Historic Columbia wants to save building from proposed Assembly Street apartment tower

A planned 15-story apartment building is drawing opposition from historic preservationists because it could cause the demolition of a century-old building that once formed a part of the city’s African-American business district.

Plans for the Edge, an apartment block that will tower over the corner of Assembly and Washington streets, will be considered by the Columbia Design/Development Review Commission on Thursday.

Current plans call for the two-story brick building that currently stands at 1401 Assembly St. to be removed to make way for a 355,000-square-foot building. The storefront has served many purposes since it was constructed in 1914, most recently as a beauty salon.

Robin Waites, the executive director of the Historic Columbia Foundation, said the group will oppose the plan at the hearing, citing the building’s history as a key part of the former black business district.

“It’s one of the few remaining buildings of that era,” Waites said.

The storefront originally opened as a pharmacy co-owned by Dr. Eugene K. DeLoach, the local manager of the Keeley Insititute, a controversial organization at the time that marketed a “cure” for alcoholism, according to the Historic Columbia Foundation.

As the area around Assembly and Washington streets developed into Columbia’s main black business district, the upper floors became the office for Nathaniel J. Frederick, who served as principal of the Howard School and editor of the African-American newspaper the Southern Indicator. He also helped organize the local chapter of the NAACP.

Historic Columbia initially pushed for the building to be preserved within the design for the new apartments. But if that’s not possible, Waites wants the board’s approval conditioned on the developer paying to relocate the structure and to refurbish it so it can continue to be used as a viable businessplace.

Representatives of CRG Real Estate Solutions had said during a previous board meeting that they planned to move the building to a lot one block west, on the corner of Park and Washington streets.

“We looked at potentially building around the beauty salon or incorporating elements into our structure. Unfortunately, these solutions were not physically or architecturally feasible,” CRG’s Russ Caplin, and so the company settled on the relocation plan. “It was our understanding that this satisfied all those concerned.”

The Edge — slated to be built next to the Richland County Library — would include 609 beds in one-, two- and three-bedroom units as well as a parking garage with space for 151 cars, 97 scooters and 160 bicycles.

The $70 million project will need final design approval by the board before it moves forward.

The commission will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday in the city council chambers at City Hall.

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Historic Columbia wants to save building from proposed Assembly Street apartment tower."