Student housing project near USC Greek Village on hold

The developer of a proposed student housing complex in the Olympia neighborhood got more time Monday to try to satisfy nearby residents and Columbia city planners.

The delay came after Aspen Heights, a Texas-based company, said it is trying to be a good fit on a site, a few blocks south of the University of South Carolina’s Greek Village.

Company officials are “exploring some options” to win acceptance for the $60 million project, attorney Toby Ward told the City Planning Commission.

Ward did not outline the concerns the company is trying to address, declining later to say how many beds are proposed. Company proposals, now on hold, would have reduced buffers separating the proposed project from nearby homes and possibly allow a taller building.

More than a dozen private apartment complexes are going up around USC to accommodate increasing enrollment. Overall, those projects could provide housing for about 6,000 students.

Meanwhile, commission members signed off on the Kline City Center development, planned on the downtown site of a former steel company at Gervais and Huger streets. Work on the $100 million project is slated to start this fall and be finished in late 2017, developer Russ Davis said.

The project includes a 140-room hotel, 350 apartments and space for stores and restaurants, he said.

Plans calls for a new stop light at Huger and Lady streets and extra left-turn lanes off Huger onto Gervais going south and north.