Columbia plans a $2M sale of vacant Five Points site. What will it be?
A vacant former state-office building in Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood could soon become a “technology and innovation hub,” as the city prepares to sell the building for $2 million.
The company Southeastern Technology Centers, LLC is set to purchase the building on the condition that they build Class A office space for technology companies, which city and state officials have said they want to see more of in South Carolina and Columbia. The rest of the site can be used for other office space, mixed-use purposes, or for multifamily housing, according to the sale agreement City Council is expected to vote on Tuesday.
The city released a statement about the sale Tuesday following this article’s publication. The statement notes that city officials cannot discuss the specifics about the building’s future use, but they are “excited about the possibilities this project holds.”
“The adaptive re-use of this property has the potential to bring new jobs to the Five Points District and drive meaningful economic development through the City of Columbia,” the statement continues.
The deal would require the new property owner to provide at least 50 public parking spaces during business hours and 100 parking spaces during nights and weekends, which can’t cost more than the city’s public parking rates.
Columbia is losing money on the building sale, having bought the property for $3.8 million from the state government in 2019. At the time, city leaders envisioned the site becoming a hotel, but those visions never materialized.
The city tried to unload the building in 2021 for $4.5 million to developer Latitude 32 LLC, which planned to build up to 250 new townhouses on the site. Those plans also fell through.
With the past development attempts failing, the six-story, nearly 91,000-square-foot office building has been empty since Columbia bought it. The city has opened the building’s parking lot for free parking, but otherwise it has gone unused for over five years.
The sale is contingent on City Council approving the deal on two separate votes and the sale formally closing.
This article has been updated with a statement from the City of Columbia.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 11:09 AM.
