Columbia wine and spirits distributor plans expansion

An already massive wine and liquor distributor based in Columbia is getting bigger.

Southern Wine & Spirits of South Carolina on Monday received a city panel’s permission to build a 63,000-square-foot addition to its distribution warehouse off Atlas Road near I-77.

The distribution center will grow to roughly 302,000 square feet with the expansion, according to documents presented to Columbia’s Planning Commission. City planning staff said they believe it to be the largest wine and liquor distribution center in Columbia.

“This is going to be a pretty large facility,” said Krista Hampton, Columbia’s planning and development director.

Hampton said Southern Wine & Spirits had planned for the expansion at least five years.

“I guess the timing was right for them to do it,” Hampton said. “I think they’re doing really good business.”

Efforts to reach Southern Wine & Spirits of South Carolina on Monday were unsuccessful.

The center’s national chain, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, is the largest beer and wine distributor in the country, according to its website. The company provides wine and liquor to South Carolina’s hotels, golf clubs, resorts and restaurants, according to its website.

The Planning Commission on Monday also recommended Columbia City Council annex roughly 200 acres of the Woodcreek Farms development in northeast Richland County.

Columbia for more than two decades has annexed pieces of that development as homes are built there, city planning staff said. The land must be annexed for homes there to receive city services, Columbia planning administrator John Fellows said.

One 10-acre piece of land up for annexation includes 14 already constructed homes, said Harold Pickrel, who owns and manages Woodcreek Development. The other 190 acres have been cleared but remain undeveloped, Fellows said.

Woodcreek Farms annexations slowed during the recession but recently have picked up, city planning staff said.

“The building boom out there has sort of started up again,” Fellows said.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Columbia wine and spirits distributor plans expansion."