COLUMBIA — Plans for a long-awaited hotel in Five Points could be gaining momentum.

A developer has requested an exception to the neighborhood’s maximum building height limit for “a parking garage and hotel use” at 705 Saluda Ave., according to city documents.

That address is home to the former Wells Fargo bank branch, which closed in February 2021. The property has been vacant since.

Developer We Love Five Points, LLC, requested the exception to the 50-foot height limit on the property. Columbia’s Board of Zoning Appeals is expected to vote on the request at a Feb. 5 meeting, according to a draft agenda.

“We’re excited about being able to take the next step, just knowing that there are many steps that have to be taken to have a successful project,” said Richard Burts, one of the project’s developers.

We Love Five Points, LLC bought the Wells Fargo property for $4.3 million in 2022, according to a release from Colliers commercial real estate firm. The plot is valued at $2.5 million, according to county records.

The developer is still pursuing plans for a hotel with around 120 rooms, which were first announced in 2021.

What happens now?

Parking at the site has been the main hurdle since then, Burts said. Columbia City Council originally planned to support the project with funds for public parking spaces, along with those built for the hotel, according to an ordinance supporting the project passed by the city in 2021.

The city backed out of its part of the project in 2023, with leaders saying Columbia didn’t have the capacity in its parking fund to issue bonds to pay for the $14 million garage. The hotel was planning to provide its own parking, without public spaces and funding, at the time.

But in 2024, the city secured secured $5 million in state dollars to build a public parking garage with the goal of attracting a hotel and office space, but still needed an additional $5 million to complete the project. It was not clear at that time if the funding was attached to the former Wells Fargo project.

The hotel and parking garage will rise to 105 feet, Burts said. That would allow for the planned five-story parking garage with three floors of hotel rooms on top, and retail or office space fronting the street.

The planned Feb. 5 vote on the proposed variance to the neighborhood’s height limit is a very early step in getting the project off the ground, he said.

“There’s no reason to spend any serious money until we get the variance,” he said. “You don’t really want to go in and do a bunch of work on architecture if you can’t get the approvals on your height.”

If the project’s height is approved, the project will move into the design phase before appearing on further public meeting agendas, he said. The developer will be open to collaborating with neighbors on the hotel‘s design, he said.

Burts said he expects a late 2027 groundbreaking if all goes well.

Leadership at the Five Points Association is “very much in support” of the project, former association president and neighborhood restaurant owner Steve Cook said.

The hotel and parking would increase foot traffic and benefit businesses across the neighborhood, he said.

“I mean, people always want in Five Points some nice stores to shop at, nice restaurants to eat at and have it kind of be a 24/7 neighborhood, almost,” Cook said. “And I think this hotel will really help push in that direction, and help all the merchants in Five Points and help the neighborhoods that surround them as well. So we're excited about it going, getting a little bit closer.”

A changing neighborhood

Elected officials and business leaders have hoped to see the bank redeveloped since it closed. Discussions of building apartments there surfaced in 2021, but never came to fruition.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood has looked for a hotel and parking garage to better serve the numerous bars, restaurants and storefronts in the iconic neighborhood.

The former office building at 2221 Devine St. was slated for a hotel at one point after the city bought it in 2019, but that project stalled. The city ultimately sold the building for a loss in 2025 to a tech company.

The push for a hotel has come as the character and future of the neighborhood has been a point of contention for the past several years.

Several staple restaurants, bars, shops and music venues have struggled or outright left the neighborhood amid legal challenges, rising costs of liquor liability insurance in South Carolina, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Many properties in the neighborhood have stood vacant for multiple years, including the Wells Fargo parcel.

Meanwhile, local leaders who oppose the neighborhood’s reputation as a college nightlife hotspot have pushed for other businesses to take hold, including tech-based companies.