USC and neighborhood pressure has turned back massive student housing project
Opposition by the University of South Carolina, Historic Columbia and the University Hill Neighborhood Association convinced a city board on Thursday to turn back a massive student housing project at the corner of Gervais and Pickens streets.
The eight-story building proposed by Indiana-based developer Trinitas Ventures would have 276 apartments and 540 beds. Student housing developments charge by the bed rather than the unit.
USC, Historic Columbia and neighbors argued the tower would overshadow the adjoining neighborhood and nearby historic buildings. Also, neighborhood leaders said they feared that the 540 students would cut through University Hill on the weekends to get to Five Points and back, causing mischief.
“We already have a lot of problems,” said Kathryn Fenner, the neighborhood association’s vice president. “We’re really not happy in a zillion ways.”
A university spokesman said USC opposes the project because of an agreement with University Hill to discourage more student housing near the neighborhood.
The argument had resonance with the city Design/Development Review Commission which voted unanimously to turn back the project.
Member Harris Cohn said he was troubled by the size of the project that was “dancing on the fringes of the guidelines.”
The DDRC decision was the projects last bureaucratic hurdle. But the issue may end up in circuit court.
Members of the Trinitas team noted that the project met all zoning guidelines, and that it was in proportion with adjacent buildings, such as the new USC School of Law across Pickens Street and Hilton Garden Inn/Home 2 Suites across Gervais Street.
“We’ll just have to huddle up and look at our options,” project manager Linda Irving told The State.
Trinitas has developed student communities in 12 states, including North Carolina and Georgia, according to its online portfolio.
The prospective project would be built in the 1600 block of Gervais Street, on property currently owned by former S.C. Republican consultant Richard Quinn. It includes studio, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
The properties where the apartments could be built include the home of Havens Framemakers & Gallery, a 51-year-old Columbia-grown business.
Trinitas’ design application indicates it would include a parking garage, swimming pool, fitness center, study rooms and other amenities along with the apartments.
If the Trinitas apartments are built on Gervais Street, they would join a flood of other student apartments soon to hit the market:
▪ Zoning approval recently was granted for The Edge, a 15-story, 679-bed tower of apartments on Assembly Street, next to the main branch of Richland Library.
▪ On Shop Road, just below Williams-Brice Stadium, construction is well underway on Reign Living, a three-story, 550-bed complex by developer Reign Living.
▪ Construction work has just begun on a five-story, 486-bed development on Huger Street at the edge of the Vista.
▪ And USC is soon to begin construction on its 1,800-bed Campus Village, which is replacing some outdated dormitories and increasing the number of students who are able to live on campus.
These five projects could amount to some 4,000 new beds for college students in downtown Columbia in the next few years.
Already, there are around 20 privately-owned apartment complexes catering to college students — not just USC, but Benedict College, Allen University, Midlands Tech and others — in downtown Columbia and its outskirts.
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 6:37 PM.