June 16th, 2011
Columbia State Hospital Sale OK’ed
South Carolina’s state Budget and Control Board has approved the sale of the former Columbia State Hospital to developer Bob Hughes. You can read about it here: Board OKs Dept. of Mental Health’s Sale of Bull Street Property.
Redevelopment will take several years. There’s not much information on exactly what will be done with the property, and more importantly whether the historic buildings will be saved. The statement that the developer wants to create a “world-class residential and commercial neighborhood that respects the property’s special place in the city’s history” sounds promising, but is a little too vague to make me feel like the Kirkbride is safe from the wrecking ball.
This profile of Bob Hughes makes preservation sound like a possibility, but it certainly doesn’t say it’s a given: Bull Street Developer Led Greenville Revival.
