Decades later, will one SC man’s plan to bring townhomes to Shandon finally succeed?
A decades-long plan to build townhouses on a prime spot in Columbia’s Shandon neighborhood may finally be coming to fruition.
On Tuesday, the Columbia Planning Commission approved a site plan for five attached townhouses at 2200 Blossom St., a 15,396-square-foot parcel overlooking Five Points. The plot is one of the last undeveloped pieces of land in that part of town, said Craig Stoneburner, the real estate investor who owns the property.
For Stoneburner, seeing the townhouse project come to life would be “a dream come true.”
He and two of his friends bought the property in 1977. In 1985 they got approval from the city Engineering Department to build five townhouses on the lot. The idea was to replicate the kind of Greek Revival townhouses built in New Orleans’ Garden District during the 1860s.
“We just wanted it to not be your typical development since everything around there just looked alike,” Stoneburner said.
Over the years the real estate market fluctuated, the neighborhood grew and zoning rules changed. Stoneburner’s two partners eventually asked him to buy them out of the project. But he held on, wanting to finish what he started.
Stoneburner is now searching for a developer who can help him carry out his vision. The septuagenarian said this will be his last project before he finally retires.
“I don’t want someone who is going to just sell the property or build something different,” he said. “I want someone who is going to stick to what I always wanted to do.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 9:52 AM.
