Greenville City Hall

[gman]

Hope it works out. “Greenville selling City Hall, potentially moving to Bowater building along Falls Park. https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/news/greenville-selling-city-hall-potentially-moving-to-bowater-building-along-falls-park/article_2e7f96ea-bd67-11eb-bf89-531e0844d1a1.html?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Greenville Breaking 052521&utm_content=Greenville Breaking 052521+CID_d7d1d784a2e679a07c730c83d0c0050a&utm_source=CampaignMonitor&utm_term=Read the full story

[gman430]

Reading between the lines, it sounds like they already have a buyer or a few of them potentially lined up. Hope the redevelopment includes a high rise. Can’t blame the city for wanting to move to a place that overlooks their greatest selling asset.

[GvilleSC]

1 minute ago, gman430 said:

Reading between the lines, it sounds like they already have a buyer or a few of them potentially lined up. Hope the redevelopment includes a high rise. Can’t blame the city for wanting to move to a place that overlooks their greatest selling asset.

I wouldn't hold my breath. I haven't seen anything about the current City Hall being torn down...?

[gman430]

14 minutes ago, GvilleSC said:

I wouldn't hold my breath. I haven't seen anything about the current City Hall being torn down...?

June 7th is the date:  https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/downtown/2021/05/25/greenville-city-hall-sold-move-falls-park-considered/7429507002/

The city also wants to sell and redevelop City Hall. City officials expect to meet with an appraiser before the next council meeting, Brotherton said. 

"There are multiple proposals on the table, and they each come with different timelines," Brotherton said. 

"Had executive session last night to explore options," White said Tuesday in a text message. "Up to city manager to negotiate from this point." 

When asked about the closed-door property discussions at the City Council meeting Monday night, City Manager John McDonough declined to comment. He said that what was discussed in executive session would be discussed in public session at the council meeting in two weeks. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by gman430

[GvilleSC]

4 minutes ago, gman430 said:

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/downtown/2021/05/25/greenville-city-hall-sold-move-falls-park-considered/7429507002/

I still don't see mention of demolition anywhere. "Redevelopment" does not exclude renovation/re-purposing of the existing building. Jumping to conclusions leads to disappointment (see UCB HQ thread). It will be interesting to see what sort of proposals come out of the process. I hope it's something interesting! 

[gman430]

5 minutes ago, GvilleSC said:

I still don't see mention of demolition anywhere. "Redevelopment" does not exclude renovation/re-purposing of the existing building. Jumping to conclusions leads to disappointment (see UCB HQ thread). It will be interesting to see what sort of proposals come out of the process. I hope it's something interesting! 

I said hopefully a high rise is included. I never said one definitely would be. The cost of renovation required to keep the building standing would cause demolition and full redevelopment to make more sense. 

[gman430]

My prediction: At least 30 stories. New corporate headquarters for Fortune 100 company Synnex. 500+ new jobs. Apple Store on the ground floor. Boom goes the dynamite.  It is time. Get ready Greenville...

Edited May 25, 2021 by gman430

[vicupstate]

I doubt that City Hall would be torn down. Probably a rehab like the ugly black metal building in Asheville got.  They could ADD a building behind it though. 

I assume by buying Bowater they would get control of it's garage. That would be a big help with parking DT. It use ot open to the public after business hours but that stopped awhile back. I would like ot see it free on nights and weekends like the Richardson Street garage.      

[GvilleSC]

1 hour ago, vicupstate said:

I doubt that City Hall would be torn down. Probably a rehab like the ugly black metal building in Asheville got.  They could ADD a building behind it though. 

I assume by buying Bowater they would get control of it's garage. That would be a big help with parking DT. It use ot open to the public after business hours but that stopped awhile back. I would like ot see it free on nights and weekends like the Richardson Street garage.      

RE: the garage

I could see the long game being a land swap for the existing garage. A developer gets river/park-front property (ideally the City retains some land for a larger buffer along the Reedy), and the city receives a parking garage across Falls Street. The new parking garage would be a part of a larger effort to  support and entice redevelopment in the "South of Broad" district. 

[gman430]

Land swap slated to be done with WCM and Centennial American Properties who are the current owners of the Bowater building. The city would get the Bowater building and they would get the city hall building. These are the same developers of Camperdown. 

The city will take three floors of the Bowater building also. Not sure what’s going to happen with the current tenants in that building if any of them are located on the first three floors.

Edited May 25, 2021 by gman430

[gman430]

Brotherton said the city has received several proposals for redeveloping the 10-story City Hall, all of which involve keeping the existing building and retrofitting it for mixed uses such as residential, office and retail.
 

So yeah...no new high rise. :/ Sounds almost as exciting as watching paint dry...almost.

Edited May 26, 2021 by gman430

[vicupstate]

Bowater has 35.5K SF vacant currently. 

44 minutes ago, gman430 said:

Brotherton said the city has received several proposals for redeveloping the 10-story City Hall, all of which involve keeping the existing building and retrofitting it for mixed uses such as residential, office and retail.
 

So yeah...no new high rise. :/ Sounds almost as exciting as watching paint dry...almost.

Still no reason a garage with office/residential on top couldn't be built on the current City Hall surface lot. 

[vicupstate]

2 hours ago, gman430 said:

Land swap slated to be done with WCM and Centennial American Properties who are the current owners of the Bowater building. The city would get the Bowater building and they would get the city hall building. These are the same developers of Camperdown. 

The city will take three floors of the Bowater building also. Not sure what’s going to happen with the current tenants in that building if any of them are located on the first three floors.

White anticipates the city would use three of the Bowater's four floors, which would give the departments room to grow. With space left over, the city could continue to lease to existing tenants in the building. If those tenants chose to move, the city could lease to startups in need of office space downtown, he said.  

[motonenterprises]

4 hours ago, gman430 said:

My prediction: At least 30 stories. New corporate headquarters for Fortune 100 company Synnex. 500+ new jobs. Apple Store on the ground floor. Boom goes the dynamite.  It is time. Get ready Greenville...

Nothing special about Apple store.

[gman430]

1 hour ago, motonenterprises said:

Nothing special about Apple store.

Better than all of the silly ice cream and cookie shops downtown. Apple would drive more people downtown. 

[gman]

8 hours ago, motonenterprises said:

Nothing special about Apple store.

It’s the most exciting store in Greenville. Having it downtown would be awesome. 

[bikeoid]

1 hour ago, gman said:

It’s the most exciting store in Greenville. Having it downtown would be awesome. 

When was the last time you were in the iStore in Greenville?

[motonenterprises]

4 hours ago, bikeoid said:

When was the last time you were in the iStore in Greenville?

I don't buy Apple products. So it's not for me and many others. Something that everyone uses would excite me more. Urban Target etc.

13 hours ago, gman430 said:

Better than all of the silly ice cream and cookie shops downtown. Apple would drive more people downtown. 

Not everyone buys Apple products like the rest of the herd sir.

[gman]

8 hours ago, bikeoid said:

When was the last time you were in the iStore in Greenville?

I thought we were talking about a real Apple Store. 

[gman430]

11 hours ago, bikeoid said:

When was the last time you were in the iStore in Greenville?

Who? Oh...that knock off place. No thank you. I shop at the real Apple Store. 

[apaladin]

So the city says they need more space. Is the 4 story Bowalter building larger than the 10 story city hall? If it is, how much.  Also why trade one old building for another old building? 

[Exile]

5 hours ago, apaladin said:

So the city says they need more space. Is the 4 story Bowalter building larger than the 10 story city hall? If it is, how much.  Also why trade one old building for another old building? 

The trusty old Google Earth ruler measures city hall footprint as 130 x 50, a mere 6500 sf per floor.

Bowater is ~100,000 sf, and the floor plates are much larger, in the 25,000 sf range. That's at least; it's possibly a bit larger. It may be "old", but when it was built, it was a very nice class A building. It's definitely a step up.

[vicupstate]

City council just finished a Work Session on this item, but little new information revealed. 

Bowater building has 98k SF and built in 90-91. The roof HVAC and Electrical systems will need replacement in the not TOO distant future, but not immediately. These would total about $4.75mm.  The building is in good condition and significantly more energy efficient that the existing City Hall. Adding solar panels to the roof would be a possibility as well.   

The current City Hall needs $5.75 mm in maintenance in the next 8 years. There are are 6.5k SF per floor of useable space in City Hall although the gross SF is 100k.    

There was no discussion of the garage but based on the site estimate it is NOT included. 

 

1 minute ago, vicupstate said:

 

 

 

[apaladin]

8 hours ago, vicupstate said:

City council just finished a Work Session on this item, but little new information revealed. 

Bowater building has 98k SF and built in 90-91. The roof HVAC and Electrical systems will need replacement in the not TOO distant future, but not immediately. These would total about $4.75mm.  The building is in good condition and significantly more energy efficient that the existing City Hall. Adding solar panels to the roof would be a possibility as well.   

The current City Hall needs $5.75 mm in maintenance in the next 8 years. There are are 6.5k SF per floor of useable space in City Hall although the gross SF is 100k.    

There was no discussion of the garage but based on the site estimate it is NOT included. 

 

 

So basically there are no good reasons to make this move. 

[gman]

3 hours ago, apaladin said:

So basically there are no good reasons to make this move. 

All of the reasons to move were explained in the original press release.