VOLUME 14 NUMBER 18 ■ COLUMBIABUSINESSREPORT.COM
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DECEMBER 6-19, 2021 ■ $2.25
The Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center at the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens includes a greenhouse as part the facility. (Photo/Melinda Waldrop)
Business of birds S.C. is one of the largest poultry producers in U.S. Page 4
Head above water New strategy helps buoy South Carolina Aquarium. Page 6
High-flying future
Clemson joins program to grow aerospace workforce. Page 8
TAKING ROOT Hampton-Preston greenhouse project to provide glimpse of history
Code changes
Richland County adds district to land-use plan. Page 18
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 In Focus: Architecture, Engineering and Construction .......................................... 13 List: Engineering Firms....... 14 At Work............................... 21 Viewpoint............................23
By Melinda Waldrop
O
mwaldrop@scbiznews.com
ne of Historic Columbia’s missions is to provide a thoughtful interpretation of area history, and its latest project is designed to get to the root of things. At the northwest corner of the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens on Pickens and Laurel streets, the Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center is taking shape. Designed by Lambert Architecture + Construction Services with Cohn Construction Services serving as general contractor, the project will feature a state-of-the-art greenhouse where plants as historically accurate as possible to
the mansion, built in 1818, will be propagated. The center will also feature interpretative programming and serve as a base for horticultural research. “It’s really going to enhance the grounds department here as far as capabilities on the production end of things, but also on the interpretative end of things,” said Keith Mearns, director of grounds for Historic Columbia. “Previous to this project, the very back part of the Hampton-Preston property was really just vacant. There was nothing there and it was really just like a wasteland. And so aside from the building itself, the project is actually going to finish out the site.” The horticultural center will also tell visi-
Columbia Under Construction
Catch up on the current projects shaping the Midlands. Page 19
tors its own story about the inhabitants of the mansion, which grew to be Columbia’s grandest residence under the affluent Hampton and Preston families, and the time periods preserved in the house and on its grounds. The Hampton-Preston mansion was home to several different owners following the Civil War before being extensively rehabilitated and opened as a historic site in 1970. “At the Hampton-Preston site, even though they cover a number of time periods inside, most of the discussion is centered around the Hamptons and the Prestons themselves, who lived in the house up to the Civil War,” Mearns See GREENHOUSE, Page 16