Morgan Square Redesign

[westsider28]

At Monday's meeting, City Council voted to create a "Morgan Square Redevelopment Committee".  Here are the members (seems like a fairly diverse group of stakeholders):

►Halsey Cook, CEO Milliken & Co., will serve as chairman

►Raj Patel, Co-owner Cribbs Restaurant & Main St. Pub

►Betsy Teter, Founder Hub City Press

►Tori James LeRoy, Co-owner Two Doors Down clothing store

►Lauren Rogers, City Design Review Board Member

►Jamar Brown, City Planning Commissioner

►Brenda Lee Pryce, Former state representative 

►Alex Powell, Johnson Development

►John Bauknight, Broker with NAI Earle Furman

►William Gray, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architects

►Jack McBride, Founder and Cairman, Contec, Inc. 

►Spartanburg Mayor Jerome Rice and Manning Lynch, Spartanburg County Council chair, will both act as ex officio members of the committee. 

The committee's work will take 6-12 months and will involve a robust public engagement process. After their work is complete, the new committee will make final recommendations to City Council regarding changes to the square.

Separate from the square redesign discussion, Council will take up extending the West Main street closure at their next meeting on August 8.

https://www.cityofspartanburg.org/news/city-council-approves-creation-of-morgan-square-redevelopment-committee

Edited July 26, 2022 by westsider28
More details

[westsider28]

Nothing really new in this H-J article about potential Square renovations, but it's a decent summary and background on the issues and process.  The comparison to Central Park, however, is laughable.  If you must relate it to NYC, Union Square is a much more accurate comparison.

[Spartan]

Agreed. Spartanburg doesn't have a corollary to Central park. The closest is probably the Milliken Campus.

It's going to be interesting to see what comes of this.

[Darelle]

Maybe, I am wrong but I think the “central” is where Morgan is located rather than the comparison of  Central Park

[roads-scholar]

21 minutes ago, Darelle said:

Maybe, I am wrong but I think the “central” is where Morgan is located rather than the comparison of  Central Park

Agree.  Let's not allow this conversation to get heated by comparing Morgan Square with NYC's Central Park .  However, Morgan Square should be regarded as Spartanburg's "Central Gathering Place". 

[westsider28]

City Council voted tonight (7-0) to keep the section of West Main at Morgan Square closed to vehicles for the next 24 months while the redevelopment committee does their job.  (H-J article)

[camtology]

On 8/8/2022 at 7:54 PM, westsider28 said:

City Council voted tonight (7-0) to keep the section of West Main at Morgan Square closed to vehicles for the next 24 months while the redevelopment committee does their job.  (H-J article)

It’d be nice for this area to eventually become either grass or brick filled and Spartanburg to have more walk-only sections in and around downtown. I’ve only been in Spartanburg for 2 years but the very walkable area around Morgan square is one of my favorite places to be/walk

[Spartan]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:15 AM, roads-scholar said:

Agree.  Let's not allow this conversation to get heated by comparing Morgan Square with NYC's Central Park .  However, Morgan Square should be regarded as Spartanburg's "Central Gathering Place". 

Agreed. And without question the most important one.

[westsider28]

The City has posted a podcast about Morgan Square over the years to give some context to the current redesign efforts.  Also included is a link to an extensive PDF about the history of the Square, its many iterations, and several plans that didn't materialize.  I've seen most of them, but there were several plans even I wasn't familiar with.  Very interesting!

[Spartan]

That's a really great find. I assumed I had seen all of the previous iterations for Morgan Square, and I have, but I have NOT seen all of the concepts for how to rework it over the years.  My favorite was taking the opportunity block and converting that into a much larger park.

I also love the aerial from the 1920s. You can really get a feel for how much larger downtown was and would feel like today had they not torn most of it down.

[westsider28]

At Monday's meeting, City Council will consider awarding a design contract to MKSK for enhancements to Morgan Square.  The City received 10 submittals to the RFQ and interviewed 3 candidates to decide on this one.  Design and engineering services will cost around $260,000; which will be paid for with downtown district and economic development funding, and potentially a grant.  MKSK does excellent work, so I think it's a great choice.  Looking forward to the subsequent public input process.

P&C article

Edit: Apparently there will be an initial public info/input meeting the evening of Dec. 14 at the Chapman Cultural Center, assuming the contract is approved.

Edited November 11, 2022 by westsider28
Added article and more details

[westsider28]

The correct date for the public kick-off event is December 13, 4:30 - 6:00 pm at the Chapman Cultural Center.  It will be an informational meeting with the City, Design Team, Steering Committee members and keynote speaker Mitchell Silver (former NYC Parks Commissioner and former Raleigh director of City Planning).  There will be a community workshop event in February (exact date TBD).  There's also a new webpage with relevant info about the process: https://www.cityofspartanburg.org/morgan-square  Here's the study area:

[Spartan]

Sounds great. I highly recommend listening to Mitch Silver if you get a chance. He's a great speaker and 'gets it' when it comes to creating good public space.

[westsider28]

Noticed this week that some sections of fencing on the lower part of the square have been removed.  Perhaps a preview of things to come?

[gman430]

Welp…the cheap ferris wheel that isn’t even festive looking didn’t last long. The city needs to bring back the ice skating rink. 

Edited December 11, 2022 by gman430

[djh1963]

I attended the Kickoff meeting for the Morgan Square redesign tonight, not really much new was revealed but they are doing another survey. City of Spartanburg, South Carolina | Morgan Square Enhancement Plan.

 

[westsider28]

On 4/14/2022 at 1:28 PM, westsider28 said:

Somewhat related to a potential Morgan Square redesign and would tie-in to it, is a new plan to redesign Wall Street as well.  It's not a huge change, and mainly seems to add trees, which is nice.  The current design was kind of a "hedge" in that it could still handle vehicles, whereas this new design is clearly all-in on it being only for pedestrians.

According to an Instagram post from Ali Baba, the City will be starting this project to improve Wall Street on Monday, January 9.

Should be a nice improvement.  However, there was no public notice, no public input (this was designed entirely behind closed doors), and no Council vote to authorize this (where is the funding coming from?). We need more transparency.

Edited January 8, 2023 by westsider28

[westsider28]

Don't forget: Morgan Square public input meeting tomorrow (Feb. 21) 4-8pm at CC Woodson!

[camtology]

On 2/20/2023 at 12:47 PM, westsider28 said:

Don't forget: Morgan Square public input meeting tomorrow (Feb. 21) 4-8pm at CC Woodson!

Does anyone have an update on what was discussed in this meeting last night?

[westsider28]

48 minutes ago, camtology said:

Does anyone have an update on what was discussed in this meeting last night?

It was still pretty high-level conceptual stuff for the most part.  There were various stations for different types of input.  There was a map of the Square where people put green dots where they felt comfortable (upper square, pedestrianized West Main) and red dots where they felt uncomfortable (Church St crossing, lower square where homeless hang out).  Some recap of the public survey results from late last year.  Discussions with MKSK staff on possibilities for the Square and nearby areas (better Church St crossing, retail in 1MS, better wayfinding for parking, increase residential population, etc).  A station where you described your ideal day in a renovated Morgan Square.  Those types of things.  Here's a few photos (wish I took more):

[westsider28]

Quote from Betsy Teter (member of the Morgan Square Redevelopment Committee) after a tour of the Square's trees with an arborist:

The arborist explained that there are issues with many of our trees. Some, like the Dawn Redwoods at the top of the square, are planted too closely together for them to reach full height. Others are in boxes or sidewalks that don't give them much room to grow and over years this can diminish their chances of survival.

What I heard yesterday was that the biggest, healthiest trees -- the oaks that circle the concert area -- are the most likely to be preserved. The trees down the sidewalks on West Main and [Dunbar] will, over time, need to be replaced, but the arborist suggested that this process can be phased over years while new, longer-living trees, planted a little bit farther from the storefronts, could reach heights that create shade.

I was encouraged when I saw the arborist's website. It says, "Preserving trees is our primary focus."

A big thanks to City Manager Chris Story for realizing that the arborist should come to the square to talk to us about ways to incorporate more existing trees into the emerging plans. Also to Manning Lynch and John Bauknight for attending.

This community has done a great job of espousing the virtues of our tree canopy. Please keep it up. Three proposed designs for the square will be presented by MKSK on April 25 at an afternoon public event at the square. More details to come.

[westsider28]

Morgan Square Community Workshop 2 will take place at the Square (rain location: downtown Library) from 4:30 to 6:30 PM on Tuesday, April 25.  The Facebook event says: 

Drop by the Square to see "first look" designs for the next stage in the Square's evolution!

This drop-in event will have interactive exercises and opportunities to share your thoughts, provide the team with clear direction, and learn how you can stay involved in the process of Morgan Square's redesign!

[westsider28]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:32 PM, westsider28 said:

Morgan Square Community Workshop 2 will take place at the Square (rain location: downtown Library) from 4:30 to 6:30 PM on Tuesday, April 25.  The Facebook event says: 

Drop by the Square to see "first look" designs for the next stage in the Square's evolution!

This drop-in event will have interactive exercises and opportunities to share your thoughts, provide the team with clear direction, and learn how you can stay involved in the process of Morgan Square's redesign!

Reminder that tomorrow is the next community workshop for Morgan Square.  Three possible designs will be shown, and the public can give input as to which design (or elements of the designs) they like.  That will help the team refine the plan.

[gman430]

https://www.wspa.com/news/three-designs-revealed-for-morgan-square-redevelopment/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR1T_2UzLRWIUzD2HinJbr3GGW0ZiYkvtUbu-FUB07s6TPc-7oKVkq0Plb0&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

[djh1963]

It doesn't look like any of them address the issue of accessibility for those of us with mobility issues.  I guess we are not important to the city.