Smoothie fans in Lexington County's Red Bank area have a new spot to watch for: Tropical Smoothie Cafe is bringing a storefront to the 5400 block of Platt Springs Road, near South Lake Drive, as part of the sprawling Platt Springs Crossing development. No opening date has been made public yet, but the chain's arrival adds another name to a shopping corridor that has been filling in fast.
The new cafe will sit in a shopping strip next to the development's Lowes Foods supermarket and near a Planet Fitness, according to The State. The Planet Fitness location recently opened at the site, the outlet reports, and the Tropical Smoothie menu is expected to include fruit smoothies, breakfast wraps, acai bowls and cold brew coffee. The State's reporting notes there are more than 1,700 Tropical Smoothie Cafe locations across the country, citing data from ScrapeHero.
A Development Still Filling Out
Platt Springs Crossing is described as a 60-acre, $65 million mixed-use project, per the same account. The property already includes a working lineup of businesses: Lowes Foods, Panda Express, Whataburger, Chipotle, Big Blue Marble Academy and a Prisma Health urgent care facility are all operating there. A LongHorn Steakhouse is planned for the southeast end of the property, and both Chase Bank and Fifth Third Bank have branches under construction at the site.
Housing is part of the mix too. The development has 142 townhomes planned for its northeast side, according to the report. Tropical Smoothie and Venus Nails had previously signed leases to join the project, an earlier dispatch from thestate.com noted, as Planet Fitness construction was advancing at the time.
Why Red Bank Keeps Growing
The broader Red Bank area has experienced rapid growth in recent years, with new subdivisions, schools and businesses reshaping the south-central Lexington County community. Earlier reporting from thestate.com traced Red Bank's population rise from about 6,000 in 1990 to roughly 11,000 since, alongside Lexington County's jump from 168,000 to 313,000 residents over the same stretch. More recently, WIS-TV reported that Lexington County's population is up 7% in the last four years, citing U.S. Census Bureau figures, and noted that construction on Platt Springs Crossing began in the summer of 2023, with most commercial sites expected to finish in 2026.
Traffic figures for the area vary depending on the source. The State's more recent report put daily traffic at more than 19,000 cars on Platt Springs Road near the development and more than 28,000 on nearby South Lake Drive, citing state Department of Transportation data, while an earlier thestate.com report cited roughly 18,500 vehicles a day on Platt Springs Road and more than 27,000 on South Lake Drive from the same agency.
More Familiar Names Nearby
The Red Bank corridor's commercial growth has also shown up in coverage from the Lexington Chronicle, which identified Whataburger, Panda Express and Chipotle among the businesses joining or already operating in the area. The Chronicle also reported that three LongHorn Steakhouse locations currently operate in Columbia, context for the chain's planned addition to the southeast end of Platt Springs Crossing.
For now, shoppers can expect to see construction continue around the Lowes Foods anchor as the retail, dining, medical and townhome pieces of the project come together. Whether Tropical Smoothie Cafe opens before or after its steakhouse and bank-branch neighbors remains to be seen, since no timeline has been publicly released for the smoothie shop itself.
