Columbia says ‘no’ to neon lights for Twin Peaks in the Vista
If you’re one of the first eager customers to hit up the new Twin Peaks restaurant when it opens in the Vista later this month, it won’t be the neon lights that guided you there.
The Columbia Design/Development Review Commission on Thursday denied the restaurant’s request to accent its renovated Gervais Street building with a strip of either green neon lighting or green plastic-encased LED lights running the length of the top of the building.
The lights would not meet City Center guidelines or fit the atmosphere of the historic district, commission members said.
Sarah Lewis, director of the Vista Guild, wrote a letter of opposition on behalf of the Guild.
“The Guild fears that the introduction of such elements would diminish the character of the neighborhood and would create a precedent for future projects that would not be consistent with the development standards that we’ve worked hard to develop over the past 30 years,” Lewis wrote.
There were no Twin Peaks representatives present at the commission’s meeting Thursday to defend their request.
The restaurant, a sports bar chain known for featuring women in skimpy outfits, is set to open April 20 at 600 Gervais, next door to Gervais and Vine and caddy-corner to the Publix.
It’s not the first time the DDRC has turned down a developer’s request to make a downtown-area building more colorful.
In 2013, Chicago-based Core Campus wanted to paint The Hub, the Main Street building it was converting into private dorms, into a series of gray and white stripes flecked with colorful square panels. They said the palate would be more attractive to the 800 or so students it hoped to attract there.
Some local architects – including the building’s original local architects – thought the paint job would be a travesty, and likened the colorful panels to polka dots.
The DDRC rejected the idea.
NEW YMCA COULD FEATURE OUTDOOR MURAL
To make way for its new downtown Columbia location at Hampton and Bull streets, the YMCA will demolish a vacant one-story office building that features a mural by local artist Blue Sky.
“Other Side of the Tunnel,” an agricultural mural, was painted in 2000.
Sky is well known for his “Tunnelvision” mural on the old AgFirst Farm Credit Bank building and the “Busted Plug” fire hydrant sculpture along Taylor Street, among other public artworks around the city and the state. “Other Side of the Tunnel” was painted in honor of AgFirst’s 75th anniversary.
But the Y’s new building will feature a new mural, according to design plans approved by the Columbia Design/Development Review Commission.
The Y will seek a local artist to create a “meaningful” artwork, according to project architect Barry Allmon.
APARTMENT BUILDING COULD BE RENOVATED
The DDRC on Thursday also recommended that the old Beverly Apartments building at 1525 Bull St. be granted landmark status.
Built in 1912, the three-story Beverly originally featured six flats, each with four rooms and a bathroom. It’s one of the earliest remaining examples of the once-trendy “name apartments” in Columbia from the early 20th century. Others included the Boling, Susannah and Lucille.
Landmark status could be a step toward renovations for the Beverly, as it would open the door to Bailey Bill certification. Bailey Bill city and county tax credits encourage preservation, restoration and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
William Paradeses owns the Beverly building.
City Council will have the final say on the building’s landmark status.
This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 11:09 PM with the headline "Columbia says ‘no’ to neon lights for Twin Peaks in the Vista."