COLUMBIA, S.C. — Some major updates will soon come to the Bluff Road area, bringing in new businesses, a farmers market, and more to an area with a history of disinvestment.
"Development happened all around us but it stopped at Williams Brice Stadium and never came down this way," Sen. Darrell Jackson said.
The upgrades will give residents access to essential services.
"There are elderly people in this community who've never had the privilege of buying groceries in their own community. They've never had the privilege of going to the doctor in their own community. They've always had to go to someone else's community to do that," Jackson said.
Felicia Maloney is the executive director of the Columbia Empowerment Zone, a driver in the improvement project.
"The plan includes access to essential services, government services. Policing, community policing. Access to fresh food, access to health care, family health care for OBGYN, pediatrics, behavioral health, pharmacies. Access to your medication and to events and socialization and walking trails," she said.
That plan may also include a community kitchen and a parking lot for food trucks, and they won't waste any time. Construction could start Friday, with a new area for health services.
"The Lower Richland area is a great community. It's been left out a lot of times in the past. those days are over with," Sheriff Leon Lott said.
Columbia Empowerment Zone says improvements are already starting, and residents can prepare to see more within the next seven months.