Bar, dog park pitched for used car lot off Columbia’s North Main Street
A new bar built from a shipping container, a dog park and a dedicated food truck dining area could soon fill a used car lot just off North Main Street in Columbia.
The project would fill a lot at the corner of Drayton Street and Anthony Avenue currently owned by Able Auto Sales, where today a handful of vehicles sit behind a chain-link fence.
Columbia’s Design/Development Review Commission gave the plans initial approval Jan. 22.
Under the proposal, much of the used car lot would be converted into a mulched dog park. The project’s developer, Adam Bergeson, also plans to convert an existing shipping container into a “coffee/soda/beer/wine bar”, on the site. The plans also include a bathroom and a dedicated area for food trucks to set up along Anthony Avenue.
The project would sit just in front of the existing North Main Community Garden, which is located on land the city owns and also hopes to redevelop in the future, though into exactly what the city has not yet decided.
Jim Daniel, a broker with Catawba Properties, asked a number of questions at the Jan. 22 meeting to get clarity on how the dog park would be operated, asking what the park’s hours would be, if there would be a charge to use the facility, and how the developer proposes maintaining the dog park.
Bergeson nor any other representative for the project spoke at the Jan. 22 meeting, leaving Daniel’s questions unanswered.
Able Auto Sales currently has a for sale sign posted at the property where the dog park and bar are being proposed.
