BUILDING BACK BABCOCK

A Rich History

The Bull Street District was home to the former South Carolina State Hospital and was run by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health for 150 years. As the way we care for the mentally ill changed over the years, the need for this type of campus changed as well. As a result, many of its buildings were vacated and abandoned, including the largest among them – The Babcock.

Though the building sat vacant for nearly 30 years, The Babcock and its iconic cupola remained an important landmark to Columbia and thus a crucial piece in the city’s revitalization. The state marketed the property for two years in 55 countries, and there was only one developer courageous enough to visualize its potential.

Berkadia’s client, Clachan Properties specializes in the adaptive reuse of historic buildings. They had the deep expertise in historic renovation needed for a project of this size and scale.

Restoring the Heart of the Bull Street District

This was Clachan’s first HUD(d)(4) loan. The Berkadia team walked them through the financing process.

Hugh Shytle, President of Clachan Properties recounts, “We would get a design in place, Berkadia would size a loan then we’d realize it wouldn’t work, or the historic tax credits were going to expire or we for whatever reason had to put it on hold.”

It took a lot of work and coordination from the Berkadia team, the HUD team, the contractor, and the architect to make sure this very important building could be preserved.

“The number of days between when we first put this under contract and when we started construction – 17,105 days. I told someone recently that basically rounds to forever.” Shytle jokes.

Clachan had just put their insurance policy on the building when a massive fire devastated the Babcock, destroying the iconic cupola. “It was the element of the building that people really were attached to. And then suddenly it was gone.”

Building Back Babcock

Working with the National Park Service, it was determined that enough of The Babcock remained to save the building and retain the historic tax credits. With that, the team went to work on replicating the historic cupola.

There were no drawings, so the architects poured over any photos available to create the replica, counting bricks to match as closely to the original. Setting the new cupola on the restored Babcock was a crowning achievement in a challenging yet rewarding project.

“A project of this scale and this complexity takes input from all over and in the case of Berkadia, they were there for us from the beginning. When we had to pause, they would pause with us. We’d restart it, tell them what had changed, why it should be done now, and they would get it going… they just were there for us when we were ready” said Shytle.

The Babcock opened its doors again to residents in August 2023. The revitalized building features 208 stunning apartment homes. Bull Street District development is ongoing, transforming the already-vibrant state capital city of Columbia, SC into the hub of the new urban South.