New 960-bed student apartment clears latest hurdle in Columbia. Here’s what it will look like

Morgan Hughes
·2 min read

The new “Verve Columbia” student apartment complex set to be built near the University of South Carolina baseball stadium has cleared another hurdle.

A Thursday zoning meeting was a minor step for the developer, which asked and received approval for exceptions to certain rules about activity on the ground floor and how far the yard is from the street.

The Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals approved the request Thursday. The board previously approved a request from the developer to build a more dense apartment than would have been allowed. The student apartments have been approved for up to 960 beds and are expected to be five stories tall.

A rendering of what proposed student apartments Verve Columbia will look like when complete. The $90 million project will be at the intersection of Huger and Blossom streets.
A rendering of what proposed student apartments Verve Columbia will look like when complete. The $90 million project will be at the intersection of Huger and Blossom streets.

The approximately $90 million development will 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.

A 500-car parking garage is also part of the project, as is a public dog park and 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground level. St. Louis-based developer Subtext Acquisitions is leading the effort.

During a previous hearing with the Board of Zoning Appeals, some residents brought concerns about traffic and noise. An attorney for the company told the board Thursday that the company has been in touch with all of the residents who attended the previous meeting and received letters of support from some of them. No members of the public spoke against the project Thursday.

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 prior zoning request. The company has been developing student housing since 2013 and currently houses about 6,000 residents, it wrote in that request.

A rendering of what proposed student apartments Verve Columbia will look like when complete. The $90 million project will be at the intersection of Huger and Blossom streets.
A rendering of what proposed student apartments Verve Columbia will look like when complete. The $90 million project will be at the intersection of Huger and Blossom streets.

The project still needs approval from the city’s design and planning officials.

If approved, it will join a growing number of downtown student housing options.

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.

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.