USC neighbors say university is eroding trust as massive Campus Village forges ahead
Whispers of excitement flooded the University of South Carolina’s conference rooms in 2015. Campus Village, four residential buildings replacing USC’s worn dorms on the south side of campus, would be the largest development project in USC’s history.
Seven years later, construction along Whaley and Sumter streets began earnestly. Rising from the ground at this moment are four new residential buildings that will be big enough to house 1,808 students, a dining facility and other “unique” amenities.
University architect Derek Gruner still carries the same excitement he shared with surrounding neighborhoods when Campus Village was still just an idea. However, not everyone close to the project shares that excitement today. Neighbors say the university has turned its back on some promises made to them, and they’re worried especially about parking and safety as the massive development takes shape in their backyard.
“We’re threatened with this. Some of our neighborhoods are being, just, eroded,” said Kit Smith, a resident of Wales Garden.
The project’s beginnings focused on continuous communication between USC and neighborhoods such as Wales Garden, Hollywood/Rose Hill and University Hill. Smith was appointed as chairman of a neighborhood committee involved with the project. Now, that communication has broken down, some residents say, and neighborhood leaders feel jilted.
The neighborhood committee laid out several points for the university to agree on before USC sought city approval for their Campus Village plans in 2017. As far as Smith knew, USC had presented Smith’s requirements for Campus Village, and details like a green space and sufficient parking for students that were important to the community were approved.
A year later, USC went before the Planning Commission to approve their site plan, but an important part of the proposal had changed drastically since presenting to the neighborhoods.
Initial agreements
The $210 million Campus Village will feature six-floor brick buildings with intricate detailing. According to Gruner, a new dining facility will be built alongside a cafe. Expect to see many students congregated outside under shade in nice weather by fall of 2023.
“(Construction) has gone very smoothly and is on schedule. Maybe even a little ahead of schedule, dare I say it, the construction has really progressed,” Gruner said.
A transportation hub will join the residential halls on this side of campus, offering shuttle stops, surface parking spots and a pedestrian overpass for students.
Parking, in fact, is one of the major rubs for the adjacent neighborhoods. Smith is frustrated with the number of students who already park along curbs in the neighborhoods. When she first spoke with the university, the university painted a rosy picture of a 950-space parking garage.
“They also agreed to move the commuter traffic, which was causing the most problems for us,” Smith said.
But plans for the parking garage were slashed in size, down to 207 parking spaces. Smith didn’t find out about the new parking plan until 2021, when ground was already moving on Campus Village construction.
Smith said she met with USC interim president Harris Pastides and explained that the neighborhood commission believed this new parking plan violated the zoning special exception conditions and the agreement between USC and the neighborhoods.
“The university should have called us and let us know,” Smith said.
Walter Marks, a resident of Wales Garden, served as president of the Wales Garden Neighborhood Association in 2015. Marks said neighborhood leaders met with the university on multiple occasions. Marks enjoyed their interactions, and one meeting had at least 100 people in attendance.
But after those early meetings, Marks said he also felt sidelined about decisions the university made around Campus Village. Marks said he was told the university was planning to set up commuter parking lots near Williams-Brice Stadium and the Carolina Coliseum.
“I’m not sure that a student is going to go for where these little parking places are because they’re all over the place,” Marks said. “Then the students got to stand out there and wait for the bus.”
Regarding residents’ concerns about the number of parking spaces in the area, Gruner said constructing parking places around the city for students will decrease the traffic through the neighborhoods compared to what it was a couple of years ago.
“One of the things that the neighbors were much concerned about, of course, was ‘Is this going to increase vehicular traffic?’” Gruner said.
Smith thinks that students will end up continuing to park in the neighborhoods. To combat this, university leaders suggested that the neighborhoods institute permit parking on their streets. At least one residential neighborhood bordering a different side of campus, University Hill, already requires permit parking.
“Well, then you’re putting the burden back on the neighborhoods. The university should be working with the neighborhoods on trying to make this convenient,” Marks said.
A Hollywood/Rose Hill resident sat on the original neighborhood committee for a year and a half planning out agreements with USC. She said she felt disappointed when she learned of USC’s new decisions through third parties.
“It’s like all that work was for nothing,” said the resident, who asked not to be named.
The State asked university officials about the neighbors’ concerns regarding cooperation and communication on the Campus Village development.
Jeff Stensland, the university spokesperson, said the university is “extremely proud of the partnership” it has formed with residents. The university, he said, has and continues to communicate with neighboring residents about the project, including holding quarterly meetings with community leaders to share project updates and discuss any concerns. For instance, in response to one concern brought by neighbors, some trash was cleared up at the Campus Village worksite, Stensland said. Parking plan updates have also been shared at those community meetings, Stensland said.
There is also an online form for anyone to share concerns about the Campus Village project. To date, Stensland said, the university has received one complaint through that form.
Partnership, or a breakdown?
Phase One of Campus Village, which includes three suite-style dormitories, is set to open in fall of 2023. Afterward, Phases Two and Three are supposed to follow. However, according to Gruner, the city of Columbia has yet to approve the latter phases.
As part of their agreement with USC, the neighborhoods asked for a green space in front of the future apartment-style residential buildings that will replace the former Carolina Gardens housing area as part of Phase Three.
Smith said she’s now worried that they won’t even get a green space, but the university says that part of the future development is still a priority.
Separate from Campus Village but still part of the agreement between the university and residents, the surrounding neighborhoods were promised code enforcement officers, too, to monitor the behavior of students who rent off-campus housing in their areas.
Smith said residents’ parked cars are often side-swept by drunk students going home at night, renters’ lawns remain unmowed, and it’s common to see furniture strewn in yards.
“We want to protect. We want families to want to live in this neighborhood,” Smith said. “We put up with a lot, because we remember how we were when we were that age, too. We’re tolerant, and we like the students. We need some help from the university in making sure they’re more of a positive than a negative.”
Smith and Marks said they have tried to take their complaints to the university. Each time, they said, the university has assured the surrounding neighborhoods not to worry.
Neighborhood leaders say they like the idea of Campus Village, but not at the cost of their well-being and safety.
“The culture of the university, unfortunately, and dealing with a neighborhood, has been to pat us on the head and tell us to run along. Everything is gonna be fine,” Smith said. “We’ve lost our ability to enforce unless we take legal action.”
Another meeting to discuss upcoming decisions about Campus Village with surrounding residents will be held in the coming months. In the meantime, neighborhood leaders still feel uncertain.
“I don’t think anybody’s mad or frustrated at the university. There’s just been a breakdown in communications,” Marks said.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated with additional information from the university about communication with Campus Village neighbors.
