CCP crowds the CMA Inside Main Street’s Columbia Museum of Art on Monday night, November 9, members and guests of downtown Columbia’s City Center Partnership (CCP) attended their annual meeting. As such, there was a changing of the guard, a few awards of recognition and appreciation, and a rowdy reception across the street in the Gotham Bagel Cafe, replete with Bill Wells’ bluegrass and bottled beer besides bagels.

An informative and entertaining video was shown during the meeting that included what’s been going on over the past few years in the heart of the city. Many of the early leadership of CCP were identified, as were the continuing and current players on the organization chart. The video can be reviewed on CCP’s Web site at www.citycentercolumbia. sc.

The CCP is a business improvement district (BID), which means the area’s enhanced outward im- provements over the past several years, to include upgrades in physical finishes and even security services, are paid for by the building owners of the BID through a form of self–taxation. Columbia’s leading light years ago was the success story coming out of NYC’s Times Square — a jump in scale relative to downtown Columbia but a proven success as a BID all the same.

L–r) Matt Kennell, Larry Hembree, and Terry Brown Terry Brown, CCP chairman and CEO of Edens & Avant, real estate developers, presented the Chairman’s Award to Larry Hembree, executive director of the Columbia Film Society. Brown introduced Hembree as “the hardest working non–profit guy in town” and as a catalyst for the unprecedented growth in support for the Nickelodeon Theater.

The Nick finds a new home within the year inside the old State Theater, which became the Fox Theater in the early ’60s. The Fox will be completely transformed into two screens for two concurrent projections and more than twice the occupancy of the current theater at the corner of Pendleton and Main, next door to Immaculate Consumption.

Columbia attorney and mayoral candidate Steve Benjamin also received the Chairman’s Award. Benjamin was recognized as a big help for Main Street over the past six years, particularly most recently as vice chairman of CCP and as a magnet for office relocation projects in the heart of the city.

For the past five years, real estate broker David Lockwood of Colliers Keenan has been on the board of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce and EngenuitySC. Terry Brown introduced Lockwood as the incoming chairman of CCP for the next year.

The high moment came with the confirmation of the arrival of Mast General Store to the Lourie’s building at the northwest corner of Taylor and Main. The buzz among the crowd at the Gotham Bagel Café was something of a tipping point for the better with the store’s arrival. And, by the way, the full pronunciation of the name is necessary to avoid confusion with a hospital, as in Mast (Mass) General. Mast General Store, in full, is preferred.

Editor’s note: Alicia Morgan

contributed to this story.