Developers have purchased a 5-acre lot at 1400 Huger St. (the old Richland County traffic court + the Columbia magistrate at the corner of Hampton + Huger) for $4 million to build another student apartment complex (if all goes as planned.)

Columbia has seen the development of 10 student housing properties after a property tax break was granted to developers by the City of Columbia + Richland County in 2014 to bring residential development downtown + boost foot traffic in the city center. But not all of the student housing plans that rushed to take advantage of the tax break have materialized as expected.

Construction on The Edge, a planned 15-story complex on Assembly St., has been likely delayed until 2019. A 507-bed property on Shop Rd. at the former Colonial Warehouse site has yet to break ground. And proposals for student housing at the Kline Center + BullStreet haven’t materialized.

Why the slowdown? Student housing developers may be nervously awaiting the completion of UofSC’s planned “campus village” – a $460 million project with 3,750 beds.

3 min read / The State