Taylor Street’s public access terminates at the canal.

City council voted Wednesday to sell the CanalSide property to the Beach Co. for a flat $6,000,000. The property inspection period by the buyer begins immediately and terminates in 60 days after July 19, also known as the effective date. The closing date is set for another 60 days after the inspection period. The closing could also occur 30 days after the Beach Co. gets its satisfactory zoning approval, if that date is later than the 60 days following the inspection period.

The Beach Co. needs zoning approval for a planned unit development (PUD) which includes 750 single and multi–family residential units and 35,000 square feet of commercial office and retail space.

The property to transfer from the city to the Beach Co. is initially about 25 acres. The internal roads and sidewalks are to be built by the Beach Co. to city standards. The city is responsible for building the public esplanade along the canal.

The Beach Co. is set to deed back to the city about seven acres for the roads, sidewalks, and the esplanade, leaving 18 acres under control by the Beach Co. and their eventual buyers.

The housing density for the 18 acres comes to about 42 units to the acre. The Beach Co. has done its due diligence on CanalSide, and it comes to the project with a success streak in similar developments. The City of Columbia can learn something about marketable high–end housing density from the Beach Co.