With the possibility of a 15-story housing complex being built within a block of the Horseshoe, the My Carolina Alumni Association has argued that it is not far enough from the historic quadrangle, and, as a result, it will at times it will “cast a dark shadow on the historic Horseshoe.”
According to a 'shadow' study published on saveourhorseshoe.org, the Horseshoe will be more or less completely shaded at 4:30 p.m. in December by the future building known as the Icon on Main. This will leave it forever changed and, in turn, jeopardize USC traditions, changing the character of the Horseshoe, as told by the My Carolina association.
Icon on Main's Tennessee-based developer, EdR, tells a different story. An EdR representative told The State newspaper that the company had done its own 'shadow' study which countered My Carolina’s study.
“This development shouldn’t negatively impact [the Horseshoe] in any way,” said Samantha DeWees, a research analyst with the real estate firm handling the deal for EdR. “If anything, it would give students a better opportunity to experience the Horseshoe because they would be within walking distance.”
Still, My Carolina’s Save Our Horseshoe campaign has managed to gain over 8,300 signatures through snowball effect sharing on social media.
For a campaign with so many signatures, several USC students do not seem too upset about the proposed apartment complex, even after knowing of the shadow it would cast.
“Shadows to me isn’t a big deal, I don’t think,” Luke Ralston, a third-year mechanical engineering student, said. “I’m not really picky about that stuff.”
Some are especially skeptical of how detrimental the shadow would actually be.
“I’d be interested to see how that would make a shadow from a couple streets over,” third-year nursing student Ashley Rogers said. “The Byrnes building is right there and it doesn’t really change things much.”
In an article on The Odyssey, a college community-oriented news publication, USC second-year exercise science student Ross Lordo wrote an opinion piece of similar views.
“The Cornell Arms apartments right beside the horseshoe is eighteen stories high and somehow that does not cast a glooming shadow on our beloved area home to many campus events and traditions,” Lordo wrote. “Maybe one day in December for ten minutes there might be a shadow, but I can’t see how at the peak of the day when the sun is in the middle of the sky not having the horseshoe gleaming like always.”
Several students propose the counter-argument that the necessity for housing trumps a possibly shadowed Horseshoe.
“So many people need housing constantly,” second-year psychology student Cam Branham said.
“[The new building] would bring more student housing much closer to campus within walking distance instead of way past the stadium,” fourth-year English student McKinsey Poole said, who also added that she believes there to be somewhat of a hidden agenda by the University. “The new building will have nothing to do with the Horseshoe. It is a fear tactic they are using so they can create a monopoly near campus.”
If the My Carolina Alumni Association wants a bigger response, at least from students, it seems they may have to ride their campaign on a bigger wave than the shadow.