Not sure I care for our board of trustees voting to pay 3x the market value for flood land that we don't really have any concrete plans for, which also happens to help bail out a couple of our trustees who made bad business deals. Interesting...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.postandcourier.com/news...cle_778bdb88-5fb1-11ea-8936-8b9269c0be24.html
USC buying 547-acre site that owners could not develop because of flooding issues
Areas of the proposed Green Diamond project flooded after historic rainfall in Columbia in 2015. The University of South Carolina is buying a portion of the property. Congaree Riverkeeper/Provided
Courtesy of Congaree Riverkeeper
COLUMBIA — The University of South Carolina agreed Friday to spend up to $3 million to buy 547 acres of property in a floodplain near the Congaree River partially owned by a Myrtle Beach company with ties to two of the school’s trustees.
USC could build recreation fields and conduct agricultural research on the property near Heathwood Hall Episcopal School south of downtown Columbia that was part of a $1 billion venture called Green Diamond.
When first proposed 20 years ago, Green Diamond was a self-described “city within a city,” supposed to have subdivisions, golf courses, an outlet mall, restaurants, hotels, offices, a research and development park, a theme park and a wildlife expo. The massive project was never developed over Richland County and federal construction restrictions on a floodplain.
While homes, offices and shops are banned on the flood-prone property, athletic fields, parks and trails — the kind of uses being considered by USC — are allowed, according to environmental officials.
“This is not terribly concerning,” Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler said. “This is the best use of the property.”
The area, used now as farm land, does have persistent flooding, he said. The Congaree River overflowed onto the property during the historic flooding of 2015, according U.S. Geological Survey data.
The land, which includes 47 aces of wetlands as well as water and sewer service, is seen as a “very long-term real estate play” with no immediate uses planned, said Ed
Walton, USC’s senior vice president for administration.
The sale was approved by USC trustees on Friday in an 11-5 vote. Trustee Toney Lister raised concerns in the specially called meeting Friday about Green Diamond’s legal entanglements that ended with a 2015 S.C. Supreme Court ruling that went against development plans.
USC board member Miles Loadholt, who used to hold an interest in the owner of the Green Diamond land, voted against purchase because the sale price was too high. The market value of the property is $915,000, or about $1,675 an acre, according to Richland County tax records.
USC will pay about $5,500 an acre. An appraisal put the value of the land at $6,000 an acre, Walton said.
The city of Columbia bought about 200 acres of neighboring Green Diamond property last year for about $4,500 per acre. On the other side of USC’s latest purchase site, the university bought 300 acres behind the football team’s operations center for $10,000 an acre last month. USC bought that property, which includes a practice facility for the Gamecock golf team, from its foundation.
Loadholt said the new university’s purchase could be used for recreation fields and parks “if it’s not underwater half the year.”
USC’s purchase comes close to ending all signs of the controversial Green Diamond project that spent more than a decade in the courts.
The sale will leave Columbia Venture with just five parcels totaling about 115 acres from what once was a 4,461-acre project, according to county property records.
USC trustee Egerton Burroughs recused himself from the discussion of the land purchase and did not vote since he was chairman of the Myrtle Beach-based Burroughs & Chapin, the managing partner of the property’s owner, Carolina Venture. Trustee Dorn Smith also recused himself and abstained from voting because he owns Burroughs & Chapin stock.
USC’s development foundation will buy the property for $2.5 million. The foundation entered into a contract to buy the property in 2018, which ends March 31, Walton said.
After 18 months to two years, the university will then purchase the land from the foundation at the same price and pay up to $500,000 in additional costs, bringing the total price to $3 million.
The state will need to approve the sale from the foundation to the university.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.postandcourier.com/news...cle_778bdb88-5fb1-11ea-8936-8b9269c0be24.html
USC buying 547-acre site that owners could not develop because of flooding issues
- By Andy Shain ashain@postandcourier.com
- Mar 6, 2020 Updated 13 hrs ago
Areas of the proposed Green Diamond project flooded after historic rainfall in Columbia in 2015. The University of South Carolina is buying a portion of the property. Congaree Riverkeeper/Provided
Courtesy of Congaree Riverkeeper
COLUMBIA — The University of South Carolina agreed Friday to spend up to $3 million to buy 547 acres of property in a floodplain near the Congaree River partially owned by a Myrtle Beach company with ties to two of the school’s trustees.
USC could build recreation fields and conduct agricultural research on the property near Heathwood Hall Episcopal School south of downtown Columbia that was part of a $1 billion venture called Green Diamond.
When first proposed 20 years ago, Green Diamond was a self-described “city within a city,” supposed to have subdivisions, golf courses, an outlet mall, restaurants, hotels, offices, a research and development park, a theme park and a wildlife expo. The massive project was never developed over Richland County and federal construction restrictions on a floodplain.
While homes, offices and shops are banned on the flood-prone property, athletic fields, parks and trails — the kind of uses being considered by USC — are allowed, according to environmental officials.
“This is not terribly concerning,” Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler said. “This is the best use of the property.”
The area, used now as farm land, does have persistent flooding, he said. The Congaree River overflowed onto the property during the historic flooding of 2015, according U.S. Geological Survey data.
The land, which includes 47 aces of wetlands as well as water and sewer service, is seen as a “very long-term real estate play” with no immediate uses planned, said Ed
Walton, USC’s senior vice president for administration.
The sale was approved by USC trustees on Friday in an 11-5 vote. Trustee Toney Lister raised concerns in the specially called meeting Friday about Green Diamond’s legal entanglements that ended with a 2015 S.C. Supreme Court ruling that went against development plans.
USC board member Miles Loadholt, who used to hold an interest in the owner of the Green Diamond land, voted against purchase because the sale price was too high. The market value of the property is $915,000, or about $1,675 an acre, according to Richland County tax records.
USC will pay about $5,500 an acre. An appraisal put the value of the land at $6,000 an acre, Walton said.
The city of Columbia bought about 200 acres of neighboring Green Diamond property last year for about $4,500 per acre. On the other side of USC’s latest purchase site, the university bought 300 acres behind the football team’s operations center for $10,000 an acre last month. USC bought that property, which includes a practice facility for the Gamecock golf team, from its foundation.
Loadholt said the new university’s purchase could be used for recreation fields and parks “if it’s not underwater half the year.”
USC’s purchase comes close to ending all signs of the controversial Green Diamond project that spent more than a decade in the courts.
The sale will leave Columbia Venture with just five parcels totaling about 115 acres from what once was a 4,461-acre project, according to county property records.
USC trustee Egerton Burroughs recused himself from the discussion of the land purchase and did not vote since he was chairman of the Myrtle Beach-based Burroughs & Chapin, the managing partner of the property’s owner, Carolina Venture. Trustee Dorn Smith also recused himself and abstained from voting because he owns Burroughs & Chapin stock.
USC’s development foundation will buy the property for $2.5 million. The foundation entered into a contract to buy the property in 2018, which ends March 31, Walton said.
After 18 months to two years, the university will then purchase the land from the foundation at the same price and pay up to $500,000 in additional costs, bringing the total price to $3 million.
The state will need to approve the sale from the foundation to the university.
