New student apartments near USC stadium in question after losing bid for tax break
If new student apartments are built near Williams-Brice Stadium, it won't be any thanks to a break on their property taxes.
Florida-based developer Reign Living will not get a tax incentive that would have reduced its property taxes by one-third for the next decade, after Richland County Council failed to approve the incentive Tuesday night. It's the second time in two years the county has shot down a tax break for a student housing developer.
Reign has indicated it plans to build a student apartment complex with more than 500 beds on Shop Road, roughly between Williams-Brice and River Rat Brewery, according to paperwork previously submitted to Columbia officials. It's not clear whether plans for the apartments will move forward without the tax break.
Efforts to reach Reign representatives were unsuccessful Wednesday.
A majority of Columbia City Council was ready to go ahead with the Reign tax break, taking a 3-2 vote of approval the same night County Council failed to pass the tax break.
City Councilman Howard Duvall has said he believes the area is becoming saturated with student housing, and he said Tuesday that he did not see a need "to give a tax break to people who will come here anyway."
About 2.5 years ago, the city and county closed the door on a limited-time offer of property tax breaks for student apartment developers who invested $40 million or more.
Four apartment complexes, all located in downtown Columbia, secured the 10-year, 50 percent tax reduction, resulting in some 2,700 new bedrooms for college students being added downtown. One of the four, on Assembly Street across from the S.C. State House, remains under construction and is leasing apartments for the upcoming fall semester.
But Richland County Council shot down a fifth developer's request for the tax break for student apartments planned at the BullStreet development, with some council members arguing that the student housing market was becoming saturated and there was no need to offer a building incentive.
After denying the BullStreet apartments a tax break, it made no sense to offer a break to Reign, County Councilman Greg Pearce said.
"This council took a vote that we would not approve any additional student housing projects," Pearce said before Tuesday's deciding vote on the Reign project. "Providing incentives for student housing was not consistent with our economic development policy. It concerns me greatly that we have overturned that and are now back in the business of providing incentives for student housing."
A 6-5 majority of County Council — including Bill Malinowski, Seth Rose, Norman Jackson, Gwen Kennedy and Jim Manning — joined Pearce in killing the tax break.
This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 6:18 PM with the headline "New student apartments near USC stadium in question after losing bid for tax break."