Thousands of state jobs could move from downtown Columbia. What it could mean for the city

More than 1,000 of state employees at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, and potentially an additional 1,200 more workers from other agencies, could be on the move out of their longtime Bull Street facilities, opening up significant parcels of land for potential redevelopment along the northern gateway to downtown Columbia.

Lawmakers want the state Department of Administration to find options to relocate DHEC, which is slated to be split into separate public health and environmental agencies, and potentially other agencies that currently have offices along Bull Street.

The request for proposals is included in a proviso, a one-year law attached to the annual spending plan proposal still being finalized by House and Senate budget writers.

Although lawmakers say the impetus to seek proposals for moving offices is because DHEC‘s facility is in desperate need of upgrades, the proviso says the state also could look at “relocating one or all of the state agencies or their successor agencies currently located on Bull Street in the City of Columbia.”

The Department of Social Services, the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, the Commission of the Blind and the Department of Administration also have offices along or near Bull Street with more than 1,200 state employees.

Of DHEC’s 3,600 total employees, 1,039 employees work along Bull Street. DHEC has about 725 more employees who work in the Columbia area, but those who work at the state lab and State Park Health Center are not part of the potential move, the agency said.

Moving state agencies off of Bull Street could put the properties back onto the tax rolls for the city of Columbia, especially as the surrounding area is redeveloped. The city has historically borne the weight of a significant amount of untaxed property, from government agencies and nonprofits to colleges and the military.

Columbia’s burgeoning Bull Street District on the former state mental hospital campus is the site of one of the most significant development projects in city history, including ongoing construction around Segra Park and planned construction of the University of South Carolina’s Health and Sciences campus.

Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, who was unaware of the proviso before it was introduced by state budget writers, said he would be supportive of state agencies moving off of the property and hopes the state would donate the land to the city so it could be marketed to a private developer to build downtown housing.

“We need an opportunity where we could use donated land to drive down the price so that could put in a mixed-income neighborhood,” Rickenmann said. “We can have a mix of workforce attainable housing and market rate in the core center, and that’s pretty much the core center of town.”

Lawmakers want a new location for state offices that is off of an interstate, has multiple buildings on the same parcel or adjacent parcels with a common main entrance.

Any space will need a large amount of parking and a large group meeting space, and “other amenities to support agency mission, amenities and conditions conducive to employee health and recruitment, employee and visitor safety and security.”

But lawmakers also want the Department of Administration to consider whether it’s practical to have locations large enough to house state employees in the Columbia area, but aren’t based on Bull Street, according to the proviso.

Requesting proposals allows the state determine if it’s best to abandon the DHEC facilities and set aside the properties for redevelopment, or refurbish the facilities to make them better for state employees, said Bruce Bannister, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

DHEC, which led the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and oversees environmental regulations, is slated to be split.

“We’re hoping we could right the ship on that agency,” Bannister said.

Whether other agencies on Bull Street could also be moved depends on “if we found spots for them to go that are nicer than where they are and would work,” Bannister said.

Lawmakers want the Department of Administration to present lease options by Nov. 1.