234 North Church St. office project

[westsider28]

This was discussed in the Downtown Developments thread, but I figured it was worth its own thread.  A 3-story office building is proposed at the Montgomery Development owned site at 234 N Church Street.  It will go for preliminary/conceptual approval at the Dec. 7 DRB meeting.  It's approx. 31,000 sq ft with 73 parking spaces.  Not sure if retail is planned, but it at least looks possible.  Screenshots from the PDF below.

I like the design generally, especially the obvious homage to the Montgomery Building with the ground floor design.  Materials are solid (mostly brick and cast stone).  I think it could use a cornice or something; the top looks a bit bland/unfinished.  And I don't like the curb cut on Main.  But otherwise, pretty solid infill building.

What do y'all think?

Edited November 30, 2021 by westsider28

[roads-scholar]

57 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

This was discussed in the Downtown Developments thread, but I figured it was worth its own thread.  A 3-story office building is proposed at the Montgomery Development owned site at 234 N Church Street.  It will go for preliminary/conceptual approval at the Dec. 7 DRB meeting.  It's approx. 31,000 sq ft with 73 parking spaces.  Not sure if retail is planned, but it at least looks possible.  Screenshots from the PDF below.

I like the design generally, especially the obvious homage to the Montgomery Building with the ground floor design.  Materials are solid (mostly brick and cast stone).  I think it could use a cornice or something; the top looks a bit bland/unfinished.  And I don't like the curb cut on Main.  But otherwise, pretty solid infill building.

What do y'all think?

That stretch of North Church needs a boost or catalyst.  This looks like a good start. 

[Spartan]

The concrete(?) edges of that building are weird.  I know it says "cast stone" but TBH if that means the beige of the Montgomery building then I'm not a huge fan. It only works for that building because its actually historic. I'd love to see something more detailed and interesting than flat beige there...

But this is a solid project. Great design, great location. Even if its a bit weird looking its still a win!

[Spartanburg Dude]

Have to agree that this is a great start to "kick-starting" meaningful development on that corridor. 
Love the homage to the MB. Overall like the design, brings new and old together, I just wish, as it was stated above, that the new had a bit more character. A cornice, as mentioned above would be a big plus, and I agree that the beige is just bleh. BUT, overall great start for the area and yes the MB style store-fronts and main entrance are solid. Make it a redder brick, lose the beige, hell make the whole thing brick with a cornice and some cool ornate brickwork and we've got a winner no doubt. 

[westsider28]

I was perusing McMillan Pazdan Smith's portfolio on their website, when I stumbled across an incredibly similar building at 349 W Coleman Blvd in Mt Pleasant (Google Streetview).  The building proposed in Spartanburg (also by MPS) is a near copy-paste!  Not that it's necessarily a bad thing.  I think that other building looks pretty nice, and it gives a decent example of what this project may look like in real life.

[Spartan]

That's actually pretty solid. If it ends up looking like that, then that's a really great infill type of building

[Spartanburg Dude]

https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2021/12/07/montgomery-development-group-building-office-space-downtown-spartanburg/8891830002/?fbclid=IwAR0ojbBD3WSQlYVRi2VTPjj8H9habJdYQX4UN3CVv2avg4_BcXjPNMDDmgY

If approved, they want to break ground in the spring and think it'll take 12 months to build. 

 

[westsider28]

2 hours ago, Spartanburg Dude said:

https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2021/12/07/montgomery-development-group-building-office-space-downtown-spartanburg/8891830002/?fbclid=IwAR0ojbBD3WSQlYVRi2VTPjj8H9habJdYQX4UN3CVv2avg4_BcXjPNMDDmgY

If approved, they want to break ground in the spring and think it'll take 12 months to build. 

The building is fully "spec" (i.e. speculative; without a confirmed tenant) which shows confidence in our office market (and the lack of currently available space).

They also mention potential retail or restaurant use on the ground floor, which would be great!

And the article mentions that "the new building is part of a bigger picture for development downtown and is likely the first of many on the North Church Street block."

[westsider28]

Here's a Post & Courier story about this development.  Not really much new info, except that it's a $10 million project.  And it did receive preliminary/conceptual approval at the last DRB meeting.

Edited December 16, 2021 by westsider28

[westsider28]

This building is being pre-leased on Colliers.  Minimum lease space is 2,000 sq ft, up to the whole building (30k).  They claim it will have a Q4 2022 move-in, which I think is pretty ambitious.  Though they mention that temporary space is available through local economic development incentive programs.  Hope they get plenty of interest / commitments (and hopefully a ground-floor retail tenant).

[westsider28]

An update in the Herald-Journal says that this project is on hold "until market conditions improve".  I guess they mean financing, because the office demand is there.  I'm not surprised, as Colliers hasn't updated their listing since the original posting, which still says Q1 2023 completion, lol.

[NotNotSanti]

Construction costs might have something to do with it also, though they've been high for a while now. 

[westsider28]

It might also be a case of they were hunting the same tenant(s) as the Liberty office building, and that one won.  And apparently no one wants to build on spec.

[NotNotSanti]

Very good point.  I did have to chuckle a bit that 234 N. Church is nowhere to be seen on their marketing booklet! Makes sense of course, being competitors for the same type of customer. I have to say, I am impressed with how thorough the marketing pamphlet you highlighted for us is. The estimates for completions were quite welcome.