Greenville County Square redevelopment

[gman430]

I’m still trying to figure out where the neighborhoods are at around this project. All I see are old office buildings, a gas station, and a Zaxby’s.  

[ingvegas]

2 hours ago, gman430 said:

I’m still trying to figure out where the neighborhoods are at around this project. All I see are old office buildings, a gas station, and a Zaxby’s.  

Haynie Sirrine, Alta Vista, and West End

[johnpro318]

12 minutes ago, ingvegas said:

Haynie Sirrine, Alta Vista, and West End

Most of lots to the west of Church Street have no houses on them any longer. There's like 30 to 40 single family homes and some of those are now businesses. They really won't be affected either since most are on the far side of the neighborhood. 

[timbach]

Greenville County will begin demolition of the Cobb Tire store on Friday, November 29 (weather permitting).

[gman430]

17 minutes ago, timbach said:

Greenville County will begin demolition of the Cobb Tire store on Friday, November 29 (weather permitting).

Why? 

[NewlyUpstate]

13 minutes ago, gman430 said:

Why? 

Why not? Now that the county has the $120 million loan, no reason not to move forward.  The zoning discussions will just impact how much their land sell will be worth, but won't stop the project from happening.

Edited November 26, 2019 by NewlyUpstate

[vicupstate]

1 hour ago, NewlyUpstate said:

Why not? Now that the county has the $120 million loan, no reason not to move forward.  The zoning discussions will just impact how much their land sell will be worth, but won't stop the project from happening.

Has RocaPoint committed to doing the project even with the new restrictions?  

[gman430]

1 hour ago, NewlyUpstate said:

Why not? Now that the county has the $120 million loan, no reason not to move forward.  The zoning discussions will just impact how much their land sell will be worth, but won't stop the project from happening.

I thought the project wouldn’t be feasible with the height restrictions. That’s what I kept reading in the news stories. 

[GvilleSC]

4 minutes ago, gman430 said:

I thought the project wouldn’t be feasible with the height restrictions. That’s what I kept reading in the news stories. 

NewlyUpstate makes what seems to be a fair point that the project should still be feasible, but the sell of the land will be worth less. Thus, it could move forward, but they may have to renegotiate the terms -- if that's even possible/legal? At the end of the day, the County does need a new building. 

[vicupstate]

The developer and the county have to sign off on that and the county has conditioned their Museum funds on this being approved.  If you start changing the sales price without changing the cost of the elements, that is a potential dealbreaker.  

[gman]

That building is ugly and needs to come down one way or the other. Folks, be patient. This project is going to happen, and it’s going to be awesome 

[gman430]

11 minutes ago, gman said:

That building is ugly and needs to come down one way or the other. Folks, be patient. This project is going to happen, and it’s going to be awesome 

Nope. We can’t have anything over six stories tall. Somebody might faint if they see a tower crane. 
 

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by gman430

[gman430]

Let’s roll: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2019/11/29/whats-come-greenville-county-sc-1-b-downtown-project/4002274002/

Edited November 29, 2019 by gman430

[gman430]

City vote to take place January 27th: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2019/12/03/greenville-county-sc-reconsider-support-downtown-conference-center/2591206001/ Financing package approved in first two votes. Third vote to come in January. I assume Dan Tripp’s plan to delay funding for the conference center failed. 

Edited December 4, 2019 by gman430

[vicupstate]

Tripp withdrew his motion. It was not voted on. 

[apaladin]

17 hours ago, vicupstate said:

Tripp withdrew his motion. It was not voted on. 

What was his motion? How many more votes are they going to take on this project?? Seems like theythave been voting for 3 years now. 

[gman]

11 minutes ago, apaladin said:

What was his motion? How many more votes are they going to take on this project?? Seems like theythave been voting for 3 years now. 

One more vote, in 6 weeks. 

[GreenIgel]

The county's $120M in financing requires three votes. The second vote happened last night.

The county's rezoning application -- to the city, which regulates zoning inside city limits -- required a planning commission vote (already happened) and two City Council votes (haven't happened yet.

[GvilleSC]

21 minutes ago, Igel_1973 said:

The county's $120M in financing requires three votes. The second vote happened last night.

The county's rezoning application -- to the city, which regulates zoning inside city limits -- required a planning commission vote (already happened) and two City Council votes (haven't happened yet.

Kudos to you for being able to track and decipher all of that! 

[vicupstate]

Tripp's motion was to DELAY the vote on the $120 mm. He withdrew it, which meant the second vote was able to be taken and which passed. 

[gman430]

1 hour ago, vicupstate said:

Tripp's motion was to DELAY the vote on the $120 mm. He withdrew it, which meant the second vote was able to be taken and which passed. 

I thought his motion was for the $26 million for the museum and conference center. He voted yes for the $120 million County Square financing package.

“County Council members Liz Seman, Butch Kirven, Sid Cates, Joe Dill, Dan Tripp and Bob Taylor voted to proceed with a vote on the financing package. A second, up-or-down vote on the financing package itself passed 8-4, with just Roberts, Ballard, Meadows and Barnes opposed. Fant paused seven seconds before casting his crossover vote.”

Edited December 4, 2019 by gman430

[GvilleSC]

The drama over this is crazy. I’ve not heard anything that justifies one’s ‘nay’ vote. Looks like political theater.

[vicupstate]

12 hours ago, gman430 said:

I thought his motion was for the $26 million for the museum and conference center. He voted yes for the $120 million County Square financing package.

“County Council members Liz Seman, Butch Kirven, Sid Cates, Joe Dill, Dan Tripp and Bob Taylor voted to proceed with a vote on the financing package. A second, up-or-down vote on the financing package itself passed 8-4, with just Roberts, Ballard, Meadows and Barnes opposed. Fant paused seven seconds before casting his crossover vote.”

You are correct.  

[gman430]

11 hours ago, GvilleSC said:

The drama over this is crazy. I’ve not heard anything that justifies one’s ‘nay’ vote. Looks like political theater.

I think some of the county council members are worried about tax dollars having to be used for this project instead of the development itself paying for it. 

[vicupstate]

12 hours ago, GvilleSC said:

The drama over this is crazy. I’ve not heard anything that justifies one’s ‘nay’ vote. Looks like political theater.

There have been a lot of mistakes to be sure but none that are fatal, IMO.  The county has a long standing reputation for not giving a rip about what the neighbors think on any rezoning.   Only one member is representing those affected either.  They pretty much let the owner do what they want. 

The city s different in that a lot of sway is given to resident views and the majority of the council represents the affected areas, wherever they may be. 

Hindsight is 20/20, but in retrospect the county could and should have approached the city and the neighborhood that it was planning to sell  the property and that the 6 story limitation was onerous.  This should have predated the selection of a developer.  

The county should have looked for the relocation site for the state offices sooner as well, but that is water under the bridge.  One very legitimate issue is the fact the the chosen site is not on a bus route. That absolutely has to be remedied and is indicative of the tunnel-vision that some have on government decisions and policy.   

  

1 hour ago, gman430 said:

I think some of the county council members are worried about tax dollars having to be used for this project instead of the development itself paying for it. 

That may have been a concern earlier, but the  county is on-board with this now. The issue is the city , regarding the height and the incompatibility (real or perceived) between the neighborhood  and this project.  The affordable housing element has to be spelled out in more detail as well.