The University of South Carolina Board of Trustees is beginning to explore its options for a medical school campus at the Commons at BullStreet.
Specifically, the board seems to be leaning toward developing 16 contiguous acres on the Harden Street side of the development, rather than a plan that would divide the medical campus into two separate parcels, the largest of which would run down Colonial Drive.
In September, the board approved relocating the USC School of Medicine from Garners Ferry Road to 16 acres of land in the burgeoning Bull Street development on the former site of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. Bob Hughes and Hughes Development, who are shepherding the sprawling Bull Street project, have agreed to donate the 16 acres to the university.
The Bull Street site is already home to the $37 million Spirit Communications Park, stadium of the Columbia Fireflies. Hughes has pledged to develop retail, restaurants, residential housing and more on the site in years to come.
The central elements of the USC project would include building a new School of Medicine for $80 million, as well as a $120 million science and laboratory building.
While there was not a vote on the matter, board members seemed to lean toward the idea of developing 16 contiguous acres along Harden Street, on the eastern side of the Bull Street site.
"You know, it's real interesting. I've looked at it and looked at it, and my idea was different," board member Eddie Floyd said. "I was thinking, if we had two pieces [of property] and there was a lake between it, it would be a beautiful concept. But, when [USC staff] described the advantages of having the property together, I changed my mind."
A presentation from USC staff noted that the plan calling for utilizing 16 contiguous acres "is superior based on design flexibility, protection from adjacent uses and long term functional objectives."
Floyd added that getting acreage in the Bull Street site was "really, really important" for the school, because of the general squeeze on available land downtown.
USC President Harris Pastides told Free Times he thinks the school needs more "professional guidance" on whether the medical campus should be on one 16-acre tract or two separate pieces of land.
"They are both good," Pastides says. "I don't think we're ready to pick."
Also during Friday's board meeting, USC Planning and Programming Director Derek Gruner said Hughes is contemplating putting a drug store in the Bull Street site at the corner of Harden and Colonial. When asked by board member Bubba Fennell whether the university could purchase the land at that corner, Gruner said Hughes "has pledged to do a drug store that is of a higher architectural quality."
Free Times has reached out to Hughes Development's Robert Hughes about the drug store.
