The old U.S. Bank building located on East Broadway in Columbia was demolished over the weekend to make way for a new multi-use building. The plan is for the building to have retail space on the bottom floor with five levels of residential space above.
“It was really fun to watch them tear down the building,” Stefan Sheffield, the store manager at Slackers, said.
Slackers is a store downtown that is right next to the site of the demolition. Sheffield said the building Slackers is in is connected to the old bank building by underground tunnels. Because the building is so close to demolition, Sheffield can hear and feel the construction being done.
“At first it was really weird,” Sheffield said. “You could see the shelves kind of vibrating, or we would hear something that sounded like doors slamming essentially.”
The City of Columbia hopes the commotion is worth it when a new multi-story building is built in the space.
Rusty Palmer, a planner for the city, said the new building will be more of a “highest and best use,” which means the prime downtown space will be better utilized with the new building.
“Having a lack of commercial space in an area is kind of detrimental to the properties around it as well,” Palmer said. “If you’re able to fill the space with successful businesses, it helps the businesses around it succeed as well. So, there’s a bit of a housing impact and a bit of a commercial viability impact as well.”
“I would think as long as we have more shops, as long as they’re interesting, cool stuff, then it will help us at least a little bit,” Sheffield said.
The sidewalk on Broadway by Tenth Street will remain closed as the construction happens. Palmer said the first one is good for 30 days, so there will probably be an extension for the construction period.
