“Revivify Richland” County 🏎💨

Try saying “Revivify Richland” five times fast.

Richland Renaissance – dubbed one of the largest development plans in Richland County history – has become quite the talk of the town. But what exactly is it?

Here are the latest plan details, released Tuesday by Richland County.

1️⃣ Consolidate all County operations (i.e. county admin, the health dept., the elections office, dept. of social service, etc.), and move their offices to the Columbia Place Mall. The Columbia Place Mall? Yep. Richland County will buy space in the (mostly-empty) mall on Two Notch Rd., including former department stores Belk, Sears and Burlington.

💰 Cost: ~$20 million

⏱ Timeframe: Hopefully completed in 2019.

2️⃣ So now the admin offices are empty – what’s going on at 2020 Hampton St.? The site will be turned into a 200,000+ sqft. “judicial complex.”

💰 Cost: $104-$144 million. (One Councilman believes it could actually cost upwards of $250 mill.)

⏱ Timeframe: About 6 years.

Rendering of the Judicial Complex at 2020 Hampton St. | courtesy Richland County

3️⃣ Sell the current county courthouse located on Main St. Perhaps use this money to help buy space in the mall + build the judicial complex? However, they’re still unsure how much money can be made from this sale.

4️⃣ Build a multipurpose facility in Lower Richland. The center, being referred to as Lower Richland or Southeast Center, would be built on undeveloped county-owned property off Air Base Rd. It would become home to a healthcare facility (i.e. small hospital), magistrate office, library, competitive aquatics center, an agribusiness hub + a conference or civic center. Why does Lower Richland need all this? It would get rid of two major concerns in this area of Richland County:

1.) Access to medical services

2.) The need for an entertainment venue (The hope for this is it would attract tourists + become a place to host national or even international sports tournaments in the Midlands.)

5️⃣ Build “The Start Center” – a “start” hub in the Broad River Rd./St. Andrews area – that would be home to a multi-modal transit center, and a business incubator to help entrepreneurs and businesses get started. The goal of this? To become a tourism hub.

Rendering of the The Start Center | courtesy Richland County

6️⃣ Establish a countywide historic trail that will highlight county landmarks, hopefully drawing more tourists. Details TBD, but below is a sample map of what the trail could look like.

Example of sites on the historic trail | courtesy Richland County

7️⃣ The end goal of all these projects is to “Revivify Richland” (County) – the county’s slogan for boosting economic development, developing neglected areas of town and improving the overall livability + image of the County. The county also wants to put welcome signs at all the main entry points of Richland County.

Rendering of a new Richland County welcome sign | courtesy Richland County

Richland County says the estimated total cost for the “capital projects” is $144,287,000. (We’re assuming this just means the downtown “judicial complex” project, since that’s close to the estimated total of the construction of that building, only.)

So, the burning question on everyone's mind: How is all of this being paid for? Richland County insists taxes will not increase. Financial reserves, short-term debt, Council-approved funds + the sale of properties would be used to fund the projects, instead.

Richland County officials say community input is vital to the success of Richland Renaissance – specifically the Revivify Richland branding component + the details of the historic trail. Planning of community meetings are in the works, so residents can stay in the loop and give their feedback. We’ll keep you updated when we get more deets.

This is your time to not just be Palmetto proud – but Richland County proud, too.
–Sam