Proposal: Downtown Convention Center

[gman430]

Fox Carolina’s Facebook page has a live video feed of the county meeting for conference/museum center funding. Check it out. 

Edited October 15, 2019 by gman430

[gman430]

The $26 million has been approved. Nobody on county council opposed. Everybody voted yes. 

[GVLover]

This project may move faster than I anticipated. 

[gman430]

https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/greenville-county-council-votes-in-support-of-funding-city-s/article_1e60d9e4-ef56-11e9-a0a5-5be5225e178a.html

[gman430]

County Council to fund $26 million towards project but only if the city planning commission and council vote yes for the county square project: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2019/10/15/greenville-county-supports-downtown-conference-center-county-square/3989790002/

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by gman430

[distortedlogic]

Good to see. It would be awesome if a version of the old "Go Center" visitor center could be incorporated into this. A new cutting edge visitor center seems like it would fit in nicely with this convention center/museum/hotel development. 

[vicupstate]

4 hours ago, gman430 said:

Was the $26 million approved last night by the city? 

I don't know for an absolute  fact,  but if it wasn't I'm sure we would have heard about it. Plus, I'm sure the county wouldn't have approved (unaimously) its funding otherwise.

[GVLover]

The public-private partnership would grant the developers "air rights" above the conference center to develop into residential and hotel, with 200 units each, and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

The event center would be 68,500 square feet on the top level above 58,500 square feet for the BJU gallery and 30,000 square feet for the Greenville art museum gallery.

The bulk of private contribution is in the $25 million land donation, with $100 million of private development total ultimately.

The event center would cost $33 million to build, minus the land donation. The BJU museum would cost $17 million, the Greenville art museum $9 million.

The center would require both above and below-ground parking at a cost of $32.5 million, which would provide 1,500 spaces.-Greenville News

[gman430]

Glad to see Ennis Fant actually has a brain: https://www.wspa.com/news/greenville-county-council-votes-in-support-of-downtown-convention-center-but-with-a-catch/

“I think it was collaboration,” said Greenville County Councilman Ennis Fant. “I think it went beyond compromise. I think we came up with a solution that works for everybody.”

Mayor Knox White told 7news that money can leverage additional funding to create more than 100 units of lower cost housing in downtown Greenville.

But if City Council does not vote in support of the agreement on affordable housing, it has reserved the right to pull their support for the downtown convention center.

“If they flinch, then we’ll probably come back and withdraw our support,” Fant said.

According to Fant, the $10 million total for affordable housing would come from a $20 million settlement the county has with Prisma Health.

[gman430]

“The timing’s pretty critical on this because of the state funding component. They want to start working on this in Columbia before the state legislative starts in January,” said Greenville County Council Chairman Butch Kirven.

https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/greenville-county-council-approves-resolution-to-give-the-city-m/article_3b7af002-efd1-11e9-ae15-8bc4e5722731.html

[gman430]

I wonder how Hughes and Aughtry feel about getting sucked into this black hole where their project is dependent on somebody else’s?  

Edited October 16, 2019 by gman430

[vicupstate]

44 minutes ago, gman430 said:

I wonder how Hughes and Aughtry feel about getting sucked into this black hole where their project is dependent on somebody else’s?  

Actually, they each could be a part of County Square if they wanted to.  RocaPoint is the master developer but they are selling off some or all of the components to other developers.  

[GvilleSC]

8 hours ago, GVLover said:

The public-private partnership would grant the developers "air rights" above the conference center to develop into residential and hotel, with 200 units each, and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

200 residential units is more than I expected (assuming it is condos). Granted, I suppose this  could be in multiple buildings across the site, and not necessarily in the tower we've seen to date(?). 

Anyhow, excited to see this continuing its momentum forward! 

[ausrutherford]

On 10/16/2019 at 8:27 AM, GvilleSC said:

200 residential units is more than I expected (assuming it is condos). Granted, I suppose this  could be in multiple buildings across the site, and not necessarily in the tower we've seen to date(?). 

Anyhow, excited to see this continuing its momentum forward! 

Really the last piece not the river downtown. 

[gman430]

Good news: https://www.wyff4.com/article/developers-one-step-to-closer-to-upstate-downtown-arts-and-conference-center/29873391 Construction slated to start within two years. 

Edited November 23, 2019 by gman430

[gman430]

 https://www.greenvillecounty.org/Council/_Agenda/Meetings of 2019/County Council/2019.12.03/tripp memo.pdf 

[cabelagent]

3 hours ago, gman430 said:

 https://www.greenvillecounty.org/Council/_Agenda/Meetings of 2019/County Council/2019.12.03/tripp memo.pdf 

What's he up to? 

[gman430]

9 hours ago, cabelagent said:

What's he up to? 

He’s not happy with the city delaying the vote until January. 

[vicupstate]

2 hours ago, gman430 said:

He’s not happy with the city delaying the vote until January. 

If he is not happy with a delay, 'upping the ante' isn't going to help matters.  

[transplant08]

49 minutes ago, vicupstate said:

If he is not happy with a delay, 'upping the ante' isn't going to help matters.  

I still don't see the County's leverage. The county needs the Roca deal more than the city needs a convention center. I mean, a convention center would be great, but Aughtry owns the acre where it will sit and Hughes owns 3 adjacent acres right behind it. It will get developed, they'll make a lot of money, and the city will reap its share of the property taxes. If everything falls a part (county square, convention center), the county will not get its development AND it will have already sold off the last portion of riverfront property downtown to Aughtry.

[gman430]

Let the Hunger Games begin: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2019/12/03/greenville-county-sc-reconsider-support-downtown-conference-center/2591206001/ Let’s take a shot everytime county council flips on this.  

[gman430]

Henry McMaster’s budget for 2020-2021 includes $19 million for the proposed museum/conference center: https://governor.sc.gov/sites/default/files/Documents/Executive-Budget/FY21 Executive Budget.pdf $7 million has already been approved and allocated from the state along with $26 million from both the city and county. 

Though McMaster made his executive budget, the state House of Representatives and then the state Senate also have to make a proposed budget. The House is working on its budget, while the Senate will work on its budget in March or April. Once all the proposals are completed, the House and Senate will take their budgets to the Conference Committee to create a compromised budget to be acted on by the governor in June.

Edited February 17, 2020 by gman430

[NewlyUpstate]

6 hours ago, gman430 said:

Henry McMaster’s budget for 2020-2021 includes $19 million for the proposed museum/conference center: https://governor.sc.gov/sites/default/files/Documents/Executive-Budget/FY21 Executive Budget.pdf $7 million has already been approved and allocated from the state along with $26 million from both the city and county. 

Though McMaster made his executive budget, the state House of Representatives and then the state Senate also have to make a proposed budget. The House is working on its budget, while the Senate will work on its budget in March or April. Once all the proposals are completed, the House and Senate will take their budgets to the Conference Committee to create a compromised budget to be acted on by the governor in June.

Do we have any idea what the required public funding is to make this a real go? What are we looking for from the state / county and city?

[vicupstate]

^^ $26 million from each State, city and county.  City and County have already committed their part.  Land is being donated.  I think there is a private fundraising involved too. 

[gman430]