Iconic Babcock Building at BullStreet given to private developer
The Babcock Building at BullStreet has been given to a private developer.
The transfer is one of the final steps before the Richmond, Va.,-based developer converts the massive structure with its distinctive red cupola into 208 apartments. The transfer from Greenville-based Hughes Development Corp., to Clachan Properties was free of charge.
Hughes Development is overseeing the redevelopment of the former state mental hospital’s 181-acre campus. Hughes obtained the rights to own and renovate the historic landmark under a 2010 development agreement with the S.C. Department of Mental Health.
Babcock’s renovation and conversion is part of a 20-year build-out plan for the campus, billed the largest urban redevelopment project on the East Coast.
““The difficulty of renovating the Babcock Building cannot be overstated because of its cost, size, historic legacy and extremely poor condition,” Hughes Development president Robert Hughes said in a news release.
“Clachan is one of the few companies in the United States that has the craftsmanship, experience and historic sensitivity to breathe new life into it,” he said. “We gave Clachan the building with full confidence that they will honor its history and give it a bright future.”
Clachan specializes in renovating historic buildings into residential and commercial properties. The company’s projects are clustered in the Richmond area and extend into North Carolina, according to its website.
Babcock would be its first project in the Palmetto State, and the company’s most difficult, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said in the release.
The mayor called Babcock’s renovation “one of the most significant — and most difficult — historic restoration projects in South Carolina history.”
Clachan partners Herbert Coleman III and Hugh Shytle have been working the project for years, most importantly receiving approval from the National Park Service to use federal and state historic tax credits to help fund the renovation. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The final hurdle is obtaining a long-term, low-interest U.S. Housing and Urban Development loan deemed essential for the project, but the developer’s application has the city’s backing.
“The city of Columbia considers this a high priority and supports all of Clachan’s efforts,” Benjamin said.
The sprawling Babcock Building was built in stages beginning in 1858 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum. The 254,022-square-foot building has 1,100 windows and 20-inch thick masonry walls.
Its last patients left around 1991, and since then it has suffered damage from time, weather and a fire.
Clachan plans to turn the structure into 208 one, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with a pool, dog park, grilling garden, lounging and exercise facilities.
Renovation is projected to be completed by late 2022.