After major fire, Babcock Building developer aims ‘to go forward’ with apartments
Two fires in two years at Columbia’s historic Babcock Building — the most recent over the weekend proving particularly devastating — have been unexpected hurdles for the developers who’ve planned to pour tens of millions of dollars into renovating the building into apartments.
Despite what appears to be significant damage after a three-alarm fire over the weekend, developer Clachan Properties indicated Monday it hopes to move forward with plans to redevelop the property.
The blaze that ravaged the 162-year-old building early Saturday morning “attacked the hopes and dreams of all of Columbia and the Midlands to preserve an important part of history,” Hugh Shytle, president of Clachan Properties, said Monday in the developer’s first statement since the fire. “The possibility that it was deliberately started makes it event worse.”
Columbia police announced Sunday night that they were questioning six people of interest who were captured in surveillance images in the Bull Street area around the time of the fire. No charges have been announced.
The Babcock Building has long been expected to be one of the centerpieces of the sprawling BullStreet district, built on the 181-acre site of the former South Carolina state mental hospital campus.
Clachan Properties, a Virginia-based company that specializes in preservation and renovation of historic properties, has planned to convert the long-abandoned building into about 200 apartments with amenities. A clean-out of the building was already well underway in preparation for the development.
“It will take time to know the extent of the damage, but we have a great project team skilled in historic preservation to help us make an assessment,” Shytle said in his statement. “Our assumption at this time is that we will be able to go forward because of the rapid response of the Columbia Fire Department.”
More than 50 firefighters were called upon to extinguish the blaze, which was first detected around 6:30 a.m. Saturday and took more than 10 hours to put out. The fire burned through three floors of the building and caused its iconic red cupola, or dome, to collapse.
“We are going into this assessment with the mindset of knowing this is a setback, but we need to find ways to overcome it, if at all possible,” Shytle said. “Clachan Properties undertook the renovation of the Babcock Building knowing its significance to the community. Our commitment is not diminished. Our enthusiasm is solid.
“We just ask for time to assess the damage and develop a plan.”
It’s the second setback caused by a fire in the past two years. In December 2018, a much smaller blaze caused damage to the building, just before the developers were ready to commence their work.
