‘Overlooked’: When will Two Notch Road get the same attention as other Columbia districts?
You don’t have to look very hard to tell which districts and corridors in Columbia get the most care and attention.
There are places like the Vista, the shopping and hospitality district that has thrived for the last couple decades just east of the Congaree River. It’s where many tourists stay and dine when they come to Columbia, and the region’s visitors’ bureau is located right there in the heart of it all.
There’s Main Street just north of the State House, where there have been tens of millions of dollars in private and public investment during the last decade, transforming a once dated, moribund stretch into a thriving city nerve center with shops, bars, restaurants, boutiques, hotels, apartments and more.
And, of course, there’s Five Points, the more than century-old village just east of the University of South Carolina. It is perhaps Columbia’s most well-known neighborhood, and the subject of its well-being was a key talking point in Columbia’s mayoral election last fall. While Five Points has seen its struggles in the last couple of years, there’s a major pedestrian infrastructure project on tap, and there has been a recent spurt of new or announced businesses there. The city has been holding ribbon-cutting ceremonies for all those recent Five Points openings, no matter how small the shop.
But not all major thoroughfares of the city get the same amount of private or public attention as those much-talked-about areas.
Take Two Notch Road, for example.
It’s a main drag into the city, leading in at its southern end to the campuses of Benedict College and Allen University, Columbia’s historically Black institutions of higher learning. Benedict’s Charlie Johnson Stadium, where the Tigers play football along Two Notch, is just more than 2.5 miles from the South Carolina State House.
And yet, the stretch of Two Notch closest to the city, essentially from Taylor Street to Beltline Boulevard, and extending a bit farther toward I-20, has struggled to keep up with the progress that seems to constantly be in play in other areas of town. While the city and trendy private businesses have poured money into Main Street, the Vista and elsewhere, the inner-city portion of Two Notch has struggled to attract new investment.
To some, the reason for the discrepancy is clear — this part of the city is predominantly African-American, and there are areas of poverty in nearby neighborhoods. Now, some local leaders are saying, if Columbia as a whole wants to continue to rise, corridors like Two Notch Road need the same kind of intentional, public-facing attention other districts receive.
If you drive up Two Notch, between Taylor and the area just north of Beltline, you will see a host of older gas stations (Cheap Way, El Cheapo, etc.), a boarded-up motel, a porn shop, multiple vacant store fronts, liquor stores, beer and cigarette shops, tire places and title loan businesses. That section of Two Notch is adjacent to a host of historically African-American neighborhoods.
Columbia City Councilman Ed McDowell’s district includes parts of Two Notch near the city. He said he recognizes the need for revitalization in the area.
“When I look at Two Notch Road from I-20 all the way into town, what do you see?” McDowell wondered. “Title loan places, gas stations, little businesses that are in bad shape. ... Traditionally, when you come off of I-20 and onto Two Notch Road (toward the city), that’s a major thoroughfare which has traditionally and historically been overlooked in terms of quote-unquote development.
“There’s no question about that.”
But there are the nascent signs of a potential uptick for Two Notch. New Mayor Daniel Rickenmann has taken an interest in luring new investment for the area and has been in contact with neighborhood leaders. He’s also been looking into whether a revitalization plan that was drawn up for the area years ago could be dusted off and put to use.
And the spirit of entrepreneurship still pings through the city-adjacent Two Notch corridor. Aside from longstanding businesses that are still there despite others having closed or fled to the suburbs, there are a host of new shops and services opening, including at the recently rebranded Palmetto Place, formerly known as the Midlands Shopping Center. There are 34 recently opened businesses or services operating within the walls of the complex, and 27 of them are owned by Black women.
For McDowell, the chance for Two Notch to get the same love that other districts in the city seem to receive is a tantalizing possibility.
“There is a lot of attention being given to Five Points and the Vista, and understandably so,” McDowell said. “But gee whiz, I think that new developments and new concepts on Two Notch Road can be an advantage.”
‘Pockets where there is poverty’
Kevin Gray has a way of putting things succinctly.
When asked recently why the Two Notch Road area nearest the city hasn’t generated as much talk for development as other areas, Gray was blunt.
“Because it’s poor and Black,” he said.
Gray has been a longtime resident of the Barhamville Estates neighborhood, adjacent to Two Notch Road. He has for years been an activist on racial justice issues and is the author of the book “Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics.” He also owns the Railroad BBQ restaurant on Hampton Street.
Gray said a revitalization of the Two Notch corridor is possible, but he stressed that there are some basic, building-block steps that must happen first, and there would need to be serious thought given to how progress would affect nearby residents.
“There are pockets where there is poverty,” Gray said. “It would take a Herculean effort, but you’d have to start with housing and infrastructure and realize that there are a lot of poor people over there, and this city is already gentrifying at an ultra-sonic pace.”
A big hunk of the inner-city portion of the Two Notch corridor is in the 29204 zip code. The area is majority African-American. According to unitedstateszipcodes.org, which culls data from the U.S. Post Office, U.S. Census, Yahoo and the Internal Revenue Service, the population of the zip code is about 20,000.
The median household income in 29204 is $32,272. Meanwhile, the neighboring 29206 zip code, which includes an affluent stretch of Forest Acres and Arcadia Lakes, among other spots, has a median household income of $65,707. Across the river in Lexington County in the 29072 zip code, median household income is $76,124.
Two Notch is a significant corridor into the capital city, particularly coming in from Interstate 20. While the data undulates on the long-running road that stretches from downtown all the way out to northeast Richland County, the section of Two Notch closest to the city center is traversed by more than 16,000 cars per day, according to state traffic stats.
“Two Notch Road is just as important as Five Points or the downtown area,” said Venus Sabb, who is the interim director of the Benedict-Allen Development Corporation, an organization connected to the two colleges. “There are less people of color in those (other) areas, but we need the same things. We can’t go backwards to where the playing field isn’t even at all. I think, if the opportunities are there and the communities are working together, and support is there, then you will see growth (in the Two Notch area).”
The Benedict-Allen Development Corporation has helped develop a number of initiatives, including the building of eight affordable homes on Read Street near the colleges in recent years. Benedict itself owns a number of properties along the southernmost stretch of Two Notch, including Charlie Johnson Stadium and the college’s business and development center on the corner of Read Street and Two Notch, among others.
Sabb said Two Notch is ready for revitalization, and the development corporation is willing to be a part of it.
“Overall, if this area is growing, then Columbia is booming and we are all winning,” she said.
If Two Notch is to get to that point, where it is helping Columbia boom and is a part of the lexicon of up-and-coming areas of the capital city, it will likely take work on behalf of numerous entities, from private businesspeople to local government to the faith community and those in the academic arena.
“Everyone has to be at the table, so we can hear the same thing and be on the same page and move it forward,” Sabb said. “We have to bring all of the tools together and make this work. The private industry, the local churches, all of us. We have to come on one page and say, ‘How can we make it work?’ If things are working in one community, they sure can work in another.”
City leadership could help spur a rebirth along Two Notch. Rickenmann, who was elected Columbia’s mayor in November, has been working to get engaged with key players in that part of the city. Gray said Rickenmann has reached out to him, and Sabb said she recently was in a meeting where the mayor talked of wanting to revive the area.
Rickenmann, who served on Columbia City Council for three terms before being sworn-in as mayor in January, told The State he wants to “rebuild the gateway” of Two Notch into the city. He said the major corridors from the interstates into the capital city — those thoroughfares that serve as the city’s front door, in a sense — are consistently in his mind.
“I think about the gateways every day,” Rickenmann said. “Everything from signage to investment. How do we fix up the streets? How do we encourage landlords to reinvest in those properties?”
Rickenmann noted the city is literally invested in the well-being of the Two Notch area, as it constructed and opened the Columbia Water Distribution and Wastewater Management Facility on West Beltline Boulevard, close to the intersection of Beltline and Two Notch, just a few years ago.
And as the mayor looks to the future of Two Notch Road, he’s tapping into some elements from the past. Specifically, he has been exploring the tenets of the East Central City redevelopment plan that was created 18 years ago.
That plan, which was sponsored by the city, the Benedict-Allen Community Development Corporation, Fannie Mae and the Columbia Housing Authority, was published in 2004. It proposed steps for revitalization for neighborhoods in the east central part of the city in a 1,000-plus acre area that is generally bounded by Harden Street to the west, Beltline to the north, Forest Acres to the east and Santee Avenue to the south. Two Notch Road essentially cuts right down the middle of the area.
The 2004 plan has several proposals, including enhancing and creating parks and open space, strengthening code enforcement, encouraging more home ownership and rehabilitation in neighborhoods that have high amounts of rentals, enhancing neighborhood signage, and making areas more pedestrian friendly.
Rickenmann said the plan ultimately was not fully acted upon, but he noted many of the principles of it are still applicable and could be of use almost two decades later.
“It kind of sat on a shelf for almost 20 years,” the mayor said. “We are pulling that out and updating it and using it to go after (federal) Choice Neighborhood Grants money, so that we can leverage with the private sector to really build up these nodes.”
Columbia Chamber CEO Carl Blackstone said having healthy main corridors flowing into the capital city is key to economic and business growth in the region. In other words, if Two Notch gets healthier, so does all of Columbia.
The Chamber leader thinks renewal on Two Notch is attainable, but he noted it has to happen thoughtfully, with the residents of the area at the top of mind.
“It’s just managing and putting a focus on areas that need revitalization,” Blackstone said. “Churches can play a big role. I think government providing and moving services in different parts of blighted areas can serve as an opportunity. Reuse and rehabilitation efforts can take the form of grants and incentives.
“It just takes thought and planning.”
Overcoming the ‘stigma’
To be certain, there are some creative moves being made along Two Notch.
Those looking for ways to revive the section of Two Notch closest to the city could look farther up the road for inspiration. Six years ago, the Meeting Place Church of Greater Columbia, led by Bishop Eric Freeman, purchased about 23 acres and a quarter of a million square feet of a shopping center at 201 Columbia Mall Blvd., just off Two Notch Road near I-20. That is the more northeastern portion of Two Notch, 8 miles from downtown.
The church is located in the complex, as are a number of other businesses. Among them is the eight-screen Spotlight Cinemas Capital 8 movie theater, which the church was key in revitalizing and reopening in 2019 after it had been closed for a number of years. The campus also has, among other things, warehouse space for an e-commerce bookseller that ships nearly 3,000 books per week, and the church offers forklift certification classes to help people get jobs at the warehouse and elsewhere.
Freeman, who founded Meeting Place 22 years ago, said the church is “fully committed” to the Two Notch Road area in the northeast. He notes the adaptive reuse of older buildings up and down the thoroughfare, including the areas closer to the city center, will likely be key to moving the road forward.
The bishop is convinced that if public, private and nonprofit partners work together, Two Notch could become as lauded as other areas of town.
“I have absolutely no problem with the success of our downtown, Vista, Main Street,” Freeman said. “They become prototypes of what will happen here at Two Notch. I’m thoroughly convinced that the strength of what happened downtown was there was a group of stakeholders that had a vision. And what I see happening here (in the northeastern area of) Two Notch, there is a group of stakeholders who have a vision.”
There’s another unique concept happening on Two Notch closer to the city center. The former Midlands Shopping Center at 2638 Two Notch Road was purchased last June by a group of private partners, and the complex was recently rebranded Palmetto Place. A FRESH Communities Market grocery store recently announced it would be setting up shop there.
But the complex is already stacking in new businesses. Project manager Charles Gary said 34 new businesses have opened inside Palmetto Place in the last six months or so, the lion’s share of which are owned by Black women. There are barbers, beauticians, chiropractors, massage therapists, architects and more working within the complex.
Unlike the strip shopping centers of old, most of the businesses are not facing out toward the street, but rather are contained within the walls of the center, in various boutiques and salons.
The new businesses are operating alongside longstanding government operations there, like a Columbia Police Department substation, a social services office, Richland 1 school district office space and a post office.
The complex is still a work in progress — Gary is hopeful the city will be able to help facilitate funding for signage and other aesthetic touches — but the wheels are turning.
One of the businesses in Palmetto Place is the chiropractic clinic Life Expressions Health and Wellness Center, owned by sisters Dr. Tawana Roberson and Dr. Lawana Stembridge. They are an energetic pair and have the type of close-knit sisterhood in which they will often answer questions in unison. They recently took a reporter from The State on a tour of their bright, neat office within Palmetto Place.
The sisters said they appreciate being a part of the nascent Palmetto Place concept.
“I think it is phenomenal, because you are giving people who are small business owners, people who have never really owned businesses, an opportunity to venture out,” Roberson said. “It’s almost as if they put their hope and confidence in us. I think it is a way to afford the community the outlook that it could be done.”
Roberson added that new businesses, including professional services offered by new business owners, are helping carve a new path on Two Notch near the city.
“I kind of feel like there was a stigma to this side of Two Notch,” she said. “Anywhere you go in any city, you are going to see where money is being placed, and you are going to see where money is not being placed. I think the revitalization being here is going to give us a freshness and a newness so that the people can be recognized a little more.
“No matter what your economic status is, you should have high-placed value on where you live and what is offered to you.”
As he has watched small businesses set up inside Palmetto Place, Gary said he has pondered the possibilities of Two Notch Road, and what else could happen in coming years.
“It’s one of the gateways,” Gary said. “We can do some things along Two Notch Road, with the traffic counts that are here. So many times people kind of overlook the area itself. ... Benedict College is an anchor, with their stadium down there. We just feel like Two Notch is primed for development.”
McDowell, the District 2 councilman, is convinced, with the mayor keen on possible revitalization and developments like Palmetto Place coming along, that the inner-city section of Two Notch is in the infant stages of a renaissance.
But the councilman, who is a retired Methodist pastor, said leaders and the business community need to be purposeful in the steps they take.
“If we are going to be intentional about sprucing up, cleaning up and making Two Notch Road look good, we can’t just talk about it,” he said. “We have to be proactive.”
