A 308-unit apartment complex could be coming to the lower Richland area.
The apartment complex, called Burnside Farms, will have 288 apartments and 20 townhomes, featuring one-, two- and three-bedroom units, according to city planning documents. The complex would take up more than 18 acres along Cliff Kinder and Pineview roads, just off busy Garners Ferry Road.
It's an area of town that's steadily growing. Officials have set their sights on that part of lower Richland for development of housing, as Garners Ferry remains a hotspot for larger retail and restaurant chains.
The area adjacent to where the apartments would sit has long been mostly empty, with scattered warehouses and various construction or industrial companies. But there's a plan to revitalize and develop that area, officials announced early February. The plan is to construct an assisted living facility, health care and a farmer's market on a 20-acre plot of land by late 2025.
This is the second time the developers, South Coast Property Investments in Hilton Head, submitted plans for this site. In November 2021, the same project was approved by the city's planning commission, but those approvals expired before permits were issued.
The development received unanimous approval from the city Planning Commission at an April 11 meeting.
Asian street food coming to former San Jose location
A new Asian restaurant is preparing to open on the site of the former Eric’s San Jose location on Rosewood Drive.
Alley Street Eats at 4478 Rosewood Dr. will offer street-style food from a variety of Asian cuisines, taking inspiration from Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong – where the owners immigrated from two decades ago.
The restaurant is still compiling its final menu and hopes to open by the end of the month or early May, a co-owner of the restaurant told the Post and Courier. Public records indicate the new restaurant received state health permits in early February.
Alley Street Eats will be locally owned and operated by a family with many years of experience in the Columbia Asian restaurant scene, the co-owner said.
The building housing the new restaurant was formerly home to Eric’s San Jose, a Mexican restaurant which closed in 2022. The building was last sold in February 2023, according to county records.
The former restaurant was owned by Eric Leon. Leon is the brother of Gregorio Leon, who was convicted in July 2023 of killing his wife’s lover in 2016. Greg Leon, who owned the Midlands chain of San Jose restaurants, died by suicide in his cell later that month.Â
Both Eric and Greg Leon operated separate San Jose restaurants under similar branding throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, according to court documents from a 2006 marketing dispute between the brothers. At the time of Greg Leon’s conviction, the Post and Courier reported his children had taken over the chain of restaurants.
New Starbucks coming to Camden
A new Starbucks location is coming to Highway 521 in Camden, directly off of I-20.
An opening date has not been publicly released, but vertical construction of the building appears to be nearing completion in an April 8 Instagram post from Columbia-based Mimms Contracting. Mimms is constructing the coffee shop’s building, according to the post.
The new Starbucks will be located next door to Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen restaurant. Several other restaurants and hotels are in the immediate area just off of I-20’s Exit 98.
The new location will join an existing Camden Starbucks on West DeKalb Street.
Other business news you might've missed:
Prohibition, the 1920s-themed cocktail bar and small plates restaurant that got its start in Charleston, opened its doors on Main Street April 10.Â
The long-awaited watering hole, at 1556 Main St., was initially announced in November 2021 and the space briefly held a holiday-themed pop-up bar that December.Â
It's open for dinner seven days a week from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. and drinks are poured until 2 a.m. The plan is to also include brunch on weekends in the future, the restaurant's owners said.Â
There's a new car wash coming to Spears Creek Church Road, according to city planning documents.Â
Tommy's Car Wash, a national car-cleaning franchise, has plans to open a new location in Woodcreek Farms, a housing development planned for that area. The car wash is yet another in the laundry list of others that've opened or will open in the Columbia area.Â
Plans for the car wash were approved by the City Planning Commission at an April 11 meeting. The development will be located on the 500 block of Spears Creek Church Road, according to city documents.
e-VAC Magnetics, a German company set to bring 300 jobs to Sumter through an upcoming manufacturing plant, was awarded $111.8 million in federal tax credits, according to a press release from the company.Â
That award, given through a program boosted by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, is the second for the rare earth permanent magnet manufacturer. e-VAC was awarded $94.1 million from the Department of Defense prior to announcing its Sumter plant.Â
The magnets produced by the company will be used in the batteries of electric vehicles.Â
