Columbia’s Vista fire station to be redeveloped; foreclosure ends

Columbia’s old fire department headquarters on Senate Street – which has been embroiled in a nasty foreclosure suit between a prominent local developer and the city for years – has been sold and is on track to finally get new life.

The station is an historic structure located in the Vista less than a block from the State House and catty-cornered from the Hilton Downtown Columbia. It was purchased by a Virginia-based shopping center developer for reuse as a possible office/restaurant/retail project, according to a spokeswoman for Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust.

The trust purchased the property, with its distinctive firefighting training tower, from downtown residential development pioneer Tom Prioreschi’s Capitol Places group July 1 for $2.4 million, according to Richland County records. Prioreschi bought the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, in 2008 for $1.45 million, records show.

The trust already has begun minor cleanup of the building, but will wait until tenants are identified before undertaking any major renovations, said Laura Nguyen, the company’s director of capital markets. “We have several interested parties – office use, restaurants, specialty stores,” she said.

The site will have up to 35,000 square feet available for lease. Colliers International is the agent for the property.

The Vista fire department headquarters was one of the most advanced fire stations when built between 1949 and 1951. It closed in the mid-1990s, and for years some City Council members sought to raze the property and sell the lot for new development.

But in 2006, City Council bowed to preservationists, leading to its sale to Prioreschi’s Capitol Places. But a plan to convert the building into the headquarters of the Stevens & Wilkinson architectural firm, a specialty gift shop and apartments failed to materialize.

Then the Great Recession hit.

Without tenants, Capitol Places was unable to make the bank payments. The mortgage was purchased in 2011 by the quasi-public Columbia Development Corp. to put off foreclosure. Several months later, the corporation initiated foreclosure itself when Capitol Places failed to make tax and insurance payments and maintain the building, its executive director, Fred Delk, said.

Delk said last month’s sale enabled Capitol Places to pay about $1.45 million to end the foreclosure and make additions payments to other creditors.

The sale was initiated three years ago when Jon S. Wheeler, chairman and chief executive of the Wheeler trust, was staying at the Hilton on a business trip, Nguyen said.

Capitol Places partner Jeff Prioreschi, Tom’s son, said he and Wheeler talked several times over the three-year period before finally consummating the sale.

Last year, all parties reached an agreement that “stopped all legal actions from both parties,” Jeff Prioreschi said in an email. “ ... When we met with Wheeler near the end of last year we thought (the sale) was in the best interest to all parties. They are a great group, and it will be an asset to Columbia having them here developing. They are a wonderful organization, and will do great things with the project.”

In a press release, Wheeler said: “We first began pursuing this property over three years ago, and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to acquire this historic and centrally located asset. Columbia’s Vista Fire Station is in a prime location where retail is thriving, and the area is rich in historic and cultural offerings that attract local residents and visitors. We view it as one of the best opportunities in the city for its location and visibility in the Vista. Upon completion of the project, we believe that this retail property will generate strong returns on our investment.”

Delk said he is looking forward to seeing the fire station become a vibrant part of the Vista. “It is an amazing building, a great building for mixed use,” he said. “It’s near the convention center, a major hotel and the S.C. State House. It is one of the most prominent locations in the area, and one of the very few historic buildings that have not been adopted for reuse.”

This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Columbia’s Vista fire station to be redeveloped; foreclosure ends."