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Celebrating 10 years of Midlands business stories

Staff //August 23, 2018//

Celebrating 10 years of Midlands business stories

Staff //August 23, 2018//

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We are marking the 10th anniversary of the Columbia Regional Business Report this month. What a decade it has been!

In the past year, I have written other 10-year business anniversary stories for some of our special publications. The sentiment is universal: To make it through these particular 10 years, that’s something. For the Business Report, there’s the additional challenge of being a part of the news media and finding a way to keep going for these 10 years.

You see, our first print edition — Aug. 25, 2008 — was on the cusp of what would come to be known as the Great Recession. I don’t think anyone realized the extent of it at the time, but there were hints in that first edition: Mortgage foreclosures were up, as well as office vacancy rates, and struggling financial institutions were closing.

On the front page were three significant stories:

  • Institutional construction projects worth more than $1 billion by the University of South Carolina, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, SCANA Corp. and others.
  • SCANA headquarters’ move out of downtown, taking 1,100 employees and leaving 450,000 square feet empty.
  • And USC’s brand-new president. His name? Harris Pastides.

Spin forward 10 years, and guess what? Institutional construction projects are continuing to change the face of the Midlands, SCANA is still making headlines and Harris Pastides is celebrating his 10th year (his anniversary was Aug. 1) leading USC.

Chronicling the Midlands’ transformation has been an honor for us at the Columbia Regional Business Report. As the ranks of news journalism have thinned, we are glad to be in the position to keep you informed about business and economic development.

We have watched as Columbia’s somewhat sleepy downtown has become a vibrant, 24/7 city center. If you don’t believe me, just try finding a parking space at lunchtime on a workday or during the wildly popular Soda City Market on Saturday.

We’ve welcomed new industries, including Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Samsung and China Jushi. We’ve documented the reimagining of the former state mental hospital grounds into a cool urban space, including a beautiful baseball park. We’ve written about creative individuals turning battered old buildings into marvelous new businesses or living spaces.

We were there with you when the 2015 flood brought devastation, providing daily email updates and reporting on losses, recovery and triumphs.

Extending our reach beyond the central city, we’ve written about the town of Lexington’s amazing growth. Last year we celebrated Fort Jackson’s 100th birthday with a special section.

And the University of South Carolina? When Pastides took on the leadership, he was immediately faced with cutting the budget by 3%. “That’s a cold splash of water in the face,” he said at the time. “It sent me immediately into soul searching about the promises I made when I took office.”

Pastides’ administration bravely faced the future with a new strategic plan, Focus Carolina. In his 10 years of leadership, the university has awarded 100,000 degrees and grown to have a $5.5 billion economic impact on South Carolina.

Even SCANA’s move out of downtown to its new campus in Cayce, so unsettling at the time, ultimately had benefits. The move led to a development boom for the city of Cayce.

And that massive vacant building left behind on Main Street? It became The Hub, home to about 850 college students, lending an impetus to restaurant and retail development downtown and helping make the center city a true round-the-clock destination.

Which leads me to this: Looking back now, it’s easy to see that what may have seemed like an impossible challenge at the time actually resulted in something wonderful. (See empty megabuilding=cool student housing above.)

Going forward, I hope we can all remember that when times look scary.

I’ve enjoyed sharing our story. We look forward to continuing to tell yours.

Here’s to the next 10 years!

C