Laurens Road @ Pleasantburg

[mallguy]

Agree

Agree again.

Excellent. Glad this board is a forum for productive discussions rather than attacks. All of us- you and especially Steven Rocks and many others, and I- are very knowledgeable about real estate and all have good points to make, and it's good to be able to bounce ideas off one another without attacking those who hold opposing viewpoints or trashing others who may not agree with our viewpoints as "not knowing anything" or the like. Let's keep the productive discussion going.

[gs3]

I think parts of Laurens Rd are kind of cool looking and have a lot of potential. I used to work at 33 liberty and on occasion would walk up the hill (shoppers lane) to the front of the plaza. Call me crazy but that little street always made me think of San Francisco. If the right developer comes along the shopping center good be positively transformed.

I agree. That little lane has major potential and character not found in other older retail areas in Greenville.

[goodbye]

I agree. That little lane has major potential and character not found in other older retail areas in Greenville.

There is a similar place I can think of, even though it isn't an exact copy. Lewis Plaza on Augusta Road follows a similar style, although it has more of a "town center" feeling. I would love to see the entire intersection of Laurens and Pleasantburg upgraded as an initial catalyst for unique changes. A start could be simply applying a brick facade with stucco accents (or another type of material) over the concrete walls, and adding attractive landscaping along key pedestrian routes.

An entire vision for transforming this district would be a major undertaking to complete, no matter how simple the plans are, but in the end, I believe it would help create more density in the city and also tie downtown to the new I-85 corridor developments rapidly on the way.

[vicupstate]

The city's plan for Pleasantburg calls for replacing asphat with buildings, which is the right thing to do. I remember the McAlsiter Mall parking lot that is parrallel to the big treed entrance would be replaced with mixed use multi-story buildings. That is a good example to follow.

The city has it's hands full already, and the county will not pay a dime for this kind of thing. The city should concentrate it's limited budget on the Palmetto Expo to Wade Hampton corridor first. Getting the Bob Jones Renaissance project going would be a huge step forward. It would add retail (some at the street) and add a substantial amount of upscale housing. The Used car lot where the Train cars use to be would be landscaped as well, I understand.

For now, the Laurens/Pleasantburg corridor is holding it's own, if it can continue to do so until the northern corridor of Pleasantburg turns the corner, then this area would be next.

[MAJIKMAN]

Plans have been proposed to turn Pleasantburg Shopping Center into a mixed-use development; it was on the Pleasantburg Drive website a while back. There was an interesting analysis done of Pleasantburg Drive that I read a while back; the report outlined how much retail space could potentially be supported in the area. I forget what the amount was, but it wasn't significantly higher than what is currently there.

So any shopping center development would probably be most successful if done in connection with attracting a decent number of new upscale residents with disposable income to the area, or in tandem with development of another big anchor (not necessarily a retail one) that would attract a lot more potential customers. I'd like to have an in-town Greenridge, but the factors that drove retailers away from McAlister Square and its environs haven't fundamentally changed and thus I don't see a retail influx anytime soon, except among locally-owned retailers that can't pay high rents; we'd need to change those factors.

Also, McAlister Square had typical mall retailers that weren't as upscale as those in Rice Village: The Limited, Belk's, Dillard's, Upton's, Eckerd's, Lerner, Shoe Show, J Riggings, Auntie Anne's, Baskin-Robbins, Casual Corner, Friedman's Jewelers, Mr. Knickerbocker, Foot Locker, Bookland, Sbarro, Chick-fil-A, Ritz Camera, etc. Back in the '80s it had more upscale stores, such as a Hart-Schaffner-Marx store and a Lillie Rubin, but those stores went to Haywood. To get a Banana Republic or the like to that area would take a significant upward shift in demographics.

Also, having locally-owned stores in a shopping center generally means lower rents than in a mall chain-type development like Greenridge. That means less money for shopping center improvements, unless public funding for some of the improvements is obtained.

If I owned the area, I would just tear down most of the existing commercial structures along Pleasantburg Drive, rezone the area as mixed-use/residential, and rebuild it as high-density housing, with grid streets, neighborhood-type stores, etc. I'd start over with a lot of the area. Some of the area plans on the Pleasantburg Drive website call for that, which I agree with.

You and I are on the same age page. Everybody pretty much knows that that whole area is going to be totally redeveloped before any significant change occurs. It is just to auto oriented. The best thing going right now is for cars. there is no reason to get out of them. I keep hearing you all just talk about the Laurens, Antrum, Pleasantbug intersection. But that whole area form Laurens to Faris and McAlister Rd to Parkins Mill could be turned into an urban gem. But thats just my opinion.

[mallguy]

Majikman- thanks for your post. I agree with you 100%!

[goodbye]

Not to rehash an old and dead topic, but this thread has become more important once again, since the recent announcement of the new Fresh Market and bank to be built on one of these corners.

[GSP Tiger]

The Fresh Market relocating to East Antrim Drive at the former Vince Perrone's is a great move. It will bring some business back to that area.

Traffic flow and efficiency in the area continues to be ignored.

Pleasantburg Drive: Widen from 4 to 6 lanes underneath Laurens Road. Close access to Pleasantburg Shopping Center. Eliminate the signalized intersection at Antrim Drive in favor of northbound and southbound on/off ramps.

Laurens Road: Build a wider longer span bridge over Pleasantburg Drive to accomodate its widening. Realign intersection with Airport Road. Add an additional left turn lane for southbound South Pleasantburg Drive traffic at the West Antrim Drive intersection. Elminate existing on/off ramps at bridge.

East Antrim Drive: Install traffic signal at McAlister Square and The Fresh Market.

[GSP Tiger]

It is expensive later on if you wait around, do nothing, and let the situation grow worse.

[GSP Tiger]

The existing Laurens Road bridge crossing Pleasantburg Drive was constructed in 1961. Pleasantburg Drive was later widened to the six lanes you see today in the later 1970s. Someone must thought that the high volume traffic could steadily travel where it bottlenecks in the long term. That bottleneck still exists and cannot handle the traffic flow. Instead of saving money to improve the interchange, they landscape it.