Revitalization plans moving forward for blighted Columbia commercial corridors

The revitalization of a trio of blighted commercial corridors on the outskirts of downtown is moving forward, with Columbia City Council agreeing to pay a consultant for six more months of work to get started.

The areas being targeted for redevelopment projects are the blighted and crime-ridden portions of West Beltline Boulevard and portions of Millwood Avenue. The Booker Washington Heights neighborhood, adjacent to West Beltline, and the Melrose Heights and Lyon Street neighborhoods, which abut Millwood Avenue, need new homes and businesses, city leaders say.

Farrow Road also is targeted for commercial redevelopment, starting with a shopping center anchored by a grocery store, which could be the catalyst for enticing a mixture of businesses from light industrial to mom-and-pop retailers.

Local private consulting firm DESA Inc. will be paid $75,000 for six months to help develop strategies, identify funding sources, acquire properties and court potential business tenants.

Among DESA’s duties is to collaborate with the city’s development corporations to facilitate a job training program in the Booker Washington Heights neighborhood to help reduce unemployment in the area.

The next six months will be the second phase of DESA’s work that began with identifying strategies to revitalize some of the city’s underdeveloped and crime-ridden areas.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 7:27 PM.