New $90M student apartments, hundreds of beds, planned near USC baseball stadium

A St. Louis-based developer is planning to build a new student housing complex near the University of South Carolina’s baseball stadium.

The approximately $90 million development would be located between Blossom Street, Huger Street and Wheat Street. Guignard Associates owns the property where Budget Truck Rental, S. Mart gas station and the Brickhouse Gym currently sit.

The student housing developer, Subtext Acquisitions, is asking the city for a zoning exception that would allow up to 960 beds and a 500-car parking garage to be built.

A public hearing will be held at 4 p.m. on Feb. 2 for the development, dubbed “VERVE Columbia.”

If the project gets approval from the Board of Zoning appeals, it still needs to go through the city’s Planning Commission for approval, the Columbia deputy zoning administrator said.

Subtext describes itself as a developer and manager of apartment and student housing communities in 12 “high-growth cities and college towns,” according to information in a zoning request.

The company has been developing student housing since 2013 and currently houses about 6,000 residents, it says in its zoning application.

This year, Subtext says it is set to open a $69 million project with 392 beds in Columbus, Ohio, and a $72 million project with 547 beds in Boise, Idaho. It already broke ground on a $122 million project with 751 beds in West Lafayette, Indiana.

A Subtext representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.

USC has no role in this development, USC spokesperson Jeff Stensland said.

But the request comes at the same time as several other student housing communities are looking to break ground near campus.

Sawyer on Lincoln, located near the USC College of Engineering, and The Standard Columbia, a 17-story complex on Assembly Street, are now leasing for this fall.

The USC Development Foundation also is planning a nearly 1,000-bed complex called Gadsden + Greene near Colonial Life Arena.

“There’s clearly demand for student housing that’s close to campus,” Stensland said. “It’s a lot more convenient for students to live close to where their classes are, close to where their friends are, so it does make sense on that level.”

And the university is building on-campus housing as well.

Campus Village, the largest development project in USC history, will house nearly 2,000 students on the south campus this fall.

With the largest freshman class in history, some community members are worried about how student housing may interfere with their homes.

“We’re threatened with this,” Kit Smith, a Wales Garden resident, previously told The State. “Some of our neighborhoods are being, just, eroded.”