Milliken Village

[westsider28]

I got a tip about a Pacolet Milliken project, which I then found on their website (Gramling, 285 acres for mixed-use). 

Milliken Village appears to be a massive mixed-use development across Business-85 from Milliken's HQ and next to USC Upstate.  The site plan (see below) shows commercial (including a movie theater and hotel), apartments, townhomes, and SFH lots.  This would be a game-changer for Spartanburg.  We haven't seen anything like this before.  I assume it would be a long-term, multi-year build-out similar to their Hwy-76 development in Clemson (announced in 2014 and yet to start).  Hopefully we'll get a formal announcement and more details soon.

[GvilleSC]

Wow - this is massive

[roads-scholar]

Call me a doubting Thomas but the scale of this project seems beyond P-M's capabilities.  

[Spartan]

10 hours ago, roads-scholar said:

Call me a doubting Thomas but the scale of this project seems beyond P-M's capabilities.  

I don't think it's beyond their capabilities. They have an assload of money.

I started to say that location it terrible... BUT, if they can pull this off, it would actually make for a nice semi-urban college district next to USC Upstate. It would be cool to have a place other than downtown that has a walkable vibe with restaurants and bars to go to. 

[Greenville Paladin]

I like the idea for Milliken Village.  It would compliment University of South Carolina Upstate.

[mainonmain]

Wonder if this is within a mile of city limits. Can you imagine pulling Milliken HQ, this development and USC Upstate into the city limits? The increase in tax base and population would be ... significant.

[westsider28]

1 hour ago, mainonmain said:

Wonder if this is within a mile of city limits. Can you imagine pulling Milliken HQ, this development and USC Upstate into the city limits? The increase in tax base and population would be ... significant.

A quick Google measurement says ~1.5 miles as the crow flies, so unfortunately no annexation by that method.

[Spartan]

Milliken would be huge. The City has never expressed any interest of going north of 85, though.

[Greenville Paladin]

On 12/12/2019 at 10:53 AM, mainonmain said:

Wonder if this is within a mile of city limits. Can you imagine pulling Milliken HQ, this development and USC Upstate into the city limits? The increase in tax base and population would be ... significant.

Is the City of Spartanburg in position to annex to become larger?

[Spartan]

@Greenville Paladin  Unfortunately, no. This site is ~1.5 miles or so outside of the city limits. The City only gets annexation agreements for development within 1 mile, I think. Unless there is a special circumstance here, it's doubtful that it would ever be annexed.

[Greenville Paladin]

I noticed on the proposed site plan an exit ramp would be added on Business 85 southbound and University Way would be truncated. 

University Way should be relocated to tie in with Millken Village, or it needs to be eliminated completely.

Business 85 exits 5 need improvement. Exit 5B northbound should become a directional flyover from  Business 85 northbound to Interstate 585 northbound and exit 5A southbound should become a directional flyover to Interstate 585 southbound.   The present exit 5B  northbound would become exit 5C for Milliken and North Campus Boulevard.

[Spartan]

Agreed. The interchange design is very dated and causes a lot of weaving traffic and insufficient room to maneuver. Very dangerous, but fortunately there isn't an excessive amount of traffic on the old 85, or 585, so it's probably not a major issue. 

 

O/T but related: I've always wanted to see 585 extended about 1000 ft to create a full interchange with the new I-85. Probably not a high priority, but hopefully it will happen eventually.

[Greenville Paladin]

The recent rehabilitation of Interstate 85 from mile markets 69 to 77 has increased traffic on Business 85.  If Interstate 85 shuts down for an accident, Business 85 is open.

A significant development such as Milliken Village will increase traffic on Intersate 585 and Business 85.

[roads-scholar]

On 12/30/2019 at 7:14 PM, Spartan said:

Agreed. The interchange design is very dated and causes a lot of weaving traffic and insufficient room to maneuver. Very dangerous, but fortunately there isn't an excessive amount of traffic on the old 85, or 585, so it's probably not a major issue. 

 

O/T but related: I've always wanted to see 585 extended about 1000 ft to create a full interchange with the new I-85. Probably not a high priority, but hopefully it will happen eventually.

A full interchange is not even a "low priority" it seems.