Could big-box retailer crop up near Vista?

SCE&G is mulling an offer to sell a 6-acre vacant lot at Huger Street and Hampton Street downtown, according to the company. “Word on the street” is that the potential buyer may locate a “big box” store on the site, said Fred Delk, director of the Columbia Development Corp., which guides and encourages development in the Vista and other areas of downtown.

In general terms, a big box store is a large retail supercenter or megastore of 50,000 square feet or more that usually is part of a chain. The term is commonly applied to such recognizable superstores as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Best Buy and IKEA.

The utility, which has owned the tract since 1911, gave no details about the prospective buyer or the possible intended future use of the property, which sits along the river bluff above the Congaree River and the State Museum. The site was once a bus maintenance facility.

The site has been vacant since 2008, when SCE&G turned over operation of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority bus system to the city. The vacated property is deemed by downtown development watchers as one of the most highly-valued parcels in the Vista, the city’s bustling restaurant, hotel and entertainment district.

The SCE&G property is separated from the iconic former Kline Iron and Steel property at Huger and Gervais streets by only a side street, Williams Street. If SCE&G, a SCANA subsidiary, accepts the undisclosed bid on the property, a final sale could bring new development to the entire two-block area from Gervais Street to Klapman Boulevard.

The property is valued at $3.4 million, according to Richland County property records.

The 6.5-acre Kline property has been primed for an upscale, $100 million development that includes a 140-room hotel, an apartment or condominium complex with up to 360 units, and two parking decks featuring up to 850 parking spaces. The project also calls for street-level retail and restaurant space. Construction could begin later this year.

Sealed bids on the SCE&G property were due June 26, the company said, and were opened July 24.

“We don’t really have too much to say at this point,” SCE&G spokeswoman Emily Brady said Tuesday. “We do have an acceptable bid that we’re working through right now, but we just don’t have any details to release at this point.”

Brady declined to say how many bids were received or when SCE&G would be able to release details.

The new owners, whoever they may be, will likely face some restrictive covenants with the property, according to information provided by SCE&G to potential bidders. In 1904, an SCE&G predecessor operated a manufactured gas plant at the Huger Street location in downtown Columbia, known then as the Columbia Plant.

The company manufactured gas used for street lighting as well as for residential, industrial and commercial lighting purposes, operating until 1954. By the 1970s, the gas manufacturing structures had been demolished, the company said, and the bus maintenance facility was put in place by the early 1980s.

However, such gas plants were later deemed a potential hazard to the soil and groundwater, according to a document SCE&G made available to bidders. The property underwent a $6 million clean-up beginning in 2009.

Potential restrictive covenants could apply to residential dwellings, child and elder care facilities on the ground floor of any building on the property, restrictions on the excavation of soil on the property, and the prohibition of groundwater use at the site.

SCE&G and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control are working to finalize the restrictive covenants that will apply to the property at 1409 Huger St., the company said.

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Could big-box retailer crop up near Vista?."