The promise of Colite City: Could it be West Columbia’s ‘most transformative project’ ever?

Behind the 12th Street Plaza shopping center and the bustle of Triangle City’s conglomerated intersections, a one-time West Columbia factory sits vacant and dilapidating. Determined signage still attempts to spell out “COLITE INDUSTRIES,” though a “t” and “s” have gone by the wayside.

The 300,000-square-foot facility at 228 North Parson St. was once home to that sign-making company’s world headquarters, before it departed for a new home in Columbia in 2008. The building and its still-striking signage were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

And they have continued to sit, seemingly undisturbed, showing little evidence of real estate development company Jams + Stark’s plans to transform the site into a multi-use development that would bring not just co-working space, but a food hall, multiple restaurants and more. The ambitious developers hope to have an impact similar to reclamation projects in cities such as Durham and Charlotte, which have helped turn those cities into destinations for culture and commerce.

But while nothing has visibly changed since the project, dubbed Colite City, was announced in October 2022, Wade Caughman, the company’s director of development, said recently that much has been done behind the scenes and specific announcements about what exactly will be moving into the new development are a few weeks away.

He added that progress has come slower than expected because of requirements that come with the property being on the National Register. The design phase the company has been working through included collaboration with the Savannah College of Art and Design, including a couple students from Columbia, Caughman said.

“I think people are starving for collaboration and engagement that they see in other areas, just like our Soda City Market,” he offered. “(That weekly Columbia market) is packed with different groups of people and ethnicities, types of businesses, creative, innovative entrepreneurs in all different ways. What we’re finding is ... there’s a lot of smart and great people in Colombia. But they’re all over the place, from Lexington to Irmo, downtown, Five Points, West Columbia.”

Colite City, Caughman added, would give them “an opportunity to collaborate in one location.”

The planned investment, the cost of which Caughman said he couldn’t yet disclose, would allow professionals and creatives a variety of spaces to carry out this collaboration, with maker/designer spaces, an entrepreneur hub featuring flex office space, studio spaces, and outdoor/indoor pocket parks envisioned as “creative and engaging spaces” all on the menu.

Beyond the specifically business-focused aspects, the project promises lifestyle enhancements for West Columbia, including the aforementioned food hall, two restaurant spaces and an event space the Colite City website dubs the CC Hanger. That 15,000-square-foot event space with an attached covered patio is pitched as a potential home for markets, dinners, music and special occasions.

Caughman detailed in an email that the project is in the process of locking down potential tenants, with those discussions including the likes of “well curated food hall concepts for the foodies of metro Columbia ... start-up tech companies, art/design, T-shirt makers, urban fitness, designers in fashion, furniture and leather.”

“We see many types of entrepreneurs creating synergy, from a blacksmith to a tech company to a designer who gets a great idea from a foodie in the food hall,” he added. “Unique and diverse people and businesses working together.”

Some might remember Caughman bringing to bear impactful local projects in the past — the residential developments City Club and Congaree Creek, for instance. Caughman’s also known for some past legal trouble — he went to prison for fraud and money laundering related to a phony luxury car deal that duped investors out of more than $1 million between 2011 and 2016.

But he and Jams + Stark aren’t running from his past trouble. Caughman said he was upfront with the company and he’s being upfront with every potential Colite City tenant he talks with about his checkered past.

And West Columbia leadership doesn’t seem bothered by Caughman having a large hand in a potentially game-changing project for the city.

“It’s my understanding that he’s been upfront with everybody that he’s talked to as a potential investor about his prior experiences,” said West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles. “And at the end of the day, I think Wade Caughman is a visionary, and the timing works, and he brings us a doable project. I look forward to seeing it being done.”

The mayor sees the promise of Colite City as a big deal for his city, saying that if it is completed it would be “the most transformative project in the history of West Columbia.”

“It is in the geographic heart and center of town and will be an unbelievable catalyst for the areas around it,” Miles added.

West Columbia City Councilman David Moye, whose district includes the former Colite factory, emphasized the positive impact it could have on the surrounding neighborhood, which runs along Jarvis Klapman Boulevard and is made up of older residences originally spurred by the need to house workers at the factory.

And like Miles, he isn’t concerned by Caughman’s involvement.

“The old Colite site has been identified as the most consequential redevelopment site in the area, that’s the bottom line,” Moye said in a statement to The State. “A great project does not care who built it. If council gets a proposal from the developer that will meet our community and economic goals, and the city’s legal team thinks there are adequate protections in place, then it is in our interest to pursue the project. If not, then we shouldn’t. At this point, I am optimistic about the future.”

The location of the site is likewise a big part of what excites Caughman about its potential. He said its proximity to Jarvis Klapman and the thoroughfares that meet in Triangle City make it easily accessible from downtown Columbia, Lexington and local interstates, which should help it become a hub for creativity and entrepreneurship — one that might help the Midlands catch up with its larger metropolitan neighbors.

“Atlanta is 500,000 people, but you and I know, Atlanta’s 6 million,” he said, comparing it to the greater metropolitan population of Columbia, which is nearly 1 million.

Caughman argued that attracting and retaining talent tempted by places like Atlanta, with all the business and lifestyle benefits made possible by their larger populations, means taking swings like Colite City.

“This project and the connectivity is really going to bring things together,” he added.

Eric Woodard, who owns the record and comic shop Scratch N’ Spin roughly four blocks away in Triangle City, is hopeful for what Colite City might do for the area. He sees the project as being able to appeal to young professionals and students approaching graduation, hopefully helping to motivate them to stay in the area — and spend time near his store.

It could “attract the right kind of young professional that hopefully will stay in Colombia that will bring energy and new blood, so to speak,” he said.