Sky’s the limit? Maybe not. New Columbia building height rules unlikely to alter skyline
Columbia is close to finalizing a change to building rules in a portion of downtown that would allow for taller buildings in a handful of locations in the Vista entertainment district.
The move is specifically tied to one project on the city’s horizon: a 16-story hotel planned directly next to the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
When residents in the Vista first heard of the city’s plans, they worried it would create a wave of towering projects blocking views of downtown.
“Are they planning on building a 20-story building? Those are the kind of things that neighbors are worried about,” nearby resident Mary Langston previously said at a meeting about the change. “Everybody is saying, ‘Oh yeah, build, build,’ but if this was in your neighborhood, I think you would want that consideration, too.”
Existing height restrictions cap building height at 75 feet if they are within 300 feet of a historic district. But in order to build the convention center hotel, the city is planning to remove that constraint.
What effect could the loosened rules have on other properties in The Vista? The answer, it appears, is not much, at least not in the immediate future.
Only half a dozen properties out of more than 400 in the district are affected by the rule change, city planning officials have previously said. And most of the rest of downtown is already without those height restrictions.
Just two of the affected areas are primed to have buildings above the 75-foot restriction, the rest are either already occupied or are the site of ongoing construction projects below the height threshold.
Columbia City Council is expected to take its second and final vote on the change to height requirements at a regular meeting Tuesday at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
These are the properties that would be affected:
Future Convention Center Hotel
One of the pieces of land affected is right next to the Columbia Convention Center, where Westin Hotels, an upscale Marriott brand, has proposed building a 250-room, 16-story hotel complete with meeting space that would be owned and operated by the convention center.
Columbia tourism leaders have said for years that the city needs more, nicer hotels to compete with other cities for the chance to host conferences and other events, including early rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, that draw new people to Columbia.
The new Westin hotel would be “vital to the future success of the Convention Center,” Bill Ellen, president of the Experience Columbia tourism bureau, previously said. “We’re out of space.”
Future Vista Depot hotel and apartments
Another parcel that will lose a height restriction is a vacant property on Wayne Street behind the convention center. This is where developer Ben Arnold plans to build a hotel, apartments and a subterranean parking garage.
Arnold, a longtime Columbia developer who now lives in California, hopes to build the dual-branded Hyatt Centric and Hyatt House hotels at the intersection of Gervais and Wayne streets in Columbia’s Vista district, with a separate 183-room apartment complex.
The project is called The Vista Depot, and could be up to 130 feet tall.
Arnold received tax incentives from Richland County to build the project, but there is not a public timeline for construction at this stage.
Future Gervais Street hotel
The property at the corner of Gervais and Senate streets is currently being prepared to host a new four-story hotel. The city approved designs for the 100-room project last summer, which also included a 120-space parking lot.
The hotel was first floated in 2020, but the plans fell to the wayside when the property changed hands. But in 2021, the current owners purchased the property for $2.2 million and revived the hotel push.
Recently completed Homewood Suites and Tru Hotel
Just across Senate Street from the future four-story hotel is the recently completed seven-story Homewood Suites and Tru Hotel by Hilton, developed by Ashok Patel of Naman Hotels. A piece of that property’s parking lot would be affected by the loosened height rules. The parking lot was only recently built as part of the hotel project.
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Existing Vista Commons apartments
The existing Vista Commons apartments, built in 2001, occupy another of the parcels that would be affected by the change in height rules, but because there is already an apartment complex there and no plans to redevelop the property anytime soon, it would not have an impact on the overall height of downtown.
Existing bank properties
The last block that would be affected by the change in height requirements would affect two separate properties at Pulaski and Senate streets. One of the two properties is occupied by a Spero bank facility. The other is a parking lot owned by South State Bank. The State has reached out to South State Bank for information on its plans for the property.
