Beautification projects on tap for Five Points as 100-year celebration continues

You don’t look a day over 100, Five Points – in a good way, and getting better, as one of Columbia’s signature districts looks forward to beautification projects in 2016.

Continuing the celebration of Five Points’ centennial anniversary in 2015, this year will see work begin on a more welcoming entryway and a landmark plaza in the downtown commercial and entertainment district.

“It just makes the neighborhood more attractive,” said Tim Smith, owner of Papa Jazz Record Shoppe and president of the Five Points Association board. “Whenever people are going down there shopping, we want to make it as pleasant and attractive as possible.”

The railroad trestle over Blossom Street, marking one of the entry points to the district and an important pathway between Five Points and the University of South Carolina campus, is set to get a facelift in 2016 to create a more attractive and safe-feeling entryway to the district, Five Points Association director Amy Beth Franks said.

Peeling and graffiti-marred plaster on the buttress walls beneath the trestle will be stripped and resurfaced, Franks said. Also expect to see improved greenery and landscaping flanking Blossom Street.

A few blocks away on Blossom at the intersection with Santee Avenue, work will also start later this year on what will be known as Centennial Plaza.

One of its features will be a statue honoring Col. Jack Van Loan, a Vietnam War hero who played a role in shaping the modern character of Five Points, Franks said. Five Points leaders hope to unveil the sculpture, being made by a pair of Camden artists, on Veterans Day in November, Franks said.

The plaza’s other main attraction will be a sphere-shaped water feature, a complement to the district’s two other fountains on Harden Street and Saluda Avenue. Known as a “kugel ball,” the planned new fountain is designed as a floating sphere supported by a thin film of water.

Franks said she hopes the plaza will be a destination for Columbia residents and visitors.

“We’re hoping to have one of, if not the, largest in the state, which would be a special element for the city to have,” Franks said. “We wanted to make this one different (from the other Five Points fountains), something more of a tourist attraction.”

Franks said the costs of both the plaza and the trestle makeover have not been finalized because of ongoing negotiations between Five Points leaders, the city, the state Department of Transportation and some area property owners.

District leaders are relying on a profitable St. Pat’s in Five Points festival next month to help fund the projects. Other money will come from savings and hospitality tax grants.

The annual festival is the main money-maker for the nonprofit Five Points Association, which also receives hospitality tax funds from the city and the county. The Five Points Association received nearly $300,000 in hospitality tax funding from Columbia and Richland County this fiscal year.

Work on both the trestle and the plaza will get started this year, Franks said, but whether they’ll be completed in 2016 or carried over into 2017 partially depends on the financial success of St. Pat’s.

Other projects in the works or planning stages, Five Points leaders say, include planting a centennial tree across from the new plaza, a music history trail commemorating memorable performances, more lights strung in trees, new accessibility mats at crosswalks and a new mural.

“We would like to put money back into the neighborhood and help build that image that things are being looked after and tidy and clean, and all of that goes into the image that we’re building for the area,” said Richard Burts, a prominent Five Points developer and a Five Points Association board member. “If you build something really special ... those things are lasting, and they’ll be here for generations.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Beautification projects on tap for Five Points as 100-year celebration continues."