USC trustees approved a lease agreement with Holder Properties Inc. to construct two student apartment complexes and an office building, marking a nearly $120 million investment.
The university won’t spend any money to fund the project, but it will get a cut, because Holder Properties is using USC’s land. Each year, the university will get $526,000 in rent from the three buildings, as well as 15 percent of the profits for at least 30 years. According to the lease, the building will be USC’s property in 40 years.
The housing complexes will open in the fall of 2015 and fall of 2016, Together, the two will add about 900 beds and around 700 parking spaces.
USC will spend $664,000 to rent a quarter office building, which will stand on the corner of Assembly and Blossom streets. That space will be dedicated to the College of Engineering and Computing, while the rest will be rented out to outside entities, USC President Harris Pastides said.
“There has been a longstanding need for [the College of Engineering and Computing] to expand space for faculty and students,” Pastides said. “Faculty hired in the last few years have been working in constrained spaces and rented spaces, and now they’ll move back to campus.”
Pastides said the search for a private developer came down to a group of three companies; financing and track record of work in the area, among other factors, were taken into consideration.
“It’s a groundbreaking model for South Carolina education,” Pastides said. “I think we’re the first, but you’ll see others looking at it soon.”
Holder has built the Adesso condominiums and Aspyre apartments in Columbia, both of which house USC students.
The project will need approval from several more agencies before work will begin. It will need zoning and design OK from the city, and the deal needs to be approved by the state Commission on Higher Education and the Budget and Control Board.
USC’s need for more beds and space for faculty is no secret. According to USC’s housing master plan, the university has an existing demand for 830 new beds and more academic space than the new office building will provide.
“Neither the proposed housing nor the office-academic facilities accommodate all the existing demands,” USC said in a statement. “This is a start.”