Brewery, medical school campus progressing at BullStreet.

The BullStreet District has picked up momentum in the last 14 months despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with a new brewery on pace to open next summer and demolition for the University of South Carolina's new medical school campus completed.

Chandler Cox, BullStreet project manager for master developer Hughes Development Corp., updated a Columbia Chamber of Commerce online audience on several projects on Tuesday. Cox said Iron Hill Brewing, which in March 2020 announced a Columbia location originally scheduled to open this summer, is in "full design" mode after a pandemic-related break as work continues throughout the 181-acre, mixed-use development.

"There are seven construction crews onsite right now," Cox said. "There's definitely a lot of activity going on out there."

Cox also said demolition on university-owned buildings on the planned campus of the new medical school has been completed. In March, the university's board of trustees voted to allocate $4.2 million toward the proposed 16-acre site, which would include a 130,000-square-foot medical building and a separate 162,000-square-foot research building and lab. The estimated $300 million project is also awaiting funding from the S.C. Legislature.

The current circa-1930s building on Garners Ferry Road, leased from the Department of Veterans Affairs until 2030, needs an estimated $75 million in upgrades.

"In my humble opinion, I think one of the most underutilized assets we have in Columbia is the medical school," said Carl Blackstone, president and CEO of the Columbia chamber, who expects around $55 million to be allocated to the project from lawmakers. "We cannot attract the talent that we need in an old, rundown building."

Cox said the medical school could be the first constructed post-pandemic, with opportunities to focus on cutting-edge design to support learning and research.

Other ongoing infrastructure changes, including the connection of Freed Street to Bull Street, Boyce Street to Colonial Drive, and the installation of a new traffic signal as new tenants such as REI Co-op and Starbucks have opened their doors have made BullStreet more accessible to visitors and the surrounding community, Cox said.

Discussions are ongoing with other retail tenants, including restaurants that could fill the space next to Segra Park vacated in February 2020 by BullStreet's first restaurant, Bone-In Barbeque, but nothing is ready to be announced yet.

"What we've learned from COVID-19 is the desire...