A building that stands 20 stories tall in the middle of downtown Columbia, The Hub aims to provide USC students with an innovative experience.
“This is the area to be. Everyone really enjoys being up here,” said Stuart Turner, leasing and marketing professional for The Hub and fourth-year management student. “It’s like nothing else that student housing has in Columbia.”
Students moved into The Hub, Columbia’s newest off-campus housing complex, this semester. Turner said he believes that the 850 students living in The Hub’s 248 apartments chose to live there with the perks in mind.
“There’s just a lot that the building has to offer just for being here,” Turner said. “And the location, as well. It’s very close to campus; it’s a different location than most other places. It’s in a very downtown area, so there’s a lot of shops, a lot of food, a lot going on … There’s no other apartment that students live in this location.”
Even the building itself is unique; it isn’t built in a garden style like many other off-campus student housing complexes. Turner has seen the entire building come together and is excited to finally see students enjoying the amenities such as the pool, fitness room and lounge area.
“I was working here when everything was basically just floors and ceilings, when there were no walls or anything, so to see it all come together finished with people actually living here is pretty cool,” he said.
If you decide to live at The Hub, there are over 60 different floor plans for you to choose from, Turner said, with everything from one to five bedrooms and apartments up to 2,800 square feet. Floor 19 is the spa floor, complete with a wall of body sprayers and a special shower head and a sauna. If you want to live on the VIP floor, or floor 20, you’ll have your own smart television, built-in surround sound system, hot tub and pool table. All of the rooms come fully furnished with stainless-steel appliances and an open floor plan. It’s what Turner calls a “pretty easy sell,” given the fact that The Hub was able to lease over half of the building by showing only the model.
The Hub has a 2,200 square foot weight room with free weights, cardio machines and mats for core work. There’s even a golf simulator in the back. There’s a room full of yoga mats, and residents can select over 100 classes to take on the television in the room. The indoor spa is right next door, with a salt-water hot tub, steam room, sauna and tanning beds.
Turner said the pool is “everyone’s favorite part.” The three-foot deep wading pool is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is located on top of the building’s parking garage. The pool is surrounded by cabanas, fire pits, hammocks, gas grills, pingpong tables and sand volleyball courts and sits in front of a 20-foot-wide LED television. There’s also 60-person hot tub with a capacity of 60 people on the pool deck.
The Hub’s lounge area sees its biggest traffic at night, though these indoor amenities — including pool tables and a full kitchen — are available to residents at all times. A computer lab and group study room are just off of the lounge, and if students want to enjoy the weather on a nice day, they can step onto the patio and see the pool.