Westgate Watcher

[westsider28]

Not exactly Westgate but nearby: I was perusing the Starwood Hotels website, and I found a listing for a Four Points by Sheraton coming to the former Wilson World / Radisson / Clarion on Fairforest Road in March 2017. I haven't heard about this anywhere else, but being on Starwood's website seems pretty official to me.  Good to see this building renovated for our first Starwood property.  Meanwhile, no progress on the Residence Inn at Summit Point...

[roads-scholar]

I'm not surprised about the "no progress" on the Residence Inn.  That developer has a poor record of delivering.

Glad to see something happening with the old Wilson World. 

[spartanburgh]

Developer Sam Shanbag has promised hotels before and not delivered. I think he does it to discourage other developers

when they start looking around for sites.

[roads-scholar]

I don't think "Shambag" has any money or can't get financing. 

[westsider28]

H&M is coming to Westgate Mall!  This will be the 4th location in SC and the first in the Upstate.  There are 2 in Charleston and 1 in Myrtle Beach (also Asheville & Charlotte).  This seems like something of a coup for Spartanburg to get an H&M instead of (or at least before) Greenville.  Great news!

[gvegas12]

On 6/27/2016 at 5:26 PM, westsider28 said:

H&M is coming to Westgate Mall!  This will be the 4th location in SC and the first in the Upstate.  There are 2 in Charleston and 1 in Myrtle Beach (also Asheville & Charlotte).  This seems like something of a coup for Spartanburg to get an H&M instead of (or at least before) Greenville.  Great news!

Before getting too excited, I'd check whether this is an actual H&M store or an outlet store (like the ones in Myrtle Beach and North Charleston). Still a good get, but it may actually be a bad sign if Westgate Mall is now accepting outlets...

[Spartan]

In my dreamworld, Westgate gets completely revisioned as a moderate to high density mixed-use community. The streets are already there... just need to remove the roof and add some drains. Then fill in the parking lots with better development.

[westsider28]

So this UBJ article says that Pinnacle will be building a 116-room Hilton Garden Inn in addition to the previously announced 105-room Residence Inn.  As the article mentioned, we don't have enough hotels for big sports tournaments, so we lose business to Greenville.  But I'll believe it when I see it from Pinnacle.

Not sure about that renovation for Four Points.  I haven't seen any progress, so maybe it's not happening?

(Not related to Westgate, but a Home2 Suites is also planned at 290 & I-85 in Duncan.)

[roads-scholar]

2 hours ago, westsider28 said:

So this UBJ article says that Pinnacle will be building a 116-room Hilton Garden Inn in addition to the previously announced 105-room Residence Inn.  As the article mentioned, we don't have enough hotels for big sports tournaments, so we lose business to Greenville.  But I'll believe it when I see it from Pinnacle.

Not sure about that renovation for Four Points.  I haven't seen any progress, so maybe it's not happening?

(Not related to Westgate, but a Home2 Suites is also planned at 290 & I-85 in Duncan.)

I'll say this again: don't hold your breath waiting on Pinnacle to start moving dirt.  They're great about big announcements but coming through with brick and mortar they're not. 

[cjggsp2]

There has been no activity at the Sheraton 4 Points location, there were a pair of construction people there a few months back who were scraping ceilings, but there has been no activity recently. Last time I was by there last week, there was a door propped open in the middle of the day and no one around anywhere, which makes me concerned that there may be people using the building during the overnight hours. 

The Residence Inn project is apparently waiting for some sort of variance or right of way for their driveway and then they are supposed to be moving earth. Any time now is what I have heard. 

[hub-city]

Ok, which hotel is currently under construction at Summit Pointe?  Residence Inn or Hilton Garden Inn?  

[westsider28]

Here are a few Residence Inn progress photos I took last week.

I found a bid listing for a 6-story Hilton Garden Inn. But the address listed is for an existing one in Greenville. But the bid PDF has a Spartanburg address. And Pinnacle had a press release about an HGI here...a year ago. So, maybe they're just gonna copy-paste the Greenville one here? You never know with Pinnacle; they move like molasses uphill in January.

[djh1963]

Saw last night where Big Lots is coming to the old HH Greg  space in Franklin Square.

 

[roads-scholar]

Big Lots seems like a good fit for that shopping center. 

[westsider28]

The Residence Inn is supposed to open in February.  Shockingly, the Hilton Garden Inn (6 floors) is actually under construction!  They're framing the 2nd floor now.  So there will soon be 3 hotels right next to each other at Summit Pointe. I sure wish the land around Spartan 16 would be developed into a semi-walkable lifestyle center. (sidewalks at least!)  All those visitors need something they can walk to besides CityRange.

Residence Inn

Hilton Garden Inn

[roads-scholar]

In the news today:  Sears is closing its Westgate Mall store. 

This news is not unexpected but sad nonetheless.  Sears has been a fixture at the mall since it opened in 1975 and before that on North Church Street. 

Edited May 31, 2018 by roads-scholar

[Sparkleman]

Maybe its just me but Westgate Mall has been on life support for some time now. I refuse to shop there as its just not a good mall and involves going to the west side with all the bad traffic. 

Belks is really the only store I would shop at and were they smart they would move back downtown to a somewhat smaller store. 

[roads-scholar]

I've always believed that strong anchors are one of the keys to a mall's success.  Until now Westgate has held on to its anchors and weathered the storms that have befallen many other malls around the country. 

Can Westgate survive the loss or Sears?  Can it find another anchor?  Does it need another anchor?  Can the mall be repurposed into something else? 

I shop at the anchors but rarely go into the mall itself.  The last time I was there, I peeked inside the food court wing and found it to be surprisingly busy on a pretty spring day. 

For what its worth, the Sears store has been moribund for a long time.   And, I expect Sears as we know it will be gone for good by 2020. 

[vicupstate]

I imagine the mall owners are glad to see Sears leave. They can divide it up and probably get more rent and traffic. 

[Spartanburg Guy]

That Sears has had really poor customer service for years.  I’m surprised it has lasted this long.

[Spartanburg Dude]

Not at all surprised that Sears has decided to close this store. It's old, dirty and didn't feel (from a bystander's point of view) like the company had any intention of updating it. As for the mall as a whole; Westgate is old, dirty, falling apart. I'd love to see the mall get purchased by a large operator who will update it, expand it and really make it a Spartanburg destination. The issue today is that malls can't seem to survive on stores alone, there has to be a draw that is not retail. I don't pretend to know the answer, but something has to be done before Westgate fails, if it hasn't already. 

[Spartan]

I think malls in general will die off as a concept. Nationally, more people are shopping online, but where there is retail growth, people tend to want an authentic local experience. Not a generic mall that could literally be anywhere. The question is, can cities work to reconstruct them as urban walkable places? Westgate could be  converted into a walkable urban center with shopping, restaurants, retail, offices, etc. The infrastructure is already there, they just need to figure out a better way to integrate it into the surrounding street network - which is admittedly challenging since they graded the site to be 20 ft below the Blackstock Road.

[Spartanburg Dude]

5 minutes ago, Spartan said:

I think malls in general will die off as a concept. Nationally, more people are shopping online, but where there is retail growth, people tend to want an authentic local experience. Not a generic mall that could literally be anywhere. The question is, can cities work to reconstruct them as urban walkable places? Westgate could be  converted into a walkable urban center with shopping, restaurants, retail, offices, etc. The infrastructure is already there, they just need to figure out a better way to integrate it into the surrounding street network - which is admittedly challenging since they graded the site to be 20 ft below the Blackstock Road.

I could see a two to three story structure were there are walk ways (entry ways) from street level into the second floor and then stairs / walkways down into a shopping, eating and entertainment oasis. To your point, something that screams local, designed to reflect elements of railroads and mills, a living museum to Spartanburg's early roots and a lot of artifacts from the same. Could be a real destination.

[roads-scholar]

6 hours ago, Spartanburg Dude said:

Not at all surprised that Sears has decided to close this store. It's old, dirty and didn't feel (from a bystander's point of view) like the company had any intention of updating it. As for the mall as a whole; Westgate is old, dirty, falling apart. I'd love to see the mall get purchased by a large operator who will update it, expand it and really make it a Spartanburg destination. The issue today is that malls can't seem to survive on stores alone, there has to be a draw that is not retail. I don't pretend to know the answer, but something has to be done before Westgate fails, if it hasn't already. 

I don't believe Westgate is in its death throes.  Sears was dying, no doubt, but the mall itself is relatively healthy.  Belk, Dillards. and the other minor anchors seem to be doing okay.  Nevertheless, the mall could use an update and I hope its owners have something in mind. 

One thought I had for the Sears space:  allow the county to lease it for office space until a new courthouse is constructed. 

[Spartan]

They could also tear it down like they did for Proffit's.

Unless they can get one of those outdoor stores or an REI or something, I don't know what would be able to fill up such a large space.