Townhouses and a hotel for Five Points? Columbia Council to weigh two possible deals
Columbia City Council will discuss two separate measures at its Aug. 17 meeting that could lead to a new hotel and hundreds of new residences in the Five Points shopping and nightlife district.
In one deal, the council will consider a first vote on selling the city-owned property at 2221 Devine St. to Mount Pleasant’s Latitude 32 Development for $4.5 million. The city bought the building on Devine Street, formerly a state office building, for $3.8 million back in 2019 and had initially marketed it for a hotel.
According to the City Council’s agenda paperwork, under the new proposal the property would “be redeveloped as a multi-family residential complex with commercial spaces for retail and restaurant use.” The documents say the development would include up to 250 residential units, to include townhouse units that will “be consistent with first class units in the downtown area of Columbia.”
The city paperwork said the residences at 2221 Devine will not be “designated, marketed, structured or operated” as student housing and students will not be targeted in the advertising for the development.
Council also will consider a measure on Aug. 17 to support the redevelopment of the former Wells Fargo property on Saluda Avenue in Five Points. The bank there closed in February.
According to city paperwork, the possible project, which would be undertaken by a group called We Love Five Points LLC, would include a hotel with up to 120 rooms, 45,000 square feet of office space and 10,000 square feet of retail. While the resolution set for Aug. 17 doesn’t commit the city to building a parking deck as part of the project, it outlines that discussions of a parking deck are taking place and that the city has “acknowledged support” of the overall project, and that the city “expresses interest in working alongside the developer” on the project.
Five Points seems to be at an inflection point. There are more than 30 empty storefronts in the long-running shopping and nightlife district that is just east of the University of South Carolina. But there are plans underway for a massive pedestrian safety project there, and recently several bars in the district have struck deals with the courts to keep their alcohol licenses.
This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
