“Location, location, location” is one economic mantra that doesn’t seem to be losing its potency anytime soon — especially if you’re young, a student and looking for somewhere to live in downtown Columbia.
A housing boom is resounding in Columbia, and business is responding accordingly. With the prospect of that population tripling in the next three years, outside interests are scrambling for increasingly expensive space as local businesses attempt to adapt.
New outcroppings like the massive, 850-bed Hub building is tripling the Main Street area’s school year population with an influx of more than 2,000 students. Businesses of all sorts are becoming increasingly centered on youth tastes and youth price-ranges to anticipate this shift in general customer taste. National retails stores like Urban Outfitters are already in tune to this market and will find no trouble in inserting itself into the upcoming bonanza.
Anything that is good for Main Street is good with us. It has flourished as a result of recent revitalization efforts, and this boom is going to give it the chance it needs (and deserves). An increase in population and the opening of new stores should give the street a more crowded, communal atmosphere.
If you live in an area you enjoy, you are more likely to participate and contribute to your community. This process of putting down roots will, in turn, induce students to think about staying in the city, instead of looking elsewhere for opportunity.
This bodes well for the city in the long-term, too. For some students, living in the state, let alone the city, is far from an appealing prospect. By creating an environment that is more conducive to long-term economic stability, the city is one step closer to creating a larger, more active community.
As for the university, these new housing developments will funnel more students towards the city, closer to the seat of government and center of business. A larger student presence in these areas is a nice development.
This housing boom embodies what we like to see most from the city: More beds and growing economic prosperity.