Main Street District details safety, placemaking and camera upgrades as downtown nears $500 million in investment

Matt (representing the Main Street District) told the Columbia City Council that the district’s clean-and-safe and placemaking programs are designed to boost business growth and downtown density as multiple development projects proceed.

The Main Street District representative described direct services — safety escorts, a seven-days-a-week courtesy shuttle, block-level documentation by yellow-shirt ambassadors, landscaping and a street-pole banner program — and said the district measures program results. “We did over 19,000 safety escorts in a year's time,” he said, adding that shuttle pickups increased about 38% year over year and that ambassadors collected about 163,000 pounds of trash, up about 5%.

The presentation emphasized upgrades to public-safety infrastructure. The district said it will deactivate legacy analog cameras in July and install new digital cameras that connect to the Columbia Police Department, beginning around the Calhoun corridor. The first camera installations were described as coordinated with the Greek Orthodox Church to maximize effectiveness.

Why this matters: The district framed these efforts as supporting a business-friendly downtown that attracts talent and investment. The presenter said three large projects — an Astral development on Elmwood and Bull Street, the Core Spaces project in the 1400 block of Main Street, and a Palmetto Federal Credit Union site now under construction — together approach about $500,000,000 in investment and are expected to bring roughly 2,000 new downtown residents over the coming years.

District staff warned that while new residents and new commercial activity will increase revenue to the business improvement district, there will be a lag before that revenue arrives. “We do anticipate having a big demand for services when all these people come, but it will take us a couple of years to have the revenue to support that,” the presenter said.

The Main Street representative outlined placemaking projects planned or under way: a “puppy patch” with artificial turf in front of the hub, an alley-activation project behind the Prisma Women’s Center (to be named in honor of Tom Prioressi), a power-box art-wrap program installed block by block to reinforce district identity, and a waste-and-recycling corral pilot adjacent to the new Moxie Hotel to reduce visible trash cans.

The presenter said the district expanded services into North Main, is assisting Findlay Park’s reopening, and is coordinating closely with city public works and police on parking-system changes and construction-related disruptions. The district also reported losing a one-year, city-funded outreach position when a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) expired; outreach duties have been absorbed by other ambassadors.

Metrics and goals: The presenter provided several performance measures and targets. Current downtown retail vacancy was reported at about 3.5%, office vacancy at about 11%, and the district said it seeks to double the number of “shopping-bag” retail outlets from roughly 19 to about 40 within five years, requiring conversion of some office storefronts to retail.

Concerns and operational notes: Council members and staff discussed traffic and project coordination; one council member noted the state Department of Transportation’s Assembly Street project and urged early communication with merchants to reduce business disruption. The district representative said he is in active communication with the city’s Henry Simons and others about construction notifications and parking signage.

Ending: Council members thanked the Main Street District team for downtown stewardship and asked staff to continue coordination on camera installations, the Findlay Park opening and communication with affected businesses as construction progresses.