New event space to open at former Jillian’s location in the Vista
A new event space is slated to open at the former site of Jillian’s in the Vista.
Junction 800 will open on Gervais Street on Nov. 1, boasting “a multi-purpose event venue” with 16,000 square feet, according to a release from developers the Arnold Companies.
The space is flexible enough that it can be formatted for different events, with seating for more than 500 people and standing reception space for up to 1,000, the release says. The new venue will be managed by the Southern Way Hospitality Group.
“It is a great location for weddings, galas and fundraisers and almost any event you could imagine,” said Southern Way Vice President Jesse Bullard.
The conversion is part of a bigger project announced by developer Ben Arnold.
Arnold is planning an 11-story, 150-room full-service boutique hotel for the Vista.
The Hilton Tapestry hotel, called The Anthem, would be built at 700 Gervais St., where Arnold now has a complex that houses Tsunami restaurant and the former Jillian’s entertainment complex.
The hotel would be built behind the Jillian’s building and have pedestrian plazas and walkways that would connect it to a possible future expansion of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
It would be built adjacent to the Adluh Flour silo.
Also, Arnold is working with city, county and state officials to craft a deal to build a 350-plus room downtown hotel that would be the city’s largest.
But the city and county would have to agree to expand their small convention center. And Mayor Steve Benjamin says a plan to do that could be in place by the end of the year.
That hotel would be located behind The Anthem and be connected to the convention center.
The new event venue will open in the space that once housed Jillian’s, a popular restaurant and entertainment venue that closed in 2016 after operating for nearly 20 years in Columbia’s Vista district. Jillian’s dated back to when the stretch of Gervais leading up from the Congaree River first became a popular nightlife location.
But the restaurant was dealt a fatal blow by the 2015 flood, which closed the venue for 10 days and ultimately required them to close three months later.
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