$92 million hotel, retail and office project planned for important downtown corner
A $92-million, mixed-use project including two hotels, retail space, an office building and a parking garage is planned for the key corner of Huger and Gervais streets in Columbia’s Vista.
The project by the Windsor/Aughtry Company of Greenville will initially feature a seven-story, 146-room Marriott AC Hotel with a 10,000-square-foot roof top bar, according to a joint news release issued by the city of Columbia and Richland County.
The project, located on the former Kline Steel property along Huger Street, will eventually include 35,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, a second hotel with 114 rooms, 75,000 square feet of office space, and a 350-space parking garage, the release said.
“We believe that there is no greater investment opportunity in the region that will facilitate Columbia becoming recognized as one of the ‘really cool’ river cities in the country,” developer Bo Aughtry said in the release.
The project leverages a 50 percent property tax credit approved Tuesday night by Richland County Council. The tax break, also approved by Columbia City Council in December, is tied to the developer building public infrastructure such as parking garages and sidewalks.
It is the third project to leverage the new tax breaks. The others are a 262-unit apartment building at BullStreet and the redevelopment of the old Capital City Stadium.
Mayor Steve Benjamin noted in the release that the Kline project would create 250 jobs.
“This project will serve as a catalyst for future development in our city,” he said, and “solidify the connectivity between the Vista Entertainment District and Congaree River.”
In the release, county council Chairman Paul Livingston added: “This is precisely the type of development we envisioned when we crafted this incentive program.”
The release noted that Kline Steel was founded in 1923 and became “an internationally known powerhouse in steel fabrication and tower construction and continued to operate there for over 80 years. Since its closing in 2004, the property has been eyed as a tremendous opportunity for a development project, and a cornerstone for helping expand the Vista westward and connect to Columbia’s river front.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 12:10 PM.