobs in, South Carolina.”
The office building will be built by Atlanta-based Holder Properties, which will also build an apartment complex on two parking lots by the Carolina Coliseum.
USC’s lease with Holder Properties is also up for approval by the Budget and Control Board at its meeting. Holder will pay the university rent for the land for the next 40 years, and USC will get a share of the profits. The buildings will also become USC’s after 40 years.
USC is expected to make about $169 million in rent over 40 years, and it will spend $664,000 a year to lease 40,000 square feet office space in the new building.