Floyd: Columbia needs to abandon its low-rise mentality

For decades, the vertically challenged naysayers of our city have used silly excuses to fight urban development.

Opposition in the 1970s to the height of the Strom Thurmond federal building was so strong that the building was lopped off to the pathetic scale we see today — a squatty, smashed egg crate. Law enforcement argued that its planned height would provide an unobstructed view of the swimming pool at the Governor’s Mansion.

Recently, Vista brats complained that an extra story on the Hyatt Hotel would block their view of the downtown skyline. Well, folks, skyline is what we are trying to build here.

Now we are dealing with competing “shadow studies” that may control the fate of a new 15-story development on Main Street.

The beautiful USC Horseshoe is already covered with its own shadow — a natural, lush canopy of ageless trees. It is also within a half block of the 18-story Cornell Arms. USC didn’t have a shadow problem when it built the soaring Capstone dormitory in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

We deserve the excitement of the building boom in our downtown.

Scarcity of land and the price it demands will force us to look upward. Our mayor understands this, developers realize this, and the time has come for others to abandon their low-rise mentality and childish opposition to new-age architecture.

This story was originally published July 26, 2015 at 4:58 PM.