More Commercial Building Permits

Commercial construction has reached a new high in Columbia. After building permits for new businesses dropped by 7% in 2011, the numbers came roaring back the following year. In 2012, the city issued more than 1500 permits — an increase of more than 21% from 2011. At U.S. Highway 63 and Stadium Boulevard, what used to be a dead end, is now a construction zone. A newly relocated Factory Furniture Outlet is already open there, while new student housing, a Break Time gas station and Holiday Inn are under construction, and other businesses are still looking to build. Growth in the Highway 63 and Stadium Boulevard area prompted the owners of Asset Campus Housing to start building new units. The company searched around town for two years before settling on the site. FFO owners were looking for a bigger location in a less-commercialized area. Bob Colborn, FFO Home store manager said, “This area down here is growing so much. The area we were in is getting so commercialized, this area over here, there is a lot of new homes being built, all the apartments and the college is down the street from us. That’s a big incentive right there.” The state’s millions of dollars in road improvements have helped developers as well. “The city is going to take Stadium Boulevard all around and run it into lake of the woods area and i think it’s a matter of a year and that will happen,” Colborn said. Business owners hope that takes pressure off I-70 and Highway 63, and brings them even more business.