VOLUME 13 NUMBER 14 ■ COLUMBIABUSINESSREPORT.COM
Happy trails
Part of the
network
OCTOBER 12-25, 2020 ■ $2.25
Gene Bell (foreground) and Tom Savory of Watson Tate Savory stand on the rooftop garden atop Columbia’s water and wastewater management building. (Photo/ Melinda Waldrop)
Forest Drive cafe closing doors after 17 years. Page 2
Helping hand
SC Biz News virtual attendees feed firefighters from North Charleston. Page 3
Key approval
Carolina Crossroads project granted federal permit. Page 4
Economic forecast
USC researchers expect 2021 to be year of recovery. Page 7
TOP-LEVEL INNOVATION
Municipal project garners merit award By Melinda Waldrop
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 4 In Focus: Architecture, Engineering and Construction ..........................................29 List: Landscape Architecture Firms..................................32 At Work...............................37 Viewpoint............................39
M
mwaldrop@scbiznews.com
otorists heading down Beltline Boulevard just before it intersects with Two Notch Road may do a double-take if they glance to the side, but not to worry. That really is a garden growing out of the roof of the city of Columbia’s water and wastewater management building. Once the site of an automobile dealership, the building is now a sustainable green oasis and the recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ South Atlantic Region merit award
for adaptive reuse. Columbia architectural firm Watson Tate Savory received one of 29 awards in the region, which includes South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified gold project on Sept. 16. “One of the things the director at the time told us was, ‘I just want everyone to have a window,’ ” said Gene Bell, project manager and principal at Watson Tate Savory. “This was our response.” The new construction includes a rooftop garden for water filtration, seven rain gardens sprinkled throughout the property to help
Biscuit buzz building
Rambo’s Fat Cat Biscuits set to open brick-and-mortar Cottontown space. Page 29
funnel rainwater into the aquifer, and reconfigurable walls made from recycled materials. Environmental assessments and cleanup had to be done before construction began on the site, which also features a repurposed body and maintenance shop. “This was also a brownfield site,” Bell said. “We had contamination from motor oil. Longtime hydraulic pumps were in there. We had tanks we had to dig up and dispose of.” The result is a far cry from the blighted building abandoned after its time as a car showroom. Inside the sleek, 60,000-square-foot See REUSE, Page 36