Nearly 1,000-bed student townhomes near USC’s Williams-Brice Stadium move forward
Construction on a nearly 1,000-bed student townhome project is expected to begin soon, after developer Landmark Properties closed on a Shop Road property formerly occupied by The State newspaper .
Landmark Properties in March began the process to see the Shop Road site rezoned to allow for high-density housing, paving the way for a roughly 200-unit, 825-bed student housing project, The State reported at the time.
The longtime industrial site, where a massive printing press once whirred to life each day to print copies of the paper for decades, has been empty since The State staff moved from that building in 2020.
Construction on the townhomes, named The Walk on Shop Road, should be complete by the 2027-28 academic year, according to a release from Landmark Properties announcing the sale closure.
The townhomes will be the latest in a line of luxury student housing offering ever-increasing amenities. The Walk – a new brand line for Landmark – will include a resort-style swimming pool, a Jumbotron, cabanas and hammocks, a sports simulator, a wellness suite and more. It’s not immediately clear what it will cost to book a bedroom in the new townhome village.
The construction is set to finish at an inflection point for the area around Williams-Brice Stadium. The University of South Carolina wants to develop 800 acres nearby along the Congaree Riverfront into something transformative, though exactly what gets built is still up in the air.
Residents and lawmakers say the area desperately needs sidewalks, a concern neighbors voiced at that March Planning Commission meeting.
“We’ve got a disaster in the making there,” said one resident, speaking of watching students walking, jogging or biking down the shoulder of Shop Road.
The area around Williams-Brice Stadium is notorious for lacking sidewalks. New sidewalks around the stadium are on the horizon, but residents say the corridor as a whole needs to be much safer.
Other local projects led by the developer Landmark Properties include the off-campus student housing projects Saga and The Standard, a high rise completed in 2023 on Assembly Street in downtown Columbia.
