Why Everyone’s Talking About Forest Acres (Columbia, SC)

What’s really behind the buzz around Forest Acres?

In this episode of The Soda Citizen Podcast, Brad and Mary Lane sit down with Forest Acres council members Stephen Oliver and Haskell Kibler to break down why this Columbia, SC community continues to grow in popularity.

From its small-town feel with big-city amenities to its loyal local businesses, top grocery spots, parks, and family-friendly lifestyle, Forest Acres has become one of the Midlands’ most talked-about areas and for good reason.

They also share updates on major developments like the Richland Mall redevelopment, future park plans (including an amphitheater), and what’s next for growth in the area.

Plus, they get into topics like:

•  What makes Forest Acres different from the rest of Columbia 
•  Why businesses are choosing to open here 
•  Local favorites, hidden gems, and community events 
•  Short-term rentals, annexation, and city growth 
•  What the real estate market looks like right now 

Whether you're thinking about moving to Columbia or just want to stay in the know on what’s happening locally, this episode gives you a true inside look at Forest Acres.

📍For more on Forest Acres: https://www.forestacres.net/
https://www.instagram.com/cityofforestacres/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

All right, y'all. Welcome back to our newest episode of the Study System Podcast. We've got royalty here today. I don't know if you know that. It is Forest Acres Royalty. Actually, it's two council members, the two best ones, I think, but uh Steven Oliver and Haskell Kibler, who are not only entrepreneurs, but they're also the coolest city council people in all of Forest Acres, which that's saying something. Yeah, saying something. Out of four of you, there's two right here's more. But uh we just had a ribbon cutting. I mean, like that was pretty intense.

SPEAKER_05 0:28

Like today, like this morning? At nine o'clock. Oh, boy, okay. What did you ribbon cut?

SPEAKER_04 0:32

Yeah. Um, all about you aesthetics. Um Lauren's a big friend of mine.

SPEAKER_05 0:37

Yeah, I mean, she's not big, she is one of my big friends. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Well, why why weren't we there? Why didn't you have us in the world? We had another podcast.

SPEAKER_05 0:47

Oh nice safe, nice safe.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

So they're at 4,700 Fallout Drive and excited to have them in the city. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 0:53

That's a beautiful building, what they've done inside. More than just restaurants in Forest Acres, right?

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Well, I feel like rent like commercial space stuff. I've if you can you can put a hairdresser in there or like aestheticians, like it's like therapists, like they're always looking for space. It's just a matter of you can get the right amount of per square foot cost out of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I think we got what three three ribbon cuttings in the next two weeks. How?

SPEAKER_03 1:13

Like there's no space left in Forest Acres. Like people go, I'm looking at one space, I'm like, oh, I know the opening.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

So they're they're filling some gaps that we have. And um uh who was it? The uh pet uh oh gosh, it used to be no not four falls, but True Vist. Oh I'm not pronouncing that correctly. Used to be in the burn boot camp space on Forest Ryan. So they've opened, they're here, and um, we'll have a ribbon cutting for them. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Um, just a or hemidor reel. Okay. Where uh sushi used to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm looking forward to that spot. Already a frequent flyer there. So I need to hit that up for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

But yeah, let's talk about Forest Acres to start off with. Um, obviously, we're doing this podcast or it's really a video series as well on YouTube. So people are searching uh the Southeast like constantly. We get a ton of views off neighborhood video videos and area videos, and I have the hardest time, and I live kind of in, I live in the donut hole of Forest Acres, so like I know it, but how the hell can I describe Forest Acres or something? Because it's a neighborhood, but it's a town, but is it like it's just an interesting like dynamic? How would you explain Forest Acres besides is this a town?

SPEAKER_04 2:19

Oh gosh, right? That's a great question. Um, we are a small town with big city amenities, that's that way I'd sum it up. So we um we know our neighbors, we see them in the grocery store, we say uh we say it is no, it is and um 99% of the time, yes. And you do like having that interaction in the grocery store. And I I enjoy it. Yeah, um, and I'll have a either Hayward, my 10-year-old with me, or Jones, my 13-year-old, walking around, and it's nice to have that exchange. It can be both good and bad. Uh it could be questions. Um, so it's good. So it's a small town feel, which I think Forest Acres has been known for for many, many years. But we have those nice amenities down the street too, which people appreciate.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Was the grocery store Mecca of the world? Oh, yeah. Name another town that has that many good grocery stores in like 500 square feet. People drive for over an hour to come to just Trader Joe's. We had we had partners in Augusta, and every time she'd come up here, it's like, I gotta go by Trader Joe's. Will you bring me something? And bring a cooler. That's how it works.

SPEAKER_04 3:16

And we're very thankful for that. And they all seem to thrive in their different sort of niches. So I was um I was at the Lowe's Foods uh grocery store Friday afternoon, and there was a happy hour at the bar there. And I walked around with the beer as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I mean, it's a unique experience. And if you go in there, there's that's like a regular hangout. Yeah. They turned it into the Lowe's nightclub. Yeah, give me some cold cuts and a pint of beer and I should like to see it.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

And that's the community aspect of it that um I think we're very proud of.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Yeah, yeah. And we are loyal, we're loyal to our businesses. Yeah, you know, we give you a shot, and if you were good to us, we're good right back to you.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

So yeah, it's funny. I used to know uh well, I still do as a businessman that had a uh a decent practice in uh Forest Acres. He's like, I don't have the past turn on plaza. He lives in Forest Lake, his business was there, he goes to the gym. He's like, I literally go two miles a day. I'm happy with that.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

He or she was very happy with that. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. My wife and I say that all the time. We try to venture out and go outside of Forest Acres for a meal, and we're just like it's not. We always compare it back to somewhere in Forest Acres, you know. We've tried for sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

Well, not only that, but like also y'all have done a great job with the parks. We talk about parks a lot, we talk about kids, family activities. Yeah, and so one of the things I'd love to dive into is uh sort of a background and update on the amphitheater park, I'm calling the wrong thing, at the old Richland Fashion Mall. Like they're still ground grinding concrete over there, but like what's the plans come in though? Because I don't know all of it. What are the plans for the Forest Acres park side of it?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Well, I think we're still kind of somewhat in design phase. Gotcha. We're waiting on uh final drawings to come back. We've given the designers an idea of what we want it to be. Yeah. And uh I think they kind of came back to city administration, and Strachan's like, that's not what council asks for back to the drawing board. So that's one thing I've learned being on council. I'm sure Haskell has as well, is nothing moves quickly. Yeah, government entities, it is slow moving, and it's got to be presented to us once a month at a council meeting. So, you know, it could it could come in the day after a council meeting, and we still gotta wait four weeks to you don't have to answer this, but how frustrating is that as entrepreneurs?

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Because I mean, oh, it is very frustrating. I always should be a commissioner on the housing authority for the state for about eight years, and they'd be like, we have this problem. Like, cool, let's do this, this, and this, this. Like next week, let's get started. And they're like, that's gonna be six months. I'm like, what? Like, yeah, all the RS mind-blowing. Whatever.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Oh, frustrating. And you learn to just kind of navigate it and you want to get it right. So you do want to make sure the finished product is what it should be.

SPEAKER_05 5:42

Um, the overall park, the I what's the vision is still there.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

Yes, um, it's working out the you know, the the particulars, so to speak. But yeah, there's an amphitheater. And I'm a I'm a big music guy, not Mary Lane. I mean, we all enjoy live music, and we have to either cross the river to do it. Finley Park is now open, so that's a nice amenity we can all enjoy, but we're gonna be able to do it within five or ten minutes from now.

SPEAKER_05 6:06

You're never leaving for a river. Right, that's correct. So that's correct. We would tempt you with a concert to come on out, but nope, now you're never leaving.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

And excited for that's what for what that's gonna be, and so that's that's a part of it. So an amphitheater and and a beautiful green space to go along with that. Um, there'll be a small playground area.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Um the kids have something to do while we're doing fun stuff.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

And give them that that option. Um there'll be a little walking trail down the kind of feeding on the creek. Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

A nice walking trail. And that creek, which we all grew up, if you ever went to the old food court or sounds familiar, I spent a lot of time in sounds familiar growing up looking out, it was. It was just a an old parking lot, and there was a creek beneath that food, that food court. And we're gonna activate it, and it's gonna be an amenity and a beautiful piece of the overall development. Um, and then like the walking trails that Steve mentioned, that's something you can do and and get to see some wildlife and as you know as you go around the park.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Um the city's property actually runs all the way down to past Swim Chickens, pretty much almost a firestone. Oh wow. So both sides of the creek on that end down there. Yeah. So that'd be good spot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Nice little not gonna be a quiet park like the rest of yours. We found out about that one time. Yeah, yeah. Try to have a movie in the park one time and politely got our banners back. I was like, oh yeah, the question asked permission. Yeah. Thank God we had a friend that's on the police department, so they didn't throw our signs away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Um there'll be some uh some building, there'll be some permanent structures on the on the park site as well. Our farmer's market is currently at Gills Creek Memorial Park, which we activated the last couple of years, the old four paw site that flooded.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Starting up here in a couple weeks, first of April. First November. That'll move to the new park, yes, and have a home.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

And so we're very excited about that. Um so it it's it's it's fun to see. It's fun to see it come to fruition.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah, you know, I kind of you know it's a creek, it's not a river, it's not Reedy River in Greenville, but I think we all envision that creek drawing people. Sure, you know. I mean, the the fishing uh deck at Gills Creek Memorial Park, unbelievable use. Really? You know, unbelievable use. And that that's just Gills Creek. I mean, it's it's not big fish, people aren't, you know, the bass masters aren't showing up for that, but but it's you'd love to go by there and see kids, you know, just throwing their fishing lines in and having a good time. And and obviously Columbia, we all know people love to be outside. Yeah, absolutely, especially when the weather's beautiful, not not today, and uh not when it's 90 95 degrees, but you know, there's times that yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

Well, I think most of the time you can enjoy being outside here if you've got weather. If you're not allergic to anything, well, they make drugs for that. Make drugs for everything here.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

If you want to try real hard, um, so yeah, what are y'all most excited about coming up besides the the park itself? But like what's if there's big projects or if it's just homeostasis, sometimes no new things is good things, too.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

Yeah, um, yeah, the mall park. I say the mall park, that's one piece of it. The mall development. I mean, we've all watched it. Uh Brad, you referenced it a minute ago. They're still crushing concrete. Steven's Steven's right across. He knows when they show up.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

Yeah, you're just like throwing stuff out all day, but move out there.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Oh, yeah. I I'd call City Hall when they were first doing demos, like, you're gonna get some phone calls. What's going on? I can't see Forest Drive from the dust. That was the big complaint from the neighbors they were supposed to be staying on top of the dust. And I was like, phone calls are coming, guys, just prepared for it.

SPEAKER_04 9:25

Yeah, um and to that point overall, it's been pretty good. I mean, there's been very little pushback as far as that demo is uh concerned.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

That at one time was a million square feet of concrete, and so um which they're grinding up and gonna recycle to use on site.

SPEAKER_05 9:41

So it's amazing to watch that come down.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I mean, and I think that's why we haven't gotten the complaints or or pushback is people were ready for a change. They were tired of looking at that, you know, archaic decaying building there and they wanted to see something new. So I think everybody's just as excited as we are.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Yeah. I wonder have you seen any um prospecting, if you will, on the kind of neighborhood off of Eastminster behind um sunny side behind there? Because the houses are fine, but like it's not been the most uh searchable place that we've sold houses. But I wonder if people are trying to go in there and kind of prospecting.

SPEAKER_04 10:12

Brad, that's a great. I was gonna ask you all that question today. No, it is uh checkbook out. We can go do something. Um we've all had that conversation, I think. Yeah, internally, yeah. The tide rises and that neighborhood may be one of them. Yeah. Um and they're and they're very serviceable and good duplexes, single family homes that are there. But um, at some point that could be a um it could be something else.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, that will be a walkable entrance to the park over there. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_05 10:37

So I would think it would do nothing but help that neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Oh, 100%. 100%.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Is there anything slated for that? We mean I record this part. Is there anything slated for that old Kroger? The Kroger's moving over to be an anchor store's outright.

SPEAKER_04 10:48

Yeah, so that Kroger, I say that Kroger, a a Kroger is moving over. It's a Kroger marketplace that's going to be moving to the mall development. So um and this is what I told my mom. My mom is a Forest Acres resident, and she always is asking questions, and Stephen knows everything. Yeah, um, it is I I I um I compare it to the Kroger marketplace that we have at Killian Road that you see out there. It's almost a I'm gonna say publics, it could be any nice grocery store and a Target if they got together. And that's what you see at a Kroger marketplace. So that's the type of gas station, including a fuel station, which you can actually, I think, save a few pennies by being a member. Um to answer your question, it is owned by Kroger. So I we don't know where that goes next, necessarily, you know. Yeah, but um we shall see.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Absolutely. So um all right, so we got to talk about traffic on Forest Shop. I'm just kidding. We're not gonna do that. We're not gonna do that. We're not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_05 11:42

I'm gonna dive right into that.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

So how is are y'all still in the middle of a um um trying to get residents to join Forest Acres itself as a city annexation? Is it y'all still pushing that?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Is a couple is that still a thing going on? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, we uh Lindsay Baker, our director of communication, I think is her proper title now, uh came back to us. She left and went to MP Strategy and uh we were able to lure her back. Okay, and that's kind of her baby. Okay. Um so um we're working closely with Richland County Council because they want those donut holes closed just as much as we do because they're you know, there's literally a street over by me. Um I think it's Pine Hill. It's one road in the middle of four stakers that's Richland County. Yeah. So that garbage truck is having to drive across four stakers to hit that one street.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Richland County deputies are having to respond to that if there's an emergency. Not that FAPD wouldn't respond and show up until Richland County got there, but it just doesn't make sense for that one street. Yeah, so Richland County is willing to work with us and close those donut holes. So can you take them by force?

SPEAKER_03 12:43

You just go out there and just take them. No, they're state law.

SPEAKER_04 12:47

Man, I thought you can do it international. I just can't do it. Look, I got it, cool. That was a joke. That was a joke. Anyway, I did make a note, Brad, when you said you might be one of those donuts. Uh-huh. Well, we'll be in touch with that. I got a couple trees. I was kidding.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

Um no, but I am legitimately in that hole. I think both my neighbors are. Um, but yeah, one time I had to call the cops, and it's funny because FAPD and Richard County, they're like, I don't know who wants this one. And it wasn't anything bad, but it was just funny.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Well, and if it's an emergency, you you weren't be. Yeah, take them won't or take away. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

So yeah, so why don't you help residents uh help me understand like what's the benefits of joining Forest Acres over just staying in Richmond County or unincorporated? Because I think I can still shoot a gun in my backyard technically. I think. I can try. Let's try it.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

We'll see what happens, just be on notice. You can tear down your house and build whatever you want to, you know, four or five houses there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. So I I mean there's a sweet spot as far as value of the home where if you come into Forest Acres, we'll we may actually save you some tax money.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

And you get premium services. You know, I think that that's something that Haskell and I have talked about as we try to promote Forest Acres as a premium brand. Yeah. You know, we're not Richland County, we're not City of Columbia, we're Forest Acres. You're gonna get a quicker response time from Forest Acres Police Department. You're gonna get uh public works guys that smile and wave at you. And if by chance you forget to pull your trash can out, they're probably gonna walk up your your driveway and get your trash can and pull it out for you. You know, just don't make it a habit because then City Hall will get calls about that. But um, you know, just above and beyond. And and back to that conversation that government moves slowly, you can call our city hall and you're gonna get a much quicker response than if you were to call Richard County or City of County.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Can my tree lens be longer than four feet? Um, and I don't know the exact percentage, but the number of and there's a list. So if you go to the website, the Forest Acres website, there's a list of things to check off to have a tree removed.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Um we approve over 95%, I think is what the number is of tree removed.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

We can't clear cut it. Um I can take them down. You can do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

I mean, so there's certain reasons we can't stop you. Like if it's too close to the house or something like that, or the tree's leaning, yeah. We we can't deny you the permit to, you know, no matter how how small the tree is or anything like that.

SPEAKER_04 15:07

So but they are diligent about it. So just I don't want to I don't want to oversell it's kind of running our joke. We've made it.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

It's a local joke, but like in Force Acres do not touch the tree. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

It's also to prepare to protect the resident. Yeah. Because sometimes they're not knowledgeable enough to know if that person is insured or has a business license. So it protects them too. That if that you know that tree comes down on top of your house, well, I don't have insurance, you know. Yes, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Bucket truck fall into a house one time over non-forest acres. So yeah, insurance helps. It does come up. He had insurance. I thought he said he had it like now. Yeah, used to have it, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

And I'll just add one more thing to that. Our our uh Chief Don Robinson, our FAPD, also provide great services for our Forest Acres residents. Um they do programs and I do it when we go when we go out of town. If you're gonna be gone for a week, you can call the city hall, they will do property checks, FAPD, twice a day. They'll make sure there's nothing happening. And then what they also have a const is it constant care. They have a care program for our senior residents where they will check in and make sure they're doing okay. This is our FAPD. Um they are busy and they have other things happening. Um but they go out of their way to do that. Over Christmas, they delivered however many points that it is to their brand. It was about a dozen, they said. A dozen. And and Chief brought his dispatchers, those are the people they talk to on the phone every day.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Dispatchers actually asked to go. They wanted to go meet face to face to meet these residents they talk to on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

Yeah, it gives me chills talking about. I mean, that's the kind of that's what we have going on.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Sure. Yeah, sure. And to kind of explain that a little bit more, the the residents have to call in the dispatch by a certain time every morning. And if they don't, then the dispatcher tries to reach them. Then if they can't get a hold of them, one of our officers goes out and knocks on the door. If they still don't come to the door, then we keep a key, under lock and key at at the police department, and then they they go in and check and make sure they haven't fallen or you know. That's great. Yeah. I did not realize that. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 17:05

Oh, yeah, no, that is great. We'll put something in the show notes about that. Right.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

If you want keys to houses, go see them. We got tons of keys downstairs too. I don't know. That was another couple of keys, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Um nothing's worse than opening a console and be like, what is that key to?

SPEAKER_05 17:20

I was like, oh.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

So when are we gonna pave uh Trinum Road? Because my four-wheel drive is getting a little off kilter. I'm just kidding. That's not y'all the joke. Yeah, when you invite guests next time, I'm just kidding. I heard it is gonna be paved here shortly. No, it's all right. North Trend of us. North Trentum.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

North Trentum. Yeah, from Forrest to Decker. Yeah, okay, that's all I care about this time.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

And we've been told, I think the last we've heard is this summer, um, is when it'll start, maybe finish going into the fall.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

But hopefully at night is what we were told. They're supposed to maybe do some paving at night. We'll see. Yeah, yeah. We all know how DOT is. And that that thankfully there was some collaboration there because that was getting ready to be a huge disaster, believe it or not. Um, City of Columbia knew they had some problems on on North Trentum with their water lines. The water line. Yeah, and um it was slated to be repaired, and I think Councilman Will Brennan got win that it was getting ready to be repaved, and he's like, hey, time out, everybody. We don't want to repave and then dig up a huge trend. So he kind of stepped in and and pushed DOT off. And we thought it was gonna be done towards the end of last season. Yeah, and uh the contractor for City of Columbia had some issues. And um, yeah, if that's what I'm thinking about.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

Yeah, we won't name them, but like the yeah, yeah. I don't know if they know how to pave a road.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So yeah, it dragged dragged along and DOT it got, you know, it got too cold, so they couldn't pave. So it got a temperature thing, too.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Yeah, big shout out to Councilman Brennan for that. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Oh, he's gotten some good news this time. Um so moving on, like so being business people yourselves, um, why is Forrest Acres? I I think it is, but like why would you say Forest Acres is a place that you should start a business? Like, why is it maybe more friendly than Columbia or like because you're attracting a lot of businesses there right now?

SPEAKER_04 19:04

That's a great question. I um and I think it starts from the beginning. So, you know, if there is a um, if you do find a space, if you find a space, well, and there is space. I don't want to I don't want it people to think that the market is so tight that there's not space available.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Well, it's your commercial, you that's this commercial sales code coming on. Exactly. You want to leave some business cards on the table?

SPEAKER_04 19:24

There are there are options. Um, but it's we want to be, and it and you want it to always it doesn't always happen this way, but the communication I think is always there. We want to be business friendly. And so look, if if if the building code says something, the building code says something. So we can't help you with that, but we can we can uh communicate with you. Yeah and here's what you need to do to correct it. And and I Councilman Oliver gets the same calls I do, maybe more. Um you know, it's we do take those calls and we can help navigate or bridge two people or bring two people together to talk about it from the city's perspective. But we want to be business friendly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Um, our code enforcement guy is not a guy that you want to raise your voice to. I've met him, yeah. Yeah, he's a he's a large gentleman, and I think he's probably you know got the got the temperament of a kitten, so he probably wouldn't do anything, he's just intimidating. So if you want to call somebody invent, you can call to one of us and vent, and then we'll we'll we'll play that that role for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Um but yeah, so I mean it's you've got uh certainly the density as far as our residents are concerned and our our um our houses, our community, um, and business friendly. So I think people want to be on Forest Drive to capture some of that and and have good neighbors. I feel like you know, the business that you're gonna be next to is also a thriving, successful business and come be a part of it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 20:49

I mean, there's been a ton of growth in Forest Acres over the last couple of years. So I mean, well done. I mean, I think people do see it as a great place to start and found a business.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Absolutely. So uh I think some people don't realize too that Forest Acres is not just Forest Drive. Like y'all extend over to Decker, you extend over to Tunach. I mean, I know there's some fingers going everywhere over on that side, but like you've got a pretty big territory. We do.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

And I and don't want to live out leave out um Covenant Crossing as well. So that's the uh commercial district that we have near Trendham Park. And there's some businesses down there. Yeah. Oh yeah. Therapy Place is one of them. They're celebrating their 15 year anniversary later on today, which is excited, very exciting. Um, so we don't want to just focus on forest drivers and council. We talk about those other areas that that you know can use some attention and and a reboot.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

A reboot, yeah. Other than the other store. The other store doesn't need a reboot. Oh, yeah. It's got new roofs, they're fine. They're fine, they're fine. But that that whole area does. Yeah, we're trying to keep it, you know, definitely business friendly, but we want to keep it family friendly as well. Yeah, to make sure that we are attracting the right businesses for that four stakers feel.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Yeah, I think it's uh not only that. And not to necessarily get in the school debate, but I can say schools are sought after in the Forest Acres area. Very much so.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Um my kids are Forest Lake and Dent, but I mean some of that falls into the jurisdiction, some of it doesn't. But yeah, I mean, I'll be driving down, taking my kid to school, and there's FAPD sitting there making sure people's not hit people aren't hitting the school zone too fast, which obviously I appreciate. Yeah. Until it's me going too fast. But usually it's fine. Just wave and keep going.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Yeah. And Trinidad Park's a big part of the city as well. You know, we draw people from all over Bridging County for that. Yeah. We got one of the biggest little leagues in the state.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

I don't think people realize how competitive that little league area is.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah. And it's it's one of the only places that girls can play softball in Columbia that has a full-time girls' league, other than than Irmo. So um and nobody wants to go up there. So nobody, yeah. Nobody wants to fight 26 traffic with Irmo. That's right. All our remote friends. We do visit on Account.

SPEAKER_05 22:51

We do love the Irmo friends. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Exactly. But yeah, I mean, I think that Covenant Crossing, that area, you know, just all needs some attention. And we've we've put some pressure on Richland County Council and Richmond County Rec Commission to address Trenton Park because that that literally has been underfunded for 30 years. Sure. The oldest park in the system, but also the most used park in the system and most underfunded park in the system. So we're starting to see some attention being drawn there. Councilman Weaver has has put stepped up and put some pressure on them as well. So hopefully they'll they'll get it going in the right direction for us.

SPEAKER_03 23:29

Okay. Can can we at least talk about taking over Arcadia Lakes? Can we just talk about I want to take over somebody again?

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Janet's gonna like this part of the podcast. Brad's watching too much national.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

Apple TV shows. I've been ramped up. I'm ready to go. Yeah. Trying to help.

SPEAKER_04 23:49

Yeah. We're gonna work on the annexations, I think.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

And and then Fort Jackson. We're on the Fort Jackson.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

We'll try and take that next. Um, and they're a great partner. I was met somebody for coffee last Friday at Vicious Biscuit, which is another great restaurant. If you haven't been, it is wonderful. And it doesn't always have to be a thick biscuit. You can get a nice bowl and do other things. But um, the amount of Fort Jackson traffic that was coming in, our soldiers that were coming in that morning for breakfast, um, we're very thankful for them too.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Explain that because we have to do it all the time when people go, Oh, it's a military town, you're like, not really. I mean, yes, we are. We are military-friendly, there's a military reservation, but it's not Fayetteville, it's not Fort Gordon. So, like, how would you explain to somebody how the base inter interlocks and just if someone had to like you had to describe it to somebody without them seeing it? Yeah, being a base, like literally, I hear taps and all the other bugle sounds ten times a day. And I love it too.

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Yeah, um, yeah, I mean, I think we feel some of that just as far as sure commerce goes. I mean, I think I think those soldiers, especially on Thursdays when they have graduation, I mean, they're they're coming in, their families are coming in, they're getting exposed to Forest Acres, Columbia, and the greater Midlands. Um, so there's uh there's a relationship there. There, if you haven't been, they've got a great water park. I'll take the boys over there in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Um, so there's some in and out, but Susan McPherson with the Columbia Chamber does a good job of making sure the leadership is aware. You know, anytime she makes she can make an introduction between council and leadership over there, she does that. So there's high turnover, so there's not long-term relationships that are established, but at least they have you know, somebody they can pick up the phone if they have a question or if there's an event going on they can reach out to. I know kind of a rare thing that happens, but back to FAPD and the great services they offer. We're the closest police department to the fort. So private citizens are not allowed to carry firearms onto the fort. So they will, I guess there's a Google search that tells them that they can come drop off their firearm at FAPD, put it under lock and key while they're in town. You know, parents that have a vehicle in their car, they're traveling in, they can leave their their weapon at FAPD and know it's safe and not have to worry about getting arrested on federal charges while they're on while they're on the phone. Exactly. Like a little Amazon locker. Just put your guns in and lock them down. We we had no idea until Chief Robinson brought it up to us a few months ago that that somebody reached out to him and he's like, Yeah, that's a service we offer. So that's great. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

But other than that, like you don't we you don't really have any uh obviously jurisdiction over the four, but like I know it's like sometimes the same zip code, but I didn't know if there's any kind of overlap with just I don't know, students and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Richland County and City of Columbia kind of barrier barrier us from 77 from our jurisdiction.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

So speaking of graduations, I've got questions today. You want to jump in here now? I don't know where you're going with graduation, but no, no, but uh take a coffee break. She's got bubbles in there, she's fine. Um the longer the podcast, the better she gets. Um no, so short-term rentals. It's a big thing in City of Columbia. Yeah, but the reason it made me think of that is because it we have a really thriving short-term rental market because of graduations, like football football games and then flow over to graduations every pretty much Tuesday through Friday, if you will. So I I really don't know this question. Like, how is Forest Acres feel about short-term rentals? Legitimate question. Is there is there rules to it or how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Good question. Do you all know? Topical questions. First time ever, there are rules to it now. And that was part of our new UDO that we just went through. Okay. Is uh we all kind of feel like you know, we don't want to discourage them, but we also need to be mindful of our long-term residents, our full-time residents here. So for the first time ever, when uh business license are due next month, if you have a rental property in Forest Acres, you have to have a business license. And uh we put some some guidelines in there. You know, we need to have a contact of a local person. The property's owned from some by somebody out of out of the city, and they have to be within uh 45-minute drive, I think, is what is what we said. Yep. So if there's an emergency, we have a point of point of contact. And it it also gives uh code enforcement some some teeth that if there's problems, then we can start enforcing it and and hold those people accountable.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

Are there any and it's long, I'm sorry, right? No, goodness. Um and and maybe long overdue. I mean it's um there were no guardrails. There was no uh ordinance related to short-term rentals. And so we've uh with that UDO uh that we we worked on this past fall, um we have those now. And it's and like Steven said, um we want to know who's there in some form or fashion, if there's an emergency contact, all that stuff, which we didn't have before. We didn't really know who all had operating Airbnbs. We'd get calls and texts and emails in the middle of the night if there was an Airbnb. But you didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

And so it's that thing, you don't know what you don't know, right? Yeah, we don't know what's there until it's a problem, and then people start reaching out to us.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yeah, and a lot of times it's not a problem. So this is a good way to go forward.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

Um and is the business license required for anybody who owns a rental property or just short-term rentals?

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Anybody that owns a rental property, yep. Yep. Long-term rentals, short-term rentals, anybody that owns a rental property in Forest Acres.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Are there any geographic restrictions to where they can the Airbnb, the short-term rentals can be located or anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Not right now. I mean, it's residential. Um so not, I mean, it's uh we're kind of giving it a test around, I guess is the best thing to see how it goes. Yeah, and if we need to make some adjustments, then we will.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

Yeah, it's always been interesting to me like with the six percent, four percent tax rate, right? It's like just the the rebel in me is like I'm paying six percent taxes because it's a investment. But then the government's telling me I can't rent it. Like, I'm like, there's something that needs to be figured out here. That's just me internally. I don't know all the details. That's a fair debate.

SPEAKER_04 29:20

Um and and short-term rentals is a debate. And I'm you know, maybe at some point the state house takes it up, but it's um it's a real thing. We've we deal with it, we have challenges with it here in the Midlands. Our coastal friends have different challenges, but challenges too.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

So I think it's a it's gonna it's coming to a head at the state house. I know it was a big topic last session or the first part of this session, I guess. Yeah. Um and that's the unfortunate thing is the lobbying, you know, BRBO, Airbnb, they have a lot more money than municipalities do. But it's never a problem.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

And we do it, we do it. Um as a family, we'll do it, and it's and with friends we'll do it, and and it takes a couple of bad apples, and then you gotta you always gotta plan for the what if. And so that's right, that's what happened.

SPEAKER_03 30:07

I think that's mainly what's happened. The bad news in the Columbia market has been people. I I know the property manager are renting some of the like managing these, and like people that signed it were of age, like they did everything. They just let their kids do it. Yeah, like, well, that case something they need to go. I mean, not on the owners, right? Like that's the hard part. It is a real hard part. So great. Get your short-term rental today before they came. We need to go do that. Um, but yeah, what else would you uh want people to know about Forest Acres? Um, that maybe is like a hidden gym. We like to talk about restaurants, we like to talk about like the hidden spots that people mean may not know. Or if you want to take it from a friend you're coming in town, you gotta show off for a day. Where would you where would you take them and not leave Forest Acres?

SPEAKER_04 30:49

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Summertime, springtime, Gilles Creek Memorial Park, especially if they have kids. We've got the splash pad, bring your fishing pole, make sure you have a fishing license. Fishing license too. Yeah. I mean, that's a state regulation. I mean, is the game ward going to show up there? Probably not. But the big guy with the code enforcement guy in mind. Let me see your license. Yeah. Fair. Okay, fair. Yep. Uh, what else, Haska? What do you think of?

SPEAKER_04 31:13

You touched on the as far as restaurants go, you touched on the other store. And I think that's a hidden gem. If you're from here, you're familiar with it. But if you if you want to bring a friend in town and grab a nice sandwich with a good vibe where everybody knows, you know, it's cheers without the beers kind of walking in. Right. That always is kind of a fun place to go for a bed. Um, you know, shopping at Trentum Plaza. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Um and our shops at the Cardinal and everywhere in between. The um, you know, we get in a rut dinner wise. Taza's always good. It's always it's outside, it's got a good vibe.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

We are also the ice cream backup. Yes, you are. Yes. I mean, we've got if you want frozen yogurt, we got that. If you want ice cream on a stick, we got that. If you want just old school scooped ice cream, we got that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Why can't we be more of a golf cart town? Like, what can we do to get more golf carts going?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Or y'all don't want golf carts?

SPEAKER_04 32:04

Golf courts is a tricky.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

It is tricky. You know, we gotta abide by the state regulations, which we've gotten a little bit more, I mean, lenient and strict at the same time, if that's possible, I guess. I mean, but uh, you still can't drive them on Forest Drive or or Trentum unless they're street legal or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

I see that all the time. Keep your baby while you're riding. Where are they supposed to be? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

So actually, I'm well, I've got you. Um, I was I heard there might be a traffic circle at one point that was proposed of the Forest and Trentum uh or an idea of a traffic circle there instead of the stoplight. Was that ever a thing? No, not that I'm people lying to me. No, that's why I can't join Forest Acres.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

I'm the uh I'm the uh representative on the Council of Midlands, uh, Midlands Council of Governments for Forest Acres. And so we do talk about traffic DOTs at these meetings once a month. And um, yeah, no, no traffic circle. But we do, and this, you know, in talking to council and from what we hear from our residents, um, we would like to see it beautified. I'd love, I'd love to see, we'd love to see masked arms at some of these major intersections. There is a way to beautify, I think, what we have. And I think they're very power lines. Yeah, please. Oh man, that'd be a great project. Um and and extremely expensive, but I think there's some some argument, and Hilton has done a good job of this, where you almost drive safer, better, slower when there's not so much clutter. And so you know, how do you get there?

SPEAKER_05 33:34

Um I agree, but baby steps.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

We're working on putting introway signs up on all of our major entry points now.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

That was a pretty one they just put in front of front of Lexington and they put up their own voice. And now you know where you are.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Yeah, and so it's very nice. Yeah, instead of a little two foot by two foot green sign, welcome to Forest Acres, now you know. Thank you for Lexin Health for allowing us to do that there. And I think the folks at Vicious Biscuit have offered and we just haven't moved forward with that yet. No. Uh Quinine Park just got a smaller version of the entryway sign there by uh by the Walgreens and Kroger. So people will know.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

And to piggyback on that, you'd mentioned parks earlier, Brad. We as a council have not lost sight of what what made Forest Acres Forest Acres, and that's our current park. So uh if you if you've had a chance to go by um uh Quinine Hill Park, that is that needed some work. That work is almost complete, including the entryway signage to know you're here. Um, but also Citadel Park, if you've had a chance to drive by there, maybe after the gym, you loop around that way. Um He said I went to the gym. Did you hear that? I didn't say you didn't say Brett. I see him very early in the morning. He's drinking coffee watching everybody else and just talking around him. Um but Citadel Park, ever, uh this started around Christmas time. Um it's gonna be completely renovated. Um wow. Um ton of work now. The playground equipment stays, but uh Helene did a number tree-wise which which um kind of kicked off more of a undertaking for what needed to happen there. And so uh we're not losing part uh losing sight of what parks we currently have, and that's very important. So Citadel Park for those listening, we're told will be done by April 1st. So we don't have to jump that fence anymore to go play uh on the playground.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

All right, that's awesome. Yeah, I mean, as a as a parent living in that area, I mean we literally, I mean, we go to the one of the three ice cream shops probably every weekend. And I'm pond like also like our date nights Taza, right? Just a good mixologist there sitting outside, everyone do that. I mean, it's just awesome. It's just a great spot no matter where you want to go. I think another couple more watering holes just for a meetup and Greek could be kind of helpful. But I absolutely agree.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

One of the times we did go off the river, we went to these and you sit there and you go, Man, something like this would just kill in four stages. Family friendly, but also you know, a place for dads to go hang out and watch sports.

SPEAKER_04 36:00

Or yeah, I mean and we hope that some of the retail at the mall development will help fill that gap because we share all that with the developer and they're they're doing the leasing on it.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

So I know Crafting Draft was talking about four stager some point, just throw that out there to Kellen, see what he can do.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

You know, anybody that's looking to open the poo old Pugans is sitting there just prime for the pickings. Yeah, it's got a full bar already set up, and three parking spots and a parking garage. Parking garage.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

That is y'all's only parking garage. I forgot about that. Yes, yep. Uh it's great. Um, well, guys, this has been awesome. Seriously. So hopefully I didn't get y'all in trouble by asking all the random like traffic circle stuff. No, good.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

We love talking about our city. Yeah, talk about a couple of upcoming activities.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

And and busy couple months for us. And you've got a student there. There's a um a 5k run. Forest Lake Elementary has a 5k run. Run forced run. Um, so forest acres is excited. Yep, runforce run. It's got a picture of us gun. Yeah, it's such a fun idea and a heck of a hill. Um councilman Councilman Newton uh has run it a few times and says, You watch for the hill at the end. Um Forest Acres through HTAX is supported that again and very excited for that coming up this spring. We've got Sweep the Acres, which is a community-wide cleanup. This will be the fifth year spark sponsored by Palmetto Citizens, um uh in conjunction with Crawl Space Medic and Clark McCarthy.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Um it's turned into a social gathering. And it's turned into a social gathering. Coffee before Lazy Day coffee to start. Um burgers and hot dogs afterwards. Burgers and hot dogs.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Well, I might do it this year then.

SPEAKER_05 37:31

And can anybody just show up or do they have to register?

SPEAKER_04 37:34

It helps register. We have t-shirts just to get a headcount for t-shirts. If you do want to just show up and you have and everybody and the kids are awake and everybody's ready to go, you can always show up. Okay. And we'll I'm gonna pick up grabbers from Keep the Midlands Beautiful the day before. So you'll have a vest, you'll have grabbers. Um the date is March 28th. It's a Saturday in two weeks. Um but if you do register, you can go to the Forest Acres website and and look for that there. Um farmers market opens first week of April.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

April 1st, Hills Creek Memorial Park, Wednesdays from two to six.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

Explain can you just describe that a little bit? Like what everybody talks about Soda Citizen. I know Soda Soda City. And Soda Citizen, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, for sure. Completely different, but like describe, I know it's smaller, but like what's the the gist behind the the farmers market so people can come down?

SPEAKER_01 38:18

It's all pretty much local vendors that show up. Uh soaps, breads, vegetables, meats, um, desserts. Um, you know, sometimes children's theater will bring characters down there. So there's always something every Wednesday to kind of make it family friendly. I mean, the splash pad is always open too during the uh during the during the farmer's market. But there's photo opportunities, you know, meet your favorite character, superhero, something like that. So very community and family driven.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

And it's you can park at the police bar if you have to and walk across. There's a lot of crossing guard there and like nice, nice, nice paved pavers or whatever it is now that take you all the way down. Yeah, it looks good. It really does look good back there now.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Um, and we got a couple other things, and I should have writ uh written them down before I came. We've got the Forest Acres Festival, which will be coming up. That's over at AC Flora, and then um uh Andy Hallett, the baseball team will have their Forest Acres.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Forest Acres Classic during spring break. Okay. So residents of Forest Acres are free to come in. That that's part of, you know, again, HTACs being used. Yeah, we recognize it as one of the only events that draws outside people from the city from outside Forest Acres into our city that use our restaurants during a desperate time because everybody else leaves town during spring break and our restaurateurs still need yeah still need business. So they get a every team gets uh a list of restaurants in Forest Acres and they go have at it. That's awesome. You know, back to the Ford. I think that's something else that we we have been working on, if you all know anybody, and we recognize our city needs a uh a hotel.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

I was thinking about that, because the only hotels for the fort really are like uh not Fort Jackson Boulevard, but Gardner's Fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

I mean, it's it's tough to help people understand how much it would be utilized, you know. Developers and hotel. Back to what you said, once a week there's graduation. So you've got two nights there. You got six weekends in the fall that are going to be used for football games. USC graduation. There's always events at the law school that are happening, events at the base where the higher ups need a place to stay. And then most of us don't have spare bedrooms when our family members come into town, and we don't want them to stay with us when they come out of town. Yeah, so you need a hotel close by to put them up. So okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:32

Yeah, how made that happen. Can I ask you a question? Yeah, yeah. How is the residential market? What do y'all see? Or of course, don't buy a house. Uh I mean, what's what's the market like? Is it healthy and is there a product in Forest Acres? What are y'all seeing on that?

SPEAKER_03 40:44

So inventory is up about uh, I think it's about 10%, 14% over last year. Okay, currently. And I think sales price, we just went over this like two and a half, like they're steadily going up about two and a half percent. So not huge like we were seeing back in the day, but still growing. Sellers are still getting like 98% of list to ask.

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Okay, very sure. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

But buyers are up, I think, uh about six percent this year over next. And NAR's forecasting nationally about 14% more in sales. So I think we're just gonna be in that purgatory right now. Um and I think actually Forest Acres in a good spot for this, but we're in a purgatory because sellers are still remembering what they paid for the house five years ago, right? Buyers are understanding what it's gonna cost to buy the house now, and there's more inventory, and so we're getting higher asking prices, but buyers being a little more conscious. Okay. Um, so I think places like Forest Acres, which a lot of one-story houses, a lot of ranch style that open up the demographic to everybody.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

I think it's gonna be a lot more sought after. The schools are sought after, the amenities are sought after. So I think it's gonna be okay for Forest Acres. Still a desirable area to be.

SPEAKER_04 41:40

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

I think. What's your take on it? That's just numbers.

SPEAKER_05 41:43

I don't even know why I'm here today. I don't either. I wish you would start doing something.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Jesus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:48

Oh goodness. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I tell people all the time on my street. I mean, we we moved in on my street eight years ago and we were the young family.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Now I'm the old family there. I mean, it's amazing how quickly it it turned over, you know. And and I'm I don't feel like I'm old. I mean, my oldest is is 21, but you know I don't feel like I'm old enough. It's crazy. Yeah, we are. Yeah, that that we are now, you know, people make fun of me because I'm the old man on the street, like yelling at cars, yeah. Yelling at cars. I've started doing that a little bit. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:20

But I do think two things that Forest Acres has going for it is number one, it's as cheesy as it sounds, nobody wants to live where nobody wants to live.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Right.

SPEAKER_05 42:28

And Forest Acres has done a really good job of growing that community and being a place where people want to be, right? Um, and you can't you can't fake something like that, you know. Um, and then downtown in general, you can't make more land, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Right.

SPEAKER_05 42:45

And so you gotta work with what you've got, but I'm seeing a lot, I'm seeing them a movement of people wanting to be back in a city. And people really like Forest Acres and the City of Columbia because they both have the amenities of cities, but they live more like a smaller town. So you're not lost in like a big city. Traffic, even though we like to complain about forest drive, really is nothing when you look at some bigger cities like Charlotte and Atlanta. Um it's a very easy city to navigate. Um, it's very friendly. So I think people really see the appeal of oh, I can work and live downtown and have a neighborhood community feel. You don't get that in a lot of neighbors. And you don't, you just don't get that in a lot of other big cities. And so people, I mean, we've got people moving here all the time who are like, this, yes, I've heard that this is what people have said, and it is true, and I love it.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

So it's also not very restrictive. I mean, Forest Acres as housing itself is not very restrictive. So like when you're driving through, it's not necessarily eclectic but like you kind of get some freedom. You got big yards, you don't necessarily you can kind of keep it natural. Like right. It's not like the super um like hoardy torty areas where like they measure your grass and they're gonna knock on your door every time your paint color's not. So like you get the freedom, but yet you still have consistency with the overall development of it. The look and you're seeing houses getting torn down some and rebuilt, so that's a good healthy thing.

SPEAKER_04 44:04

We see some of that. I've seen some of that in the in the college streets, certainly. For sure. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Yeah. Talk about a hidden gym back there. Like people don't understand the college streets. Like they hurt their feelings when they start doing math on those things. Like you're getting what? Behind where? Like, yeah, the college streets will hurt you for sure. Yeah. And also, Forest Acres has some of the most expensive roads per I mean per dollar of all of Columbia, as far as I'm aware. Outside Heathwood, like you get on some of the Dallas and those, like they can get you. So I think you've got both both ends. And you also have some affordable areas. We do a lot of lead gen back in that side, and you get closer to the two night side, you're still like there and circle drive. Like they're affordable ish for houses. Yeah, community.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

And yeah, and everybody knows everybody. And you know, kind of talking about that Forest Acres feel it'd be fascinating if y'all could figure out how to come up with this study and attract people in the next 10 years. We we commented all the time there's three businesses in Forest Acres that USD students drive to on a daily basis. If they in 10 years recognize that after they've got a job and, hey, this is the community I want to come back to. Because they're coming to Forest Acres for seven brew, sixteen handles, and Bruegers bagels.

unknown 45:15

What?

SPEAKER_03 45:15

I was gonna go to Trader Joe's and Lululemon. I was completely maybe two. I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Yeah. Possibly. Yeah. I I know my daughters are in college and high school and they go to that.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

My 11-year-old just took my father-in-law for $150 in there. She just put a basket and was like, I'll get it. Right. Be done in the middle of the day.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

If you go to 16 handles on a night on any weeknight, it is packed full of USC students. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. My wife and I walked to Brugger's on a Saturday morning and we walked in and I was like, what is what is happening here? It's all college students in here. Again, I'm the old man you know in a business. So it's fascinating. It would be fascinating to see if those if those folks, when they graduate, get established, if they make it home, make it make it back to Forest Acres because of how well they're they're treated, I guess, when they come to the city.

SPEAKER_03 45:58

Yeah, I think at some point you're gonna have to look at density issues, right? Like, or not necessarily throwing the poll playbook out, but you you only got so much land and you you almost have to get smaller houses, smaller lots, allow some space for that, yeah. And you go multifamily. Right.

SPEAKER_04 46:12

Um and and we'll see 350 or so apartments at the um at the mall site. Yeah, so they're ones and twos, yeah, professional.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

And that's also the other biggest complaint we hear about too is longtown forest acres residents that don't need that big house, don't want that big yard anymore. They have nowhere to go. They there's no townhomes, there's no retirement area really to move into other than than the Laureate. But same thing, you're gonna pay a pretty dollar to move into the Laureate. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

And Carnal Crossing rental rates are those are shocking sometimes when you're hearing what people are paying. But it's great that you get it. Yeah, yeah. So I think it's there. Just gotta find the land. Yeah, let's take it, we'll take over Great Park. Let's just do that. Great park, take over something before we leave here. Let's go for Walmart. Fine. All right, fine. Anything else you'd like to add to the podcast before we get in? I think that's it for me. Marilyn, would you like to add anything this time? Sure. Thank you all for having us. Thank you for so much for letting us know.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Why don't you close us out? I don't know. Do something. Next time we'll come back and just be with you. And we'll lock it, we'll lock the door.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

She doesn't even go to four stages. She doesn't even know where four.

SPEAKER_05 47:14

That's not true. I am in Horse Acres a lot. Sephora, bululemon, and 16 handles is what keeps me and my kids always come into four stakes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:24

Well, Councilmember Kibler and Council Member Oliver, thank you so much for being here. It's going to be formal on the way out. But also, you've got thriving business, commercial real estate pool store that is one of the best pool stores and pool companies in the Midlands. So also outdoor furniture and materials. Let's look at all. I got my green egg from you. I'm in there every Saturday getting something I don't need because I want to smoke something with a different flavor.

SPEAKER_05 47:43

Like legitimately, some of the best not drugs.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

I mean, it might be the back door. I don't know what's back there, but yes, no, one of the best grill selections. Not kissing your butt. Like, I love that place. Yeah. Like I go in there all the time.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

So winter storms were not good for my my waistline. Oh, yeah. Way too much food. We uh introduced the Jack Frost Christmas store last year and kind of dipped our toe in to see what it was like and got positive feedback. So we went all in this this Christmas and we'll make it even bigger in 2026. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:12

If you need commercial space, call Haskell because he knows where it is, apparently. But uh obviously help support local businesses, which are then giving free time to help support the other local businesses. So appreciate y'all seriously for what you're doing. Uh thank you all very much. Civil service, I think, would suck. So uh I'm glad you took it on. Yeah, yeah. Something I had to do it, and yeah, y'all did it. So uh for real though. Thanks for y'all being thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

Thank you all. Thank you, Brad.