By Jessica Holdman
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — State-paid renovations on the future, rented home of South Carolina’s public health agencies are expected to begin in early spring.
The state Department of Administration, which serves as a clearinghouse for all state property, reported to the Legislature’s fiscal oversight committee Monday, Dec. 2, that it plans to lock in a construction contract in February.
The contractor will remodel the interior of a former utility company campus to meet the needs of more than 1,700 state employees moving from downtown Columbia to Lexington County.
The $5.5 million project is scheduled for completion in May, according to the committee documents.
That would be a month before the end of the first year of lease paid on the property.
The 14-year-old complex, previously home to the South Carolina offices of Dominion Energy, will house the state agencies for public health, mental health, disabilities, and alcohol and drug addiction treatment.
The state, in late 2023, inked a 20-year lease — worth about $380 million — with Columbia-area real estate developer and S.C. Ports Authority Chairman Bill Stern for the property.
The lease started July 1 with the beginning of the current budget year, but improvements still need to be made before all the agencies can move in.
The renovations and moving costs were part of the $30 million that legislators put toward the first year of leasing the property. The rent alone is $11 million for the fiscal year ending June 30. Other expenses include the utilities and county property taxes, which the state doesn’t pay on property it owns.
The deal followed a legislative mandate that broke up the state’s massive public health and environmental agency.
Members of the House then attempted to take things a step further, with plans to merge the new, separate public health agency with the state departments of Disabilities and Special Needs, Mental Health and Alcohol and other Drug Abuse, as well as those overseeing services for the elderly and patients covered by Medicaid.
But those efforts were thwarted by an ultra-conservative faction within the state House in the final minutes of the regular legislative session.
The House Freedom Caucus blocked the merger bill. But the planned move of state offices out of the redeveloped BullStreet District in downtown Columbia proceeded.
Lease renewed
Also on Monday, the fiscal overseers gave the nod to a seven-year lease renewal by one of the agencies considered in the merger.
The state Department on Aging will stay in the downtown Columbia office tower across from the Statehouse where it has been for the last 20 years, increasing the space it leases to 14,300 square feet.
The agency will spend $2.67 million over the course of the lease, which will begin July 1, 2025. As part of the deal, the agency will contribute $350,000 to renovate the space, covering a little over half of the costs of improvements.
Senate President Thomas Alexander raised questions over why the state was paying for improvements to the privately-owned building before voting in favor of the lease agreement.
The Walhalla Republican did not raise similar objections to the more expensive renovations at the privately-owned property that will house other health-related agencies.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the S.C. Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier. S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
