298 replies to this topic

[citylife]

GvilleSC, on Apr 8 2009, 01:03 AM, said:

^^That's good to hear. How is the money to fund these centers being raised or where are they coming from? Is this a City only thing, or City-County, or even partially a State funded project?? Just wondering how long it will take for necessary funds to be in-place. I think 2011 would be a reasonable expected opening date.

City and County are funding it jointly I believe. I know a good portion of the money is to come from the TRAC plan that was passed by the county where a 2% tax increase was implemented on restaurants. I'm not sure if any state money is included. Funds are pretty much already in place. The GO Experience will cost $18 million while the Blue Wall Centre will cost $14 million to build. That money amount could change though depending on design of facilities. Pazdan Smith is designing the GO Center while Michael Keeshen & Associates is designing the Blue Wall Centre. Both are working in conjunction with Studio Gang who is the lead national architect.

[vicupstate]

citylife, on Apr 7 2009, 10:33 PM, said:

Studio Gang is still working on the architectural elements of the centers. Renderings should be released sometime within the next few months.

I thought there was going to be a design competition for the DT center?  I know I saw that somewhere.

[citylife]

vicupstate, on Apr 8 2009, 09:07 AM, said:

I thought there was going to be a design competition for the DT center? I know I saw that somewhere.

There was. Architectural firms who were interested in developing the project had to submit a RFQ (Request for Qualification) to Rhodes Dahl. The interested parties had to include information on how they would design the GO Center and Blue Wall Centre. You can read more information on it here: http://www.rhodesdah...p...ID=46&PID=5

[Carolindiana]

This may only be anecdotal evidence of the CVB's success in promoting tourism in Greenville, but I do know my cousin who lives in Atlanta has talked about seeing ads about visiting the city. Aside from downtown, he said the ads talk about Furman's campus.

[gsupstate]

Carolindiana, on Apr 8 2009, 02:45 PM, said:

This may only be anecdotal evidence of the CVB's success in promoting tourism in Greenville, but I do know my cousin who lives in Atlanta has talked about seeing ads about visiting the city. Aside from downtown, he said the ads talk about Furman's campus.

Funny you bring that up as I just noticed on Monday while leaving Atlanta, billboards along I-85 about SC.  The two I noticed both said something about "come play next door".....don't remember the exact words....85 traffic was heavy and I was keeping my eyes on the road.  One was inside the perimeter and the other was between the perimeter and Gwinnet Place....both had images of Upsate....one of a couple sitting high on a mountain (think it was Caesars Head) and the other a couple on Main Street GV.  I assumed these were state funded not city funded.  Good to see.  

[Carolindiana]

This topic may have been discussed, so I apologize in advance if I overlooked it in the 15 pages of this thread.

First, let me say I am a native of Greenville who now lives in Indiana, and I miss my hometown very much. I think it is a fantastic city that people should really come to see.

That said, I am a little confused about what kind of expectations there are for tourism in Greenville.

Am I correct to assume that no one is expecting Greenville to become a weeklong vacaton destination? I would hope not. Weeklong vacations require places where entertainment options are day-long affairs (Orlando, Las Vegas), are world-class (New York, LA, Chicago), are action-packed (a cruise), or just give a sense of retreat (mountains or beach). Nashville, a city with similar options to Greenville plus pro sports, more restaurants and music galore, still might not offer enough for a whole week's vacation.

Am I also correct to assume that the target market for visitors is people within 300 or so miles? It's simply impractical to make a weekend getaway of distances longer than that. The driving alone would require an extra day or two off work. Also, anyone more than 300 miles away certainly is able to find shopping, restaurants, museums, parks, minor/major league teams, climate, hotels, and/or a beautiful downtown closer to them than Greenville, anyway.

It seems that the target market should be limited to SC, NC, GA, TN, and maybe VA and AL. For residents of those states, I could easily see Greenville being a weekend destination. Outside those states, it becomes a really hard sell.

Let's also keep in mind that while Charleston and Asheville trumps Greenville in tourism, Greenville beats them out in many other areas of the economy that matter at least as much as tourism.

[GvilleSC]

Hey, Carolindiana- I don't think I've said this, but I like your play on words to get your name.  


Back on topic:
Currently, Greenville gets a ton of business traffic. It's the main supporter of the hotel industry here (with convention traffic, of course, and events that are more one time things, or only every so often). Anyway, my take on this is as follows: Those who visit on business will not have the time to discover the City and region at great length. So, once they go back home (to ATL or wherever in the Southeast), they'll have a friendly reminder that they should get their family rounded up and head back to check things out. Most people will probably have had some experience with the City/area before. It's too tough of a sell for Greenville to attract people with no info on the City. ATL works well because it's close enough that most people have either heard good things or passed through several times...

[vicupstate]

Carolindiana, on Apr 8 2009, 04:37 PM, said:

This topic may have been discussed, so I apologize in advance if I overlooked it in the 15 pages of this thread.

First, let me say I am a native of Greenville who now lives in Indiana, and I miss my hometown very much. I think it is a fantastic city that people should really come to see.

That said, I am a little confused about what kind of expectations there are for tourism in Greenville.

Am I correct to assume that no one is expecting Greenville to become a weeklong vacaton destination? I would hope not. Weeklong vacations require places where entertainment options are day-long affairs (Orlando, Las Vegas), are world-class (New York, LA, Chicago), are action-packed (a cruise), or just give a sense of retreat (mountains or beach). Nashville, a city with similar options to Greenville plus pro sports, more restaurants and music galore, still might not offer enough for a whole week's vacation.

Am I also correct to assume that the target market for visitors is people within 300 or so miles? It's simply impractical to make a weekend getaway of distances longer than that. The driving alone would require an extra day or two off work. Also, anyone more than 300 miles away certainly is able to find shopping, restaurants, museums, parks, minor/major league teams, climate, hotels, and/or a beautiful downtown closer to them than Greenville, anyway.

It seems that the target market should be limited to SC, NC, GA, TN, and maybe VA and AL. For residents of those states, I could easily see Greenville being a weekend destination. Outside those states, it becomes a really hard sell.

Let's also keep in mind that while Charleston and Asheville trumps Greenville in tourism, Greenville beats them out in many other areas of the economy that matter at least as much as tourism.

You are basically on target, the idea is to bring in more leisure tourists of the 1-3 day variety.  The target is the range you mentioned, give or take.  The Atlanta area has been a primary focus.

[Carolindiana]

GvilleSC, on Apr 8 2009, 05:51 PM, said:

Hey, Carolindiana- I don't think I've said this, but I like your play on words to get your name.  


Back on topic:
Currently, Greenville gets a ton of business traffic. It's the main supporter of the hotel industry here (with convention traffic, of course, and events that are more one time things, or only every so often). Anyway, my take on this is as follows: Those who visit on business will not have the time to discover the City and region at great length. So, once they go back home (to ATL or wherever in the Southeast), they'll have a friendly reminder that they should get their family rounded up and head back to check things out. Most people will probably have had some experience with the City/area before. It's too tough of a sell for Greenville to attract people with no info on the City. ATL works well because it's close enough that most people have either heard good things or passed through several times...

Thanks!

That's a good point about businesspeople wanting to return for leisure. Perhaps the CVB should distribute tourism literature at some of these conventions and/or the hotels where they stay, if they aren't already.

I personally find Atlanta to be an interesting target. My wife's aunt's family lives in ATL, while my wife's fam lives in Hendersonville. When they visit my in-laws, they go up I-85, hop on White Horse Road, and head north. I always tell them that they need to stop in downtown sometime; their only impression of Greenville is a side of town whose better days were 30 or 40 years ago. I'm sure any Atlanta native who visits Asheville's surroundings takes this same route. Hopefully this campaign will open these travelers' eyes to the great city of G'ville.

[gsupstate]

Carolindiana, on Apr 8 2009, 04:06 PM, said:

Thanks!

That's a good point about businesspeople wanting to return for leisure. Perhaps the CVB should distribute tourism literature at some of these conventions and/or the hotels where they stay, if they aren't already.

I personally find Atlanta to be an interesting target. My wife's aunt's family lives in ATL, while my wife's fam lives in Hendersonville. When they visit my in-laws, they go up I-85, hop on White Horse Road, and head north. I always tell them that they need to stop in downtown sometime; their only impression of Greenville is a side of town whose better days were 30 or 40 years ago. I'm sure any Atlanta native who visits Asheville's surroundings takes this same route. Hopefully this campaign will open these travelers' eyes to the great city of G'ville.

Exactly.

Actually, a good foundation has been laid.  Posted somewhere among these threads are links to the Atlanta newspaper.  They have done two or three articles over the last few years on downtown Greenville as a close weekend getaway.  In addition, the culinary/foodie scene (Euphoria, downtown restaurants, etc) that has developed in Greenville has been a big draw for middle age, affluent Atlanta couples, as well as the cycling scene (US Pro) for the cycling set.  I do remember a couple of years back (maybe last year) when Thomas Keller was here for Euphoria, some Atlanta friends knew about it before me and called to tell me that were inviting themselves to spend the weekend at my house.  

[gsupstate]

This should help bring additional quality tourism to the area.  The International Institute of Golf.

http://www.worldgolf...s-grand-opening

http://iofgolf.com/2...-of-golf-opens/

[Skyliner]

gsupstate, on May 1 2009, 02:53 PM, said:

This should help bring additional quality tourism to the area.  The International Institute of Golf.

http://www.worldgolf...s-grand-opening

http://iofgolf.com/2...-of-golf-opens/

I've been following this development for months now and am glad to see it finally officially open.  More information, including a promotional video.

[gsupstate]

Skyliner, on May 1 2009, 01:59 PM, said:

I've been following this development for months now and am glad to see it finally officially open.  More information, including a promotional video.

Great video!  Looks like a quality development!  This is their only teaching facility in North America.    

[gsupstate]

Downtown has been buzzing with tourist all day.  Lovely day in Greenville.      This girls choir (not sure what event they were in town for) gave the patrons of Mary Praytor an impromptu concert.  They were quite good and could actually be heard from a couple of blocks away.

[distortedlogic]

I picked up a copy of this year's Michelin Guide to Greenville from one of the DT shops this weekend. Didn't keep it, just glanced through it. I was quite surprised to notice that, though it lists population figures for both the city and MSA, neither was correct!   They had the city pop as "70,000", which we know is only about 60k at best, and the MSA population at only "400,000." Heck, that doesn't even include the pop of the whole county. Isn't the MSA pop well over 600k? I would also like to see the "upstate pop" mentioned somewhere at about 1.25MM. But I am surprised that they would go to the trouble of making such a guide and not even bother to get their numbers right.  Statistically speaking, they're not even close.

[Greenville]

distortedlogic, on May 5 2009, 10:30 AM, said:

I picked up a copy of this year's Michelin Guide to Greenville from one of the DT shops this weekend. Didn't keep it, just glanced through it. I was quite surprised to notice that, though it lists population figures for both the city and MSA, neither was correct!   They had the city pop as "70,000", which we know is only about 60k at best, and the MSA population at only "400,000." Heck, that doesn't even include the pop of the whole county. Isn't the MSA pop well over 600k? I would also like to see the "upstate pop" mentioned somewhere at about 1.25MM. But I am surprised that they would go to the trouble of making such a guide and not even bother to get their numbers right.  Statistically speaking, they're not even close.

That is pretty sad, isn't it?  As good as the Michelin guides are, you would think that they could get their facts straight.

If they were going to mess up, I would have preferred that they go the other way and overstate our total population.

Edited by Greenville, 05 May 2009 - 09:45 AM.

[gsupstate]

An article in todays paper about the new Outdoor Program Schedule by the Greenville County Recreation District.  This is an excellent document.....everything outdoors in one place (kayaking, whitewater rafting, hiking, outdoor yoga, etc.).

Link to the document:
http://gcrd.org/Outd...ramSchedule.pdf

[scgubers]

Studio Gang has tweeted that never before seen models of the Blue Wall Center will be unveiled today at the National Academy Museum in New York City.

[RiverWalker]

scgubers, on 25 January 2012 - 10:50 AM, said:

Studio Gang has tweeted that never before seen models of the Blue Wall Center will be unveiled today at the National Academy Museum in New York City.

Thanks for the heads up, scgubers. From the electronic catalog of the exhibit as posted on the Natoinal Academy Musem's web site:

"Chicago-based architects are represented by two generations. Laurence Booth has helped transform that city through adaptive re-use and restoration as well as large commercial projects.... Recent MacArthur Fellow and former architect in Booth's firm, Jeanne Gang comes from a younger generation of Chicago architects who is [sic] pushing the envelope with creative, functional, and sustainable design. Publically exhibited here for the first time and still in the early stages of realization, Studio Gang's Blue Wall Center is a reclaimed ecological site located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Greenville, South Carolina. Its dramatic cantilevered design hovers over the remediated site and functions to educate visitors about the region's bio-diversity."

Unfortunately, the catalog does not include any photographs, but I suspect we wil be seeing images of the models appearing soon.