Posted on Sun, May. 21, 2006

BUILDING OUR CITY
The new downtowners
Market called ripe for condos
By JEFF WILKINSON

The building boom in downtown Columbia is nothing less than a wholesale remaking of the city center — creating a new urban core of homes with river views, Viking kitchens and short walks to work, the restaurant or the art museum.
About 4,000 units have been built or announced recently, and that doesn’t include 3,000 more expected to spring up around USC’s Innovista research district.
So who’s going to buy them?
Probably your neighbors.
Out-of-towners and investors will be a big part of the mix. But experts said most of the units will be snapped up by local baby boomers tired of the daily commute, the big yard and the big house in the suburbs.