COLUMBIA — They're two missing pieces of the city's urban fabric.

For around 20 years, a pair of large tracts of land along Huger Street between Gervais and Hampton streets have sat vacant.

This part of Columbia near the Congaree River was once home to some of the city’s heavy industry — textile mills, South Carolina Electric and Gas’s gas plant and Kline Steel’s manufacturing plant. Those companies left in the early 2000s, and The Vista along nearby Gervais Street evolved into one of the city’s premier nightlife spots.

Some existing properties in the area were also redeveloped: The Columbia Mills textile plant became home to the South Carolina State Museum. South Carolina State Penitentiary was raised and reborn as the Canalside Apartments. And former warehouses along Gervais and Huger became home to bars, restaurants, retail stores and art studios.

The South Carolina State Museum, housed in a former mill building in downtown Columbia, looks over vacant lots of land awaiting a similar rebirth from an industrial past.

Meanwhile, the plots of land along Huger Street remain empty. But other redevelopments in the area indicate that could soon change as city leaders push to unite Columbia's downtown business districts and develop the riverfront.

Recent developments

Each of the large vacant plots along Huger Street have, at one point or another, been subject to plans for apartments or retail.

The most recent of those projects to see some movement is the proposal to build a 202-unit, five-story apartment building at the corner of Huger and Williams streets.

That project, referred to in city documents as the Silver Hills development, was initially proposed in September 2023. The city approved a scaled back version at a January meeting, with one less floor of apartments and parking spaces than originally planned.

It’s unclear when construction could start on the complex following the latest go-ahead from the city. Ohio-based project developer Silver Hills Development didn't respond to requests for comment.

A block away at the corner of Huger and Hampton streets, a 6-acre plot of land was sold in October. It was the first time the plot of land, valued at $3.5 million and formerly occupied by the SCE&G plant, had been sold since 1911, according to county tax records.

The LLC listed as the buyer shares an address with Atlanta-based developer Stern Development’s Columbia office. Representatives for the developer did not comment on future plans for the land.

A $90 million proposal for apartments and small park and $21.6 million in infrastructure improvements were announced for the site in March 2023.

A proposal for 202-unit, five-story apartment building at the corner of Huger and Williams streets is the most recent development to move forward at any of the vacant lots along Huger.

Richland County and the city of Columbia approved a 10-year, 50 percent tax credit for the project in 2023. City staff had not confirmed whether the agreement was still in effect after the property's sale as of Feb. 24.

A neighboring plot also on the block was sold by Dominion Energy — the successor to SCE&G — in July 2024, Dominion spokesperson Matt Long told the Post and Courier.

Dominion would not share any additional details of the sale. County tax records had not been updated to reflect the sale as of Feb. 17.

Perhaps the most prominent of the vacant lots along Huger, the 4-acre lot at the corner of Huger and Gervias, is owned by Greenville developer Bo Aughtry. Representatives for Aughry’s company did not provide details of any future plans for the site.

The block at the corner of Huger and Hampton streets in Columbia has been sold to a local developer.

The lot is the former site of the Kline Steel manufacturing plant, and was last sold for over $5 million in 2020, according to county records. A 2015 plan for apartments at the site never came to fruition.

Future plans for the sites

Aside from the Silver Hills project at the corner of Huger and Williams streets, no currently active development plans have been submitted for the empty lots to the city’s planning channels, Planning Administrator Lucinda Statler said.

The lot at the corner of Gervais and Huger streets has stood vacant since Kline Steel vacated the property in the early 2000s, despite being one of the city's most visible blocks.

City officials and developers have said the lots are primed for development. So why have they remained vacant for so long?

Some of it might have to do with the amount of traffic passing through the Huger Street corridor each day, according to Abby Anderson, executive director of the Congaree Vista Guild.

“That kind of puts the river and the museums on an island in a way,” Anderson said.

The thoroughfare saw over 40,000 vehicles pass through daily in 2023, up from 38,000 and 36,000 the two years prior, according to state Department of Transportation data.

The traffic isolates the riverfront — and any potential developments along Huger Street — from the Vista, Colonial Life Arena and Main Street, Anderson said.

Heavy traffic along Huger Street in Columbia has long isolated properties near the river from developing along with the rest of downtown, local experts say.

The city has taken steps to address the perils of pedestrians crossing Huger Street with its strategic plan for downtown. At the same time, city leaders are hoping to promote development along the Congaree riverfront with an extension of Williams Street and future waterfront park.

Anderson hopes the city’s attention toward the river will better connect the waterfront with the Vista and downtown, and prompt more foot traffic through the district.

Even as plans are just beginning for the riverfront, developers have begun making moves on land closer to the water and on the river side of Huger Street.

Two hotels are under construction on the river side of Huger Street, on the other side of Gervais Street from the vacant lots. A 700-bed student housing complex has begun to take shape at the intersection of Huger and Blossom streets near the University of South Carolina’s Founders Park baseball stadium.

Two blocks of vacant land along Huger Street near the riverfront have poked holes in Columbia's urban fabric, but their time may have come.

The new projects represent a willingness from developers to take a chance on the other side of Huger Street, according to Brian Anderson, an Executive Vice President at Colliers commercial real estate firm.

That could mean the time is nearing for the vacant Huger Street properties.

“Now you've now seen development jump on the other side of Huger, behind the McDonald's,” Anderson said. “You’ve got the hotel and another hotel. So I do think that those sites are a little more primed for development than they were before.”

The vacant lots along Huger are much larger than any other downtown lots and would lend themselves to large, multifamily housing directed towards the general market or college students, he said.

The sites are exempt from a city proposal to restrict new student apartments in the downtown area.

“They’re great sites,” Anderson said. “I think when the right use comes along, somebody will build something on it. Eventually it's going to happen.”

Caleb Bozard covers business, growth and development for the Post & Courier Columbia. He has previously written for The State and the Times and Democrat. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2023.