A Conversation with Matt Kennell, City Center Partnership

Twenty years ago, the downtown business district of Columbia, SC, specifically Main Street, was a source of embarrassment for local residents. Skip ahead to 2020, and downtown Columbia is now an incredible source of pride. The weekly Soda City market. Restaurants and bars. Student housing. Regular housing. The Nickelodeon movie theatre. The Mast General Store. Halls Chophouse. It has been a remarkable 20 years.

There have been a lot of milestones in the progress of Main Street in Columbia, and there have been many who have contributed to this transformation. One of them is definitely Matt Kennell, the President and CEO of the City Center Partnership.

In this interview with Matt Kennell, we are look at the past, the present reality of 2020 and the future of Columbia, SC’s Main Street district. Despite the pandemic, over $200M of construction is taking place in the downtown area.

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