Developer sees future for living it up downtown

Ideas and development never seem to stop in downtown Columbia, and now Bob Walters has some lofty plans for the area. Walters, who heads Virtual Realty LLC, launched a Web site, www.ColumbiaLofts.net, in early August to investigate bringing loft-style condominiums to downtown.

“I lived downtown in college during my senior year,” Walters said. “It was great — you didn’t need a car or anything.”

Walters studied advertising at the MU School of Journalism in the graduating class of 1977 and is now putting that knowledge to use in a $10,000 advertising campaign to explore the possibility of lofts in Columbia. Although he doesn’t own property yet, he’s testing “the degree of interest in the community,” and said he thinks the Web site is a creative way to quantify the interest.

“The whole purpose is a way to investigate and research the market,” Walters said. “A lot of people have the gut feeling that the time is right, and I do, too. There’s going to be at least two markets here — 50 plus and the young professionals.”

Revitalizing downtown has been a running theme in recent months. The canopy along Broadway was removed in July, and officials have sought to beautify streets and ­— in a Land Use Opportunities Study by Sasaki Associates — explore new options about how to maximize downtown’s potential.

“It’s an opportunity to create a more vibrant, mixed-use downtown district that will reinforce the college and university’s larger educational research and cultural goals in cooperation with the city,” said Fred Merrill, an urban planner for Sasaki.

Merrill helped start the land use study to gather information to “provide a conceptual framework” for officials to make decisions, he said. But such residential expansion carries consequences, evident in the recent debates about widening streets and adding a grocery store downtown.

“We’ve got to start assessing the technical and economic challenges,” said Tim Teddy, the city’s planning and development director. “People say, ‘Well, if we’re going to house people, we’re going to need a grocery.’”

Teddy met with Walters and others on Sept. 21 to discuss these challenges. He said that many people he knows are excited about expanding residential possibilities downtown, specifically for mixed-use loft housing, and he sees the untapped potential.

Walters also has met multiple times with Carrie Gartner, director of the Special Business District. Gartner said that Columbia is “really underserved when it comes to residential units,” and she’s excited about expanding the city’s options. The Special Business District often receives calls from a diverse range of people inquiring about residential availability, she said.

Walters’ Web site describes a grand vision of downtown Columbia: lofts spreading out “directly downtown, south of Broadway between College Avenue and Providence Road. Loft buildings would be approximately four stories tall, with businesses on the ground level and residential lofts on the floors above.”

Residents’ age range, their ties to the community, the types of amenities they would want, and other factors are parts of a survey Walters posted online in August. He wants feedback and contact information from at least 250 people before moving forward. Walters thinks he can reach his goal by late October. The results could then help determine his plans as well as lead to useful focus groups and follow-ups for market research.

“My hope would be, come the end of October, to consult with property owners and city officials to get moving,” Walters said. “I think the earliest people could be living in lofts could be in 2008.”

Merrill sees expanding residential options as only one component in a possible downtown renaissance, drawing specialty retail, better hotels and what he calls potential for a “great public square.”

“Downtown becomes this symbol of great educational institutions and a great city,” Merrill said. “I think there are more opportunities than obstacles.”