Demolition begins on massive building at BullStreet
Workers have begun demolishing the two massive wings of the Williams Building in the BullStreet District.
The site of the east wing is planned to host a 262-unit apartment and mixed use project by Charlotte’s Proffitt Dixon Partners.
As part of the development agreement with the city of Columbia, the central core of the former hospital building will be preserved. Officials of Hughes Development Corp., architect of much of Greenville’s downtown redevelopment, have previously said it could be converted into walk-though public space.
The central core, with its distinctive columns and pediment, anchors Pickens Street, providing a classical vista for what will eventually be BullStreet Commons, the former mental health campus’ main retail and residential area. Planners envision the Commons as ground-level retail with apartments above, flanking Pickens Street.
The Williams Building pass-through would also be a pedestrian link between the Commons and development near Colonial Drive, such as the REI Co-op and a free-standing Starbucks being built on a newly extended Freed Street.
The demolition is part of a 20-year build-out plan for the 181-acre campus, billed as the largest urban redevelopment project on the East Coast.
Another massive building at BullStreet, the Babcock Building, has been given to a private developer.
The transfer was 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 Hughes Development to Clachan Properties was free of charge