Bank seeking offers on four properties in the Vista

Four properties located in an area city leaders have long identified as a cure for the chasm in pedestrian traffic between Main Street and the Vista are being tested on the Columbia sales market.

The four noncontiguous properties front Park, Lady and Washington streets within two blocks of Assembly Street – prime locations in the Vista – and comprise more than six total acres.

The properties will be put out on a request for proposals on April 25, and will be marketed by Colliers International, according to representatives of First Citizens Bank, which owns the property.

The properties include an 85,000-square-feet building on 2.31 acres at 1015 Lady Street and a small parking lot on 1.7 acres at 1014 Lady Street. The large building at 1015 Lady Street is a First Citizens service center that houses about 200 employees, bank officials said.

The other two properties include 1301 Park Street, where the bank has a drive-through ATM and a 1,323-square-feet building on .99 acres and a 10,400-square-feet warehouse on 1.21 acres at 911 Washington Street.

First Citizens put the property out for proposals after recently completing a routine assessment of its branch, ATM and office space, said Angela English, bank spokeswoman.

“It’s simply exploratory at this point,” English said. “We haven’t yet decided whether we will sell this property and move our operations elsewhere in Columbia – we have not made a decision on that.

“Just in looking at the facility, it is large for our current staff there, so it begged to be looked into to see what interest is there. With this part of downtown – being so close to Main Street and the Vista – there are a lot of different opportunities.”

Assembly Street, a major, busy thoroughfare, has long been seen as a major impediment to foot traffic migrating from Main Street to the Vista and vice versa.

Big parking lots are also big barriers to pedestrian traffic, said Fred Delk, Columbia Development Corp. executive director, in part because they are aesthetically displeasing to walkers, but also because they offer nothing useful or tangible to those on foot.

Connectivity – closing “the gap” between these two major, growing areas of the Columbia downtown district is a big need, said Delk, who thinks the First Citizens Bank properties will prove desirable on the real estate market.

“Lady Street’s the obvious place,” Delk said. “The positive action between these two large neighborhoods, I think, is wonderful. I think we will have some really amazing things that can happen here.”

Downtown design guidelines require buildings to provide an “active use” on the ground floor, Delk said, while noting there also is an existing shortage of top flight office space downtown. The First Citizens Bank properties offer possible solutions to a number of needs, he said.

“I have heard that this was coming for a long time. I think it’s really good for Columbia,” Delk said.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Bank seeking offers on four properties in the Vista."