Board approves Core Spaces plan for two-tower mixed-use project on Main Street with parking consolidation

The City of Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals on May 1 approved a special exception to increase bedroom density for a private dormitory and mixed-use project on the 1400 block of Main Street, clearing a zoning threshold needed for the developer to move forward with site-level approvals.

Core Properties and Core Spaces representatives described the project as two connected towersa0— a 27-story market-rate tower on Main Street and a 22-story private-dormitory tower on Assembly Street with separate entrances and elevator cores that together would provide about 750 residential units and roughly 1,500 parking spaces. The development team said the garage will consolidate surface parking and provide 750 spaces dedicated to two nearby office buildings (identified in the record as 1441 and 1401 Main Street), with an allocation of approximately 300 spaces for 1441 and 450 spaces for 1401.

"This project will continue and accelerate the growth that we've all seen on Main Street in Columbia," Layton Lord of Maynard Nexon, counsel for Core Properties, told the board. Austin Pagnotta of Core Spaces said the team has considered parking and management, noting they have operated similar private-dormitory properties nationally and prepared an operational plan for security and noise controls. "We've been looking at this site for six years, since 2019," Pagnotta said.

Traffic engineer Mike Ridgeway said the plan consolidates five existing access points to Assembly Street down to a single restricted right-in/right-out access near the midpoint between Washington and Hampton streets, and that his intersection analyses of surrounding signals showed acceptable operations with the development. "A lot of the folks that will park here are already coming to downtown," Ridgeway said, arguing the garage shifts where people park rather than adding trips.

Public comment included support from downtown property owner Jerry Mitchell, who said the project would increase residential density and had been coordinated with nearby buildings. Julius Williams, speaking for Walk by Columbia, raised questions about the scale of the garage and about transit integration; the developers said they are exploring bike-share stations and noted many USC students use the Comet transit system.

Board discussion praised elements such as the proposed off-street drop-off/private alley, retail activation along Main Street, efforts to preserve an existing mural by setting the building back about 20 feet, and the project's mix of market-rate and private-dormitory units. One member said the project would help attract students to live downtown; another emphasized the project's potential to animate Main Street in a manner similar to the existing Hub building.

The board moved to approve the special exception "subject to staff comments," and the motion carried by voice vote; no roll-call names were recorded in the transcript. Staff comments and technical permits remain conditions before building permits are issued.

Clarifications from the record: the existing surface lot had about 200 spaces; the team said the garage will provide roughly 1,500 spaces in total, of which 750 will be dedicated to two office towers. The developer said their goal is to construct the parking deck early in the schedule to avoid taking surface parking off-line and that they control temporary relocation agreements for displaced surface lot spaces in a nearby Vista Garage during construction. The project team also described internal separation of the two residential components while using the site's combined density allocation.

What happens next: The board's approval of the special exception removes a zoning obstacle for the density increase; the project remains subject to staff conditions, site-plan approvals, and building-permit reviews. The developers and city staff indicated further coordination on parking operations, tenant parking contracts, and transportation integration would follow.