$7B city impact, 3 major hotels at stake if Columbia doesn't expand convention center
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- If Columbia and Richland County don’t commit soon to a planned expansion of the city’s vastly undersized convention center, Columbia could lose what has the potential to be one of the most consequential developments in the city’s history.
What’s at stake? Four new buildings with a total of 37 floors, 675 hotel rooms, 195 apartments, a 1,600-space parking garage, some 2,000 permanent jobs, 200,000 square feet of new office space, multiple restaurants and a projected $7 billion economic impact on the city over the next three decades.
All that would come alongside a quadrupling of the city’s current convention center exhibit space, which now is dwarfed by the city’s peers across the Southeast.
The grand scheme is a roughly $70 million public and $300+ million private investment that could transform South Carolina’s capital in numerous ways: It would physically change the downtown skyline. It’s predicted to become a major economic driver. And it would give Columbia a chance to build a reputation as South Carolina’s business hub, supporters of the project say.
Read more: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article252621533.html