A plan to expand the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center has lost $9 million in state money previously allocated for the project. Despite the loss, Columbia City Councilman Howard Duvall says the city hasn’t abandoned the expansion.

“We are still looking for a plan that can be fully supported by Richland County and the city,” Duvall said, adding he thinks expansion could still happen “in the not too distant future.”

At least in the short term, those plans won’t benefit from state money. The $9 million allocated for the convention center in the 2021-22 state budget has now been divided to help three separate projects across the city.

They include $3 million for the city’s beleaguered flood relief program meant to help homeowners repair damage caused by the historic 2015 flood. An April report from The State revealed that program has been mismanaged and paid to repair only a fraction of the homes it was meant to.

The $3 million in state money will help the city finish those repairs, Duvall said.

Another $2 million will go toward further improving the area around All-Stars Field on Beltline Boulevard. The city in 2019 transformed a vacant parcel into the youth baseball facility it is now and hopes to continue adding to the success with a community center, public gym, and an urban farm or food co-op.

To fully execute those plans the city estimates having to spend up to $14 million.

The final $4 million from the convention center pot is proposed for a new state Farmer’s Market on Bluff Road near the Atlas Road intersection, according to State Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, who sponsored the amendment.

The Post and Courier first reported on the new market.

The $4 million answers a promise made years ago to bring a state farmer’s market back to Richland County after after Lexington County “stole” the market, Rutherford said.

The market will be located on land Bible Way Church owned until November 2021. State Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, is the pastor of the church and has previously drawn scrutiny for state money sent to his nonprofit connected to the church.

Paul Mitchell, CEO of South Coast Paper and chair of Optus Bank now owns the property through New Millennium Properties LLC. Rutherford could not specify when the location for the market was decided on and said he had no hand in choosing the location.

Rutherford said it will be up to the city of Columbia and the state Department of Agriculture to get the market off the ground. The State has reached out to the Department of Agriculture.

As for the convention center, Duvall said the city is pursuing other strategies to pay for expansion. City leaders have directed Bill Ellen, who manages the convention center, to seek out private developers to build a new hotel and parking structure needed to support a larger venue.

Previously, developer Ben Arnold, a Columbia native whose company owns the majority of the properties surrounding the venue in downtown Columbia, had plans to spend more than $300 million on new hotels and a business tower to support the convention center expansion.

Arnold pulled out of that development in March, after Richland County leaders apparently balked at spending tens or hundreds of millions to build a needed parking deck for the project.

“If the expansion and the financial support of the development are undertaken as requested, it would represent the largest joint financial contribution by the county and the city to any single project,” Richland County Administrator Leonardo Brown wrote to Arnold in late March. “The county is not confident that its execution of a lease for the parking structures is an acceptable financial risk or the best mechanism for the county to encourage private development to support the expansion.”

The city was also concerned with the scope of Arnold’s proposal – a sweeping $511 million public-private development plan reliant on a $75 million city commitment to expand the undersized convention enter and a commitment from Richland County to pay back the cost of the construction of parking structures.

Duvall said even without Arnold’s involvement, the city hopes to find other private developers for the initiative. It also hopes to find a smaller, less expensive proposal moving forward.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include details about the proposed farmers market on Bluff Road.

This story was originally published July 6, 2022 at 11:38 AM.