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By C. Grant Jackson

Touting recurring themes of collaboration and connectivity across the Midlands, Mayor Daniel Rickenmann says Columbia is “the land of opportunity” and “the best kept secret in South Carolina.”  

Rickenmann was the inaugural speaker Wednesday for a new “State of the Midlands” series being presented by the Urban Land Institute South Carolina. 

ULI’s “mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide,” according to the ULI website.

The ULI South Carolina District Council, “formed in 2005 to encourage dialogue on land use and planning throughout the state and within each of the three main regions,” was the first statewide District Council to be formed.

With over 825 members, ULI South Carolina is committed to bringing together leaders from across the fields of real estate and land use policy to exchange best practices and serve community needs.

ULI member Brad  Davis, vice president for business development for McCrory Construction Co, where the event was held in downtown Columbia, noted in his introductory remarks, that since becoming mayor in 2022, Rickenmann “has worked tirelessly to expand housing options, community cleanliness and pride, and improve the city's customer service operations.”

Rickenmann said in the past the biggest negative for the Midlands was a lack of collaboration.

“That was the No. 1 negative about our region. We didn't collaborate,” Rickenmann said. “But that has changed. We now have working relationships with our neighbors:  West Columbia, Cayce, the town of Lexington, Chapin, Irmo, Blythewood, Eastover, Arcadia Lakes, Forest Acres.”  

Mayors of the various municipalities now get together on a quarterly basis “and talk about how we can support each other,” the mayor said.

An example of that was the joint effort to land the new Scout Motors plant in Blythewood.

“We all came together and supported each other to get Scout,” Rickenmann said.

Scout Motors is investing an estimated $2 billion in a plant to make electric trucks and SUVs, creating 4,000 jobs.

Said Rickenmann, Columbia’s 71st mayor: “I think everyone understands that if one of us grows, all of us grow. We're not separated by boundaries. We're together."

He added, "People are going to live in Lexington and work downtown. People are going to work in Blythewood and live at the lake or downtown, or in Eastover, in Hopkins. We’ve got to continue to work together. The Midlands is the biggest opportunity in South Carolina.”

Another area that Rickenmann touted for cooperation with the city and region is the effort to work with the region’s six colleges and universities and the more than 60,000 students who are here.

Those students are the region’s future workforce, the mayor said. “That is our future leadership. That is your workforce right here in our backyard day-in and day-out,” he said.

But those students haven’t felt connected to the community, he said, so one of the first initiatives Rickenmann undertook as mayor was to create a “Collegiate Engagement Committee.”

The committee has representatives from every college and university and the technical schools “that meet with us on a monthly basis because we want to learn how do we keep that talent here,” Rickenmann said.

To show the city’s appreciation for the students, the city recently put up a banner welcoming the students back to Columbia after the summer break, the mayor said, something that had not been done before.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Rickenmann also pointed out that the city’s engagement efforts go far beyond USC. 

Rickenmann said he has probably been on Benedict College's campus more and in the three years that he has been mayor than in the 15 years he was on City Council. 

He attributes that to the engagement of Benedict President Roslyn Clark Artis with the city. He also pointed out that he has spent time on the Allen University Campus, and has been to Columbia International University a dozen times.

Retaining those students in the Midlands after they graduate has been a challenge, and Rickenmann said the feedback the city has been receiving through the Collegiate Engagement Committee is helping him understand “why talent is not staying here.”

Quality of life is big factor, the mayor said, and one thing is the lack of downtown housing. On that front, the mayor touted the city’s efforts to encourage more vertical housing options downtown. 

Students, Rickenmann said, aren't buying houses and moving into the neighborhoods. They want to live downtown where they can walk to work, walk to entertainment.”

One huge asset for the city from a quality of life standpoint, the mayor pointed out, is the region’s greenways.  

“We want to finish connecting those so that you'll be able to go from downtown Columbia to the dam and back, cross over to West Columbia on one side or cross over to Elmwood from the other," he said. "So you can end up at Segra Park for a ball game, and then come back down to the Vista for dinner, if you please, without ever getting into a car. We see that as a big part of our future.”

But beyond quality of life, the city and region are doing very well economically, the mayor said. The city, he said, has opened more small businesses in the last three years than it had in the last five. That means Columbia’s economy is growing, Rickenmann said.

The city has had 1,300 or more new business license applications,” the mayor said. And many of those are from women-owned businesses.  

“I think the last 10 or 12 ribbon cuttings we've done have all been women-owned businesses,” Rickenmann said, “which is a testimony to what a lot of people don't realize. South Carolina always gets put, and especially Columbia, at the back of the line. And we're in the top five of women owning businesses and growing. And I think that's a testimony to who we are as a city and state.”