Campus Village debuts at USC, offers retail stores and new dining hall

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — A new residential housing development on the University of South Carolina campus aims to provide incoming freshman with a sense of community, as well as plenty of amenities.

The new $240 million Campus Village  is the largest construction project in the school’s history.

The four buildings will house over 1,800 students, and include retail stores like Jimmy Johns, Starbucks, and The Gamecock General Store.

Each building will also contain study rooms and academic support spaces for the students.

Incoming freshmen Laura Sheppard and Ella McGarrigan have already moved in, and say they like their new home.

“It’s super nice. Everything is so clean and new,” says Sheppard.

“It’s super fun because we also have a big foyer area, and the bathroom and shower separate into a different space, which is nice,” says McGarrigan.

Students will also have access to the new Pavilion Dining Hall — a 14,000 square ft. “all-you-can-eat” facility with customizable pizza, Asian cuisine, and vegan and allergen free options.

Claire Hains, Residence Hall Association President, says a sense of community is important.

“It’s beautiful. And it has all of those communal areas, it has those study areas, those kitchens that are just really intentional about building relationships. The 1st year of college is super hard, but here at the University of South Carolina, we want to make that first year experience great for them,” Hains says.

Kirsten Kennedy, USC’s Associate Vice President for the Residential Experience, believes the new village provides as sense of community as well.

“Communities like this help make the campus conceptually smaller. They have smaller peer reference groups, and so they’ll get to know a core group of friends here, that for a lot of people those are friendships that last for a lifetime,” Kennedy says.