kierthos: (Default)
kierthos ([personal profile] kierthos) wrote2007-07-09 09:10 am

The university is buying even more land around here

I found out the other day that the building housing the nearby indie movie theater (the Nickelodeon) and a coffeeshop has been bought by USC. (University of South Carolina), and that they're going to be moving out within the next year. It just seems ridiculous that the university keep buying property up but then continues to raise tuition becase of whatever shitty reason they come up with. (In the past, they've blamed the state government, the need to stay competitive, whatever.)

They can't really go any further north, because that's where the statehouse and the downtown area is (lots of banks and high-rise office buildings), and even the university doesn't have enough money to buy them out. East is also right out, because it's private homes and then Five Points (one of the two nearby club/bar districts), They've been expanding South, but that's really starting to reach the "diminishing returns" level as well. So, West is left. What's west? The building I live in, of course. Now, I'm not horribly worried about the uni buying the building. But what else is west of the uni? My job. My place of business.

Now, we don't own the building. We lease it. I'd like to think that the lease-holder is bright enough to realize that we're always going to be able to pay for rent, and take a steady income on the property over getting a lump sum, but I'm not so sure... (And no, the people running things at the uni aren't bright enough to figure out that a vast number of their students use our business every day that school is in session, not to mention the professors who use us... after all, these are the same group of people who got rid of two centrally located parking lots, and then wondered why students were complaining about parking...)

And the sad thing is, there's still only so far that they can go to the west. They're sure as hell not going to be able to buy out the Wendy's, or the Shell station, or the CVS that's less then a year old. And too much further west gets into the Vista (well, northwest) which is the other bar/club district nearby, or some large businesses that own the land their building is on. They're not going to sell either. So hopefully, I won't have to worry about this.

[identity profile] martinhesselius.livejournal.com 2007-07-09 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)

No Nickelodeon?
SADNESS!

[identity profile] kierthos.livejournal.com 2007-07-09 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
That's what I was told... I mean, I've never even been there (and yet, I live a block away...), but it sucks nonetheless.

[identity profile] egearman.livejournal.com 2007-07-09 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
While losing the Nickelodeon does suck, I am honestly more upset over the coffee house. Given that Jammin' Java (which was downtown) shut down earlier this year, the number of independent coffee places is going down tremendously.

Which coffee place is this? Not Kewl Beans (or however they are spelling it these days)?

[identity profile] kierthos.livejournal.com 2007-07-09 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Immaculate Consumption.

I got this info from Howard, btw.

[identity profile] kierthos.livejournal.com 2007-07-09 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Update - Apparently, the Nickelodeon is going to be moving to a place on Main Street....