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United Community Plaza (S Pine & E Main Mixed Use)


westsider28

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United Community Bank is planning to anchor a mixed-use development on 1.7 acres on the Southeast corner of Main and Pine (Sub Station, Simple Simon, etc).  It would be a 19,000+ sq ft L-shaped building, 2-stories along Pine, 1 tall story along Main, spaces for office/retail, and 100 parking spaces behind.  The developer is Greenville-based Centennial American Properties (they're behind the huge Camperdown project in Greenville).  Construction could start late this year. 

This must be the project that was briefly on a DRB agenda a few months ago, before being pulled.  This could be the catalyst for really cleaning up that corner (motels, etc).  Exciting!

597b79fc3dec5_Main-PineUCB1.jpg.838164a4fa7a66e6a06b2880a2669d23.jpg

Edit: Here's the UBJ story on the project.  And I agree with roads-scholar below; I meant the whole intersection. :good:

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38 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

United Community Bank is planning to anchor a mixed-use development on 1.7 acres on the Southeast corner of Main and Pine (Sub Station, Simple Simon, etc).  It would be a 19,000+ sq ft L-shaped building, 2-stories along Pine, 1 tall story along Main, spaces for office/retail, and 100 parking spaces behind.  The developer is Greenville-based Centennial American Properties (they're behind the huge Camperdown project in Greenville).  Construction could start late this year. 

This must be the project that was briefly on a DRB agenda a few months ago, before being pulled.  This could be the catalyst for really cleaning up that corner (motels, etc).  Exciting!

597b79fc3dec5_Main-PineUCB1.jpg.838164a4fa7a66e6a06b2880a2669d23.jpg

I see this as not only the catalyst for cleaning up the SE corner but the SW corner, the NE corner, and the NW corner. 

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I have some concerns about the urban design and streetscape, but overall its a great project. I think its a testament to the higher standard that form-based codes results in.

My main concern is the sidewalk and planting strip area. They seem to be backwards. It's great to have retail facing the street, but they need to have enough room outside to set up an outdoor seating area. Under no circumstances when you have that much space should there be sidewalk at the back of curb AND a small sidewalk adjacent to the building. 

For the record, I love landscaping, but in a more urban context it needs to be in planters and tree wells with generally more space dedicated to pedestrians.

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@Spartan I agree that the sidewalk design needs some work.  I'm sure the DRB will address that.  I'm also hoping the City considers some streetscaping improvements in the area (the whole East Main block from Pine to St John could really use it).

@Spartanburg Guy The AT&T building isn't part of this project. I actually think it's a relatively nice looking building (circa 1946 according to GIS), and it has some good height. It's AT&T's main communications hub for the area (every city has a building like it), and it also contains Spartanburg County 911.  So it won't be going anywhere for a LONG time.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was at the DRB meeting.  This project was sent back to the drawing board due to issues with the building face line on East Main (not close enough to the site line & change in depth of the building halfway along the face) and an issue with consistent materials on the ends of the building (particularly on Pine) where the first floor was brick & 2nd floor EIFS (design not cohesive).  Here's the updated site plan (better than the initial renderings) and the updated Pine facade that were presented.

Edit: H-J article - http://www.goupstate.com/news/20170816/design-plans-for-mixed-use-project-sent-back-for-changes

IMG_7633.thumb.JPG.f808bc166c9bc838d6b9fa9f81ada131.JPG

IMG_7634.thumb.JPG.465234ea40bdec98dfb02800fae523f2.JPG

I found it a bit ridiculous that someone on the development team seemed to get a bit angry over this.  I got the feeling he was expecting approval to be a formality.  Um, it's the DRB's job to challenge you on stuff that doesn't conform and you to figure it out.  He mentioned "economic" stuff, like adding more brick instead of EIFS was going to make the project unfeasible.  Rubbed me the wrong way.

Edited by westsider28
Added H-J article
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  • 3 weeks later...

Revised plans for this project were approved by the DRB.  I wasn't at the meeting this time, so I don't know exactly what all the changes were (like revised parking details mentioned).  But the main thing is that the front design was simplified, and the street-facing sides are totally brick now, which is good.  (compare the old Pine Street elevation above to the updated rendering below)

59af6c760b9e0_MPupdate2.jpg.74d4f108ac44f49ee60786af5b60d37e.jpg

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Based on that rendering, I like this a lot more. The building is closer to the street with less oddly large planting strips, and the building appears to have more and better articulation. In my mind, this moves from a B- design to an A- design (pending the finished produce). I actually like the blend of the "Spartanburg style" mill windows and the modern/contemporary box thing on the corner.

The fad of large, boxy corners on buildings is well underway, so it's good to see Spartanburg getting in on the trend. That said, I wish the downtown area had not missed out on the fad of making large cylindrical corners on buildings. I guess we did get that one building at Wall and Broad, but it's not very prominent, and maybe you could argue QS/1 is a related style (inverse cylinder)... but the Commons at Main & Pine is going to be quite prominent and trendy looking.

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  • 4 months later...

No movement on this project yet (other than DHEC voluntary clean-up signs on-site), but I found a lease listing for this project on LoopNet.  Below is the floor plan.  Suite C is primary tenant UCB.  Suite B has a letter-of-intent from a restaurant tenant.  The other spots are available.  The listing mentions that expected completion of the project is Q4/December.

5a66a1f5f143f_MPfloorplan.thumb.jpg.ef9ba5df02b1dcfb70383f6e4ad8fdb7.jpg

Edited by westsider28
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  • 2 weeks later...
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All the buildings onsite have now been demolished and cleared.  Groundbreaking for the new building will be February 28.  Projected completion is end of 2018 or early 2019.  There's been lots of tenant interest, but nothing to announce yet.  Interestingly, a new entity--Willow Flats Development (led by Guy Harris: a broker with Spencer Hines Properties)--recently took over the project from Centennial American Properties because they're overwhelmed with the Camperdown project in Greenville.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing this rise!

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This building is apparently a one story building with about a thousand feet of mezzanine or second story section for the bank,  with

all else one story. The façade is designed to look like a two story building, but IMO this is a big disappointment for this site. I do

agree that it is way better than what was there before, but still a let down for such a prominent site.  However, for the continual

reference to this multistory development is a bit of a joke.

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Yeah, I agree that the developers seemed to have pulled a fast one with respect to the floor-count.  The interior spaces will be kind of odd with the extremely high ceilings.  It seems like it would be relatively easy to add a second floor in the (distant) future, however.  Anyway, progress photo:

IMG_0793.thumb.JPG.99b5c3166513d131ba4bf1f6a0bbd85c.JPG

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