Booming Main Street drives downtown’s rapid growth

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On a recent Thursday afternoon, Matt Kennell had lunch in downtown Columbia with his daughter. Sitting by a window at Main Street Public House, he marveled at the view.

“It was like being in Manhattan,” said Kennell, president and CEO of City Center Partnership, a nonprofit organization that promotes downtown economic development. “We were there from 1 to 2, and it was just a constant stream of people, young and old. We saw a number of moms pushing strollers, which is a very good sign. People just didn’t used to think it was safe enough to do that.”

The copious foot traffic served as visible proof of downtown’s transformation from a lightly traversed commuter area to an ever-growing city center.

“Growing up here, there were certain areas where you didn’t go, especially on Main Street,” said Allen Wilkerson, a senior brokerage associate at Colliers International and a Columbia native. “It was truly a nine-to-five type of atmosphere.”

The boom of the 1600 block – home to downtown pioneers Mast General Store and the Nickelodeon Theatre as well as more recent retail residents such as The Grand boutique bowling alley and Lula Drake Wine Parlour – has spread several blocks in either direction and made Main Street an after-hours destination every night of the week. With more businesses opening and planned renovations to existing establishments generating excitement, downtown’s growth shows no signs of slowing down.

There are questions, though, about the scope of that revitalization’s reach.

BLIGHTED BLOCK

A stroll down Main Street on a spring day takes visitors past cafes stuffed with customers and shops spilling music and air conditioning from open doors.

But a turn down Washington Street toward Sumter Street produces a different view, with vacant storefronts and for sale signs replacing professionals lingering over lunch and USC students hurrying toward campus. Travelers headed down Sumter toward Elmwood Avenue are eventually met by the overcrowded Sumter Street Transit Station as the downtown charm of Main Street fades.

Patrick Palmer, director of retail services at NAI Avant, recently represented the buyers of a 42,000-square-foot, 10-story building at 1233 Washington St. Raj, A.J. and Nash Champaneri, developers of the Aloft hotel in the Vista, plan to open a 91-room Holiday Inn by fall 2019 on the property, which sold for $1.95 million.

“We would certainly love to work on some stuff in that area in the future,” Palmer said. “There is the possibility of some retail around the corner from there, with those former restaurant locations along Sumter Street.”

While rents a few blocks away from Main Street may be a little less per square foot, “you’re going to have to have somebody who is able to sell that Sumter Street corridor to someone, to convince retailers to come to it, because the mind set currently is from Main Street down to the Vista, and this is on the opposite side of that,” Palmer said. “It’s not just a matter of putting up a sign and answering a phone. You’ve got to get someone who can work that corridor. You have to have somebody who plays in that sandbox every day and is talking to retailers and has their finger on the pulse of what’s happening.”

Wilkerson said most of the business Colliers, which has several vacant area spaces listed, does on the Sumter-Washington block consist of smaller leases, “but we have had a few sales on that front as well. You absolutely play on Main Street. … You can make the argument that you can pay a little bit less and be within a block or two of what’s taking place on Main Street.”

Kennell’s group has the block on its radar as well. He said City Center wants to extend the banners, planters and other touches that mark and unify Main Street to the side streets.

“The challenges are just getting people to realize that it is all part of the Main Street District,” Kennell said. “Our job is to try to market it, and by tying in things like the banners and the planters, it will lead people from the heart of Main Street to those other streets. That’s the challenge that we have, and we’re fairly focused on that right now.”

Jenna Bridgers, vice president of retail recruitment for City Center Partnership, said the group is working with area property owners to improve the appearance of the buildings to “better attract potential users.”

“It’s an obvious spot, great walkability, one block off Main,” Bridgers said. “There’s great potential to have co-tenancies on that street. We’re working to get everybody around the table and move it in the right direction, because it is an obvious next retail strip.”

Wilkerson said Colliers’ building at the corner of Sumter and Gervais will be 90% occupied by the end of the year, with Bank of America, which already has a branch in the building, moving its operations there.

“It sort of all starts with how is it going to be anchored at each end, which is important,” Wilkerson said. “On Bull Street on the other end, as you start to see more activity there, you’re going to see additional traction on Sumter Street.”

Kennell said new businesses extending from Main Street, including newly opened Hotel Trundle at Taylor and Sumter, will help create new demand, as will a new residential project east of Sumter on Lady Street, slated to open in the fall with above-market housing not aimed at students.

“We’re seeing a new wave of residential development, and that’s exciting to see, because it’s been a few years since we’ve had any new residential projects,” Kennell said.

That could mean good things for empty spaces.

“Retail follows residential. It’s never the other way around,” Palmer said. “When downtown was basically a commuter market, when people would leave at 5 o’ clock and go back home, it did not bode well for retail.”

NO SLOWING DOWN

The downtown scene keeps changing, with new businesses setting up shop at a rapid pace.

Carolina Wings & Ribhouse opened its sixth Midlands location last month at 1120 Washington St., between Main and Assembly streets in the space formerly occupied by Tony’s Pizza & Italian Eatery, and Georgia-based Stoner’s Pizza Joint is slated to join a roster of new tenants at the Arcade Mall on the Main Street side of Washington Street.

The Arcade Mall, a striking architectural structure in the 1300 block of Main Street that housed Columbia’s first shopping center in 1912, is enjoying a mini-Renaissance of its own. The former home of subterranean bars and restaurants known as Columbia Down Under in the early 1970s, the building — home to iconic Columbia artist Blue Sky’s gallery ­— has seen the recent openings of Pita Pit and renovations to Swanson’s Deli, and a location of electronic bicycle dealer eBike Central is expected to open there in July.

Nearby, plans to add a second-story deck to longtime downtown staple Drake’s Duck-In at 1544 Main St. won approval from the city’s design commission in April. RevIVe Wellness Studio spa is a new arrival to 1624 Main St., while Local Yocal, a bodega featuring fresh produce and meats, has plans to open a 3,000-square-foot store at 1712 Main St.

“It’s just a really exciting time to be on Main Street,” Bridgers said. “If you haven’t been to downtown Columbia in the past three years, you haven’t been to Columbia. There’s something to do all the time. Anybody who says there’s not is just not plugged in.”

Bridgers said City Center Partnership is talking with several restaurateurs searching for space in the Main Street District, but there’s not much left to discuss. A spot next to Cantina 76 at 1301 Main St. is available, and Bridgers said there are “ongoing conversations with a well-known possible tenant” to occupy the former Hennessy’s at 1649 Main St.

“There’s not a lot of open space right now in the district,” Bridgers said. “It is popular, and people do want to be a part of it. Keeping that list of folks that are interested apprised of when things open up is something we have to balance. We want to bring new and exciting things and have things that are distinct to Main Street.”

Familiar stumbling blocks, however, pose challenges to downtown’s fast-paced growth. Parking is always discussed at meetings of City Center-affiliated merchants, Bridgers said, and improved infrastructure such as pedestrian crosswalks remain crucial to linking downtown to the Vista across Assembly Street and to the burgeoning North Main business district across Elmwood Avenue.

City Center Partnership offers a parking solution within the Main Street District, operating a free courtesy shuttle Monday through Sunday from 7:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. Rides are available by calling 803-309-7758.

“Parking is an issue, but everybody in the Vista battles parking,” Palmer said. “Nobody can say we don’t have parking, so we can’t have business. That’s a crutch you can’t have any more in Columbia.”

Experts agree, though, that the growth obvious from any downtown restaurant window will only continue.

“Columbia has historically been a tertiary market to Greenville and Charleston,” Palmer said. “Those markets have become so saturated, and I would even say super-saturated. … Columbia is an emerging market.”

Nowhere is that more evident than Main Street.

“Shops, bars, restaurants — they’re open every night of the week, and they’re doing well,” Wilkerson said. “I think that’s a testament to what’s taking place here, the population growth you’re seeing in the Midlands, the focus on making downtown a more livable place. It all goes together at the end of the day. It’s not just one piece. It all flows together.”

This story first appeared in the June 18 print edition of the Columbia Regional Business Report.