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COLUMBIA — For most of Peter Brown's life, the Elgin neighborhood was a sleepy place.

But today, many of the woodlands and undeveloped plots of land have been cleared to make room new homes and businesses. And for Brown, 59, who represents this area in northeast Columbia for the City Council, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

“We don’t want just random stuff all over the place," he said. "I feel like where we are right now is a good place.”

The are centered along Spears Creek Church Road has been a desirable spot to live for the last decade. In the past year growth has boomed with hundreds of homes and apartment units being approved in the area and surrounding parts of unincorporated Richland County.

The rapid development has also been driven by a housing shortage in Columbia, which Brown said is in a period of "hyper growth."

Mungo Homes is one of several developers putting up homes in the area, including a 186-home project approved by the city in September.

“I think just historically, it's a good area of town where people enjoy living,” said Austin Monts, director of land acquisition for the home building company. “I think that that particular area is desirable because it's a nice place for families to live.”

Elgin is also attractive because of its proximity to Interstate 77 and easy access to Fort Jackson and downtown Columbia, Monts added.

The most recent developments could be some of the first tendrils of growth spawned by the $2 billion Scout Motors manufacturing plant under construction in Blythewood 20 minutes away, according to Brown.

Officials have touted growth across Columbia since the landmark investment from the car manufacturer was announced, but Scout representatives and local officials have said it will be hard to tell when that growth will begin.

Brown believes the first rumblings of spinoff development have already begun with all of the new housing coming into the Elgin area over the past year.

Home prices have been rising in the neighborhood, even compared to the rest of the Columbia metro area. The average home price in Elgin ranged between $260,000 to nearly $300,000, according to Zillow. In the Columbia metro area, the average price was just under $233,000.

As the area has continued to grow, available plots of land have become harder to find, Monts said.

“There is less and less property available in that area because of the desirability, and so that would possibly cause some cooling off there,” he said.

The commercial sector has caught on as well. Dozens of new businesses have sprung up along Spears Creek Church in the past few years, with a new shopping center anchored by a Publix grocery store slated to open in 2025.

As the area has grown, Richland County has made plans to widen parts of the road and add right-of-way lanes through the county’s Transportation Penny Tax program. Work on the project was slated to begin in early 2026, Richland County Council members told The Post and Courier last spring.

So far, Brown hasn't received any complaints about the growth in Elgin. Local transportation authorities are “much more ahead of the curve than they’ve been in the past” with road improvements, he said.

“I try to tell people that we can’t stop growth," Brown said, "but what we can do is add purpose and strategy to growth."

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - As mystery drone hysteria sweeps across the nation, it is also causing a stir in the Midlands.

Residents of several states across the East Coast, including South Carolina, have reported thousands of sightings of mysterious aerial phenomena believed to be drones in recent days.

While federal officials have stated there is no national security or public safety threat, the mysterious sightings have caused speculation nonetheless.

Stacy Mink, who lives in the Red Bank community in Lexington County, reported seeing something hovering in her neighborhood on Tuesday night.

She said what she and her mother saw was startling, and described what was going through her mind in that moment.

“Oh my gosh, this is happening here too because I’ve been hearing the news, I’ve been hearing the updates of all these different areas where these drones are being reported,” Mink said in a Wednesday interview.

She said the brights shining down on her backyard did not look like any aircraft she had ever seen.

Mink believes the lack of a clear understanding from government officials about what’s in the skies is cause for concern.

“I do believe that this is a problem that should be getting addressed more diligently and effectively by our government, and not just our federal government, but local government should be addressing this,” she said.

A majority of WIS viewers said that the mysterious aerial phenomenon does concern them.

Out of 314 responses Wednesday, 210 answered affirmatively to the question: “Do the recent reported drone sightings concern you?”

That equates to 66.7 percent of respondents. 33.3 percent of respondents said they are not concerned.

“There are bigger and more important things to worry about in the world other than drones that are flying around that I have no control over, that I can’t dictate anything,” Tawana Saunders, who lives in the Midlands, said.

Taz Little, the co-founder AINautics, a local company that specializes in drones, said it should be easy to determine who is flying these mystery drones if they’re following all laws and regulations.

Most have what is called a remote identification (remote ID), or the equivalent of a digital license plate.

“The average drone pilot you find out there is using drones for good,” he said. “We know that despite these sightings and stuff, the majority of drones that you will see you don’t have anything to worry about. And they should be following all the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rules and regulations as far as remote ID.”

Mink though, like many, is left with more questions than answers.

“It’s very scary to go outside and see something hovering above your home or above your neighborhood that you have no idea what it is,” she said.

The first sightings occurred mid-November in New Jersey, specifically near military research facility Picatinny Arsenal and near President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, according to the Associated Press.

Various federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense released a joint statement saying they have been closely examining these sightings with “advanced detection technology” and “trained visual observers.”

They said they believe the drones to be “a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.”

Little said he hopes these reports do not cause legitimate drone operations to be called into question.

Gov. Henry McMaster’s office said they have not received any information from authorities concerning recent drone activity.

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A new project featuring at least one new venture from a prominent local business owner could be coming to a former brewery space near the football home of the Gamecocks.

The development, named Finn’s Farm, has taken over the space vacated by River Rat Brewery at 1231 Shop Road a year ago, and is set bring a new restaurant/cafe from the owners of the coffee shops Drip in Five Points and Brickhouse in West Columbia to the property that has a rooftop view of Williams-Brice Stadium. Akera Sellers, who took over Drip late last year, said the forthcoming Harvest Cafe will serve food, coffee and alcoholic drinks.

The new cafe adds to Sellers’ growing list of Columbia-area businesses, including The Corner Blend in downtown Columbia, which he purchased in September.

Sellers said the hope is to open the cafe portion of the development by the summer.

“The yard is still out front so we’re going to have benches out there, it’s going to be a real family environment,” he said. “What I’m really looking forward to [are] good weather days where people just come hang out and have fun.”

A “coming soon” sign for Finn’s Farm hanging outside the space also advertises the involvement of another prominent local business: Bierkeller Brewing Company. The brewery, which opened its brick-and-mortar location in the riverfront Canalside Lofts off Taylor Street in August 2023, poured beers at a series of tailgate events hosted at Finn’s Farm this football season. But when reached by The State, Bierkeller owner Scott Burgess wouldn’t confirm his business’ involvement in the development.

The former River Rat property was sold in July for $875,000, according to county deeds.

When the brewery closed in December of last year, it was the last of the first three production breweries to open in Columbia amid the craft beer boom of the early 2010s still operating; Conquest Brewing Company and Swamp Cabbage Brewery, which were also located near Williams-Brice Stadium, closed in 2019 and 2022, respectively.

This story was originally published December 17, 2024, 5:00 AM.

A major health insurer will drop a Midlands health care system from its network early next year.

Lexington Medical Center confirmed to The State on Monday that the West Columbia hospital and its plethora of services around the Columbia area will no longer be considered in-network with Aetna as of Feb. 1.

“Beginning February 1, 2025, Aetna will no longer consider Lexington Medical Center or its affiliated physician practices as in-network for its commercial or Medicare Advantage plans,” the hospital said in an email. “Even though our network status may change, Aetna-insured patients can still come to Lexington Medical Center, our urgent care facilities, our surgery centers, and our physician practices for their care.”

Besides its West Columbia hospital near Interstate 26, Lexington Medical Center operates 44 separate practices and specialists throughout the Midlands, from oncologists to podiatrists to urgent cares. All of them are affected by the decision. Lexington Medical Center had previously warned patients that it was in negotiations with Aetna for next year’s coverage, but that its status was “doubtful,” in case patients wanted to adjust their health coverage for 2025.

Aetna parent company CVS Health told The State in a statement that the company is continuing to work to try to keep Lexington Medical Center facilities and providers within its network, but blamed the health provider for asking for too much in any renewed plan.

“We are continuing to work in good faith to renew our network agreement with Lexington Medical Center,” the insurer said. “However, we remain far apart on terms because of their demand for unreasonable price increases for their services. While we want to reach an agreement that keeps Lexington Medical Center in our network, we cannot agree to terms that would burden our members and local employers with significant cost increases.

“It is unfortunate, but unless we reach a new agreement, Lexington Medical Center will no longer be in network for our Medicare and Commercial health plans after January 31, 2025.”

The hospital network said that health plans with out-of-network benefits will incur out-of-network costs at an LMC provider. Lexington Medical does provide financial assistance programs if the coverage change causes hardship for its patients.

Aetna-insured patients currently receiving ongoing treatments at Lexington Medical Center may qualify for continuity-of-care benefits for certain conditions. The hospital encouraged patients to contact Aetna to check if these benefits would be available to them.

Emergency services at the hospital’s emergency department will continue to be treated as in-network, Lexington Medical said.

This story was originally published December 16, 2024, 11:30 AM.