The University of South Carolina’s Board of Trustees approved on Friday (Aug. 23) the “USC Next” campus master plan, establishing an ambitious vision for future growth and development on the school’s Columbia campus.

USC Next was developed in collaboration with Sasaki Associates design firm and provides a framework for construction and renovation projects designed to help the university meet the needs of students, faculty and staff for decades to come.

The plan is anchored to four overarching goals: reinvigorating the historic campus core; improving the student life experience; reimagining USC’s research footprint; and realizing a new health sciences campus. 

USC Next follows the university’s previous master plan, which was completed in 2018. The plan accommodates for future growth in the student body and maximizes currently underutilized areas near the heart of campus while allowing for new teaching and research facilities, student housing and more.

USC’s Columbia campus consists of more than 36,000 students, more than 2,600 faculty and more than 7,200 staff members. Officials said enrollment is expected to grow at a steady, controlled rate through at least the next decade, so accommodating growth is a key feature of USC Next. 

“USC Next honors the university’s rich history, while presenting new opportunities to better serve our community in the future,” President Michael Amiridis said.

 He added, “While not every project imagined in the plan will come to fruition, USC Next provides a valuable perspective on the university’s infrastructure and how to design it to best accommodate our current and future needs.” 

USC has used master plans for three decades to meet the needs of its students and to contribute to an enhanced quality of life for the entire community.

Future USC Next projects will include improvements to athletic venues and the land near Williams Brice Stadium, an expansion of student dining and meeting areas, and additional parking and transportation options.

USC also will continue to partner with state and local government to realize additional pedestrian connectors to the Congaree River, fulfilling a vision outlined in USC’s first master plan in 1994.

“The university and the entire community benefit from a campus plan that provides an inspiring vision for the future. USC Next does that, and serves as a roadmap to ensure current and future campus development is strategic, integrated, and consistent with what a South Carolina should expect from a world-class research university,” Board Chairman Thad Westbrook said. 

Projects in USC Next that are under way include: 

* Redevelopment of the McBryde residence hall: Built in 1955, the McBryde quad is the former home to 13 USC fraternities. Its location near the heart of campus makes it an ideal location for updated undergraduate residential development. 

* Completion of a new wing on the Honors College residential hall, accommodating approximately 150 additional students: The Honors College, situated at the corner of Blossom and Main streets, currently houses about 540 students. 

* Renovation of Thomas Cooper Library: This previously approved project will include additional group and individual study space, as well as a new HVAC system to reduce humidity. 

Thomas Cooper Library was constructed in 1959 and designed by internationally renowned architect Edward Durell Stone. The eight-story structure includes more than 283,000 square feet of space.   

* Upfit and renovation of the East Tower of the Science and Technology building: The project will include three floors of state-of-the-art classroom, lab and study space. 

* Construction of the new School of Medicine and research building slated for construction in the city’s growing BullStreet District: 

The $300 million, 308,000-square-foot building will support medical education and multidisciplinary research. Construction will begin in 2025. 

Future plans include a health sciences campus consisting of up to four additional buildings on the 16-acre site surrounding the School of Medicine/research building. 

* Restoration of seven former historic homes located on College and Henderson streets: USC will seek a private partnership to renovate, preserve and repurpose the buildings for multiple appropriate uses. 

The homes date to the 1920s and earlier and have most recently been used as university offices. 

* Redevelopment of the 14-story Rutledge Building at Bull and Senate streets, formerly home to the SC Department of Education: The university will seek a partnership with a private developer for possible conversion into residential space. 

Officials said each USC Next project will require individual approval, and university officials will engage in an ongoing process to identify priorities and establish project financing. 

For more information go to the USC Next site.

National truck parking operators We Realize Inc. and StoreMyTruck.com announced a pending merger that will make the combined entities the largest truck parking operator in the world. 

Cody Horchak and Keith Cristal, founders and CEOs of Realize and StoreMyTruck, respectively, made the announcement to a crowd of more than 350 commercial real estate and IOS investors and brokers at the National Association of Industrial Outdoor Storage’s inaugural Industrial Outdoor Storage Summit in Atlanta, Ga. on Thursday, Aug. 15. 

“The need for additional truck parking across the country continues to compound with each passing day, and it has become clear that privately owned companies are able to meet the need much faster than government-led initiatives,” Horchak said. 

Horchak added, “Realize is incredibly excited to merge with StoreMyTruck to significantly increase the U.S.’s truck parking supply and provide additional safe parking locations in markets where they are most needed.” 

“As the nation's oldest truck parking operator, StoreMyTruck has long recognized the needs and the interest of truckers to find a safe place to park, away from exit ramps or crowded shopping centers," Cristal said. 

Cristal added, "The Realize team brings a forward-thinking approach to our business that will take us both to the next level, so that together we can build incredible brand recognition and become ‘the McDonald's of truck parking’ across the country.” 

Realize, founded in 2023 by Horchak in Nashville, Tennessee, operates 13 truck parking lots in Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. 

Horchak brings significant tenure in the technology space, having built and exited a software company prior to starting Realize, and is supported by Chief Financial Officer Steve LaMontagne, who has more than 40 years of experience in real estate and financial advisory. 

Since its inception in 2009 with Cristal at the helm, Atlanta-based StoreMyTruck has grown to include 71 locations across Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. 

Both Realize and StoreMyTruck’s truck parking lots are located in and around major metropolitan areas and highly trafficked interstates and highways, and include security features and amenities such as full perimeter fencing and automated gates with keypads, stadium lighting, 24/7 surveillance, and private, air-conditioned restrooms and showers. 

Daily, weekly, and monthly rates are available at all locations, as well as the option to rent space by the acre for larger operators and fleets. 

Realize and StoreMyTruck expect to have more than 200 sites in their joint portfolio by the end of 2024 and are pursuing locations in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah and Virginia, in addition to new locations in existing markets such as Georgia, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. 

The companies are engaging with brokers and land owners to lease or purchase additional properties, as well as working with major carriers to supplement parking and storage needs for their fleets nationwide.

Geographic constraints are forcing Charleston’s growth patterns outward with the bulk of new construction occurring in the Nexton/Summerville and Carnes Crossroads areas, according to the 2024 Q2 Charleston Retail Report by Colliers, the largest full-service commercial real estate firm in South Carolina with 62 licensed real estate professionals covering the state with locations in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg. 

Colliers said rent growth has been inconsistent across the market, with the Charleston Peninsula submarkets seeing weighted asking rents decrease and vacancy increase as leisure travel has flattened out. 

It said the market continues to post strong net absorption as grocers, fitness centers and experiential retail enter new submarkets and seek highly visible space within existing corridors. 

And it said leasing velocity is high, and Charleston’s wage growth has supported restaurants in bucking a national slowdown as consumers trade down due to rising costs. 

Vacancy continued to fall sharply to 2.12 percent as net absorption remained strong at 100,727 square feet while shop space asking lease rates decreased to $31.88 per square foot. 

The market added a net of 3,464 square feet of supply, increasing total inventory to 20,787,144 square feet, Colliers said.

The Riley Institute at Furman University announced that South Carolina Sen. Katrina Shealy (R-Lexington Dist. 23) and Judge Merl Code will receive the 2025 Riley-Wilkins OneSouthCarolina Legislative and Civic Leadership Awards, respectively. 

The awards recognize outstanding, principled leadership in South Carolina and honor the statesmanship of Dick Riley, former U.S. secretary of education and former two-term governor of South Carolina, and David Wilkins, former U.S. ambassador to Canada and former speaker of the South Carolina House. 

“Governor Riley and Speaker Wilkins exemplified a commitment to working across the aisles to make our state a better place. These awards are given to move that spirit forward in the legislature and in the civic life of our state,” said Don Gordon, Ph.D., founding executive director of the Riley Institute. 

Gordon added, “Senator Shealy and Judge Code epitomize how leaders work cooperatively and collaboratively to make South Carolina a place where all South Carolinians, regardless of their background, can live and flourish.” 

Shealy has represented the 23rd District since 2013. When she was elected in 2012, she was the only woman in the South Carolina Senate. 

Throughout her tenure, Shealy has been an advocate for children and families, playing a leading role in juvenile justice reform and serving as the sponsor of legislation creating the Office of the Child Advocate in South Carolina. 

Officials said that as chair of the Family and Veterans’ Services Committee; past chair of the Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children; and member of the Finance, Corrections and Penology, Rules and Labor, Commerce and Industry committees, Shealy has a proven record for working collaboratively to drive progress for South Carolinians. 

In addition to being Greenville’s first African American municipal court judge, Code was the first African American to serve as chairman of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. 

An entrepreneur and attorney, Code has served on a number of community boards, including the Furman University Board of Trustees and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Board of Directors, and he is a strong advocate for African American business development and social change. 

Code has received many awards and honors, including the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian award and the Compleat Lawyer Award by the South Carolina Bar Association. 

The awards dinner honoring Shealy and Code will take place Jan. 14, 2025, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.