The State of Downtown Retail

[gvegascple]

On 1/8/2022 at 8:19 AM, gman said:

Ice on Main to stay where it is?  https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/business/ice-on-main-may-stay-if-greenville-hotel-owner-can-strike-a-deal/article_499edb10-7005-11ec-b231-e7ef3144cb3d.html?utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Dern paywall.  I would like to see it stay where it is and ensure that the pocket park there remains as something open to the public to enjoy.   If the city spent some of our tax money making it nice, adding the water feature and public restrooms etc then  we should get to use it or get our money back.  

[GvilleSC]

13 minutes ago, gvegascple said:

Dern paywall.  I would like to see it stay where it is and ensure that the pocket park there remains as something open to the public to enjoy.   If the city spent some of our tax money making it nice, adding the water feature and public restrooms etc then  we should get to use it or get our money back.  

I'm sure the restrooms and walkway to them would remain open, similar to other restrooms around downtown. However, if the City finds a way to do a land swap for City Hall, I imagine the restrooms would be incorporated into a new development and could be relocated. 

[Tigers81]

7 hours ago, gvegascple said:

Dern paywall.  I would like to see it stay where it is and ensure that the pocket park there remains as something open to the public to enjoy.   If the city spent some of our tax money making it nice, adding the water feature and public restrooms etc then  we should get to use it or get our money back.  

 

GREENVILLE — The news that this would be the last year that Ice on Main operate in its current downtown location came just as the season began.

Now, as the end of the season nears, it appears the popular skating rink will be back again next year.

For 10 years, the rink has been a holiday staple in the compact courtyard between the downtown Marriott and City Hall.

The hotel’s owner, Bo Aughtry, told City Council in November that he intended to remake the courtyard to accommodate two new restaurants and activate what he said was an underused space.

However, the city and Aughtry drew up a deal in the first week of January to keep the rink in place for the foreseeable future while also redeveloping about one-third of the courtyard, Assistant City Manager Shannon Lavrin said.

 

“They are going to do everything they can to try to accommodate the rink,” Lavrin told the city’s Design Review Board on Jan. 6 as the board delayed a vote on the new design of the courtyard. “It’s going to require some design and to look at how we utilize some of our other spaces for parts of what goes with the rink.”

One possibility Aughtry had raised was to move the rink to the new city lawn in front of the Grand Bohemian Hotel at the edge of the eastern side of the Liberty Bridge in Falls Park.

For the past 12 years, he said, his hotel group has provided space for Ice on Main without any obligation to do so in its contract with the city. At other times of the year, Aughtry said, the courtyard is underused.

In November, Aughtry told the council that the skating rink that operates from just before Thanksgiving to Martin Luther King Jr. weekend needed “a shot in the arm” and a new location.

Now, he said the rink’s location is important.

“It is not an obligation on our part contractually,” he told the DRB. “We just felt like it was good for Greenville, and we still do. And we think it’s important that it can stay there and this space can be more activated year round.”

The move comes as the city rethinks its idea of selling City Hall and moving operations to Falls Park.

 

Mayor Knox White told The Post and Courier that the city could renovate the aging tower and keep a smaller presence there now that it has bought office space near Haywood Mall for a public safety headquarters that has extra space.

In 2008, Aughtry bought an unsightly city parking garage that was once the location of the old City Hall and defied the construction headwinds of the Great Recession to build the Courtyard Marriott, White said.

The deal came with a 20-year agreement to allow the city unrestricted access to the green space for 15 days a year, which, aside from Ice on Main, it has used sparingly for events like Artisphere and Fall for Greenville.

The remake of the courtyard comes as Rick Erwin’s Nantucket Seafood restaurant closes and two dining establishments by Charleston’s The Indigo Road Hospitality Group take its place.

One will be a sushi restaurant named O-Ku, and the other a wood-fired pizza and Italian establishment called Indaco. The outdoor area will have an open bar with ability to order food, along with lounge seating and a wood-fueled fireplace.

The DRB delayed approval of the outdoor space design to address how a roof connected to the building would look and how private space will be delineated from the public realm.

[vicupstate]

Quote

Mayor Knox White told The Post and Courier that the city could renovate the aging tower and keep a smaller presence there now that it has bought office space near Haywood Mall for a public safety headquarters that has extra space.

Not crazy about this idea.  Moving even more city workers out of DT, and exactly who or what would fill the vacant space?  By renovation, I hope he means the exterior as well.  I say build a new city hall that is worthy of Greenville and let the market repurpose the existing one.  

[vicupstate]

City Hall Courtyard redesign  

[apaladin]

On 1/19/2022 at 2:47 PM, vicupstate said:

City Hall Courtyard redesign  

This for something on Augusta St, 

[vicupstate]

^^ Sorry, wrong link. The  link above is for a different project.

City Hall/Marriott Plaza redesign   

 

[gman430]

Lash for old Subway in West End: 

https://www.amazinglashstudio.com/studios/sc/greenville/downtown-greenville

Edited February 12, 2022 by gman430

[gman430]

J Davis contractor sign in space between Savannah Bee and bluemercury. 
 

For lease signs are now gone from Lynn Strong space. 

[gman430]

Pour Taproom shutting down for good after this weekend. 

[Horatio Nelson]

1 hour ago, gman430 said:

Pour Taproom shutting down for good after this weekend. 

That's a real shame. Pour is/was great.

[gman430]

1 hour ago, Horatio Nelson said:

That's a real shame. Pour is/was great.

And yet they’re keeping all of their other locations open. Tells you how great the downtown Greenville market is.  

[Horatio Nelson]

42 minutes ago, gman430 said:

And yet they’re keeping all of their other locations open. Tells you how great the downtown Greenville market is.  

It is on a side street, and with the loss of Gringos and the other fancy sandwich place, probably they lost a lot of foot traffic. Not even counting the last two years probably were tough.

At least there is still Hoppin' if I want to get my alcohol vending machine hangout spot fix.

[gman430]

24 minutes ago, Horatio Nelson said:

It is on a side street, and with the loss of Gringos and the other fancy sandwich place, probably they lost a lot of foot traffic. Not even counting the last two years probably were tough.

At least there is still Hoppin' if I want to get my alcohol vending machine hangout spot fix.

I didn’t know Gringo’s closed also. Dang. When did that happen? 

[olrob]

1 hour ago, gman430 said:

And yet they’re keeping all of their other locations open. Tells you how great the downtown Greenville market is.  

Gman with his finger on the pulse of Greenville's economy...I never trust a critic with no skin in the game .

Hell, next thing you know Russian tanks  will be rolling down Main...

[NewlyUpstate]

2 hours ago, Horatio Nelson said:

It is on a side street, and with the loss of Gringos and the other fancy sandwich place, probably they lost a lot of foot traffic. Not even counting the last two years probably were tough.

At least there is still Hoppin' if I want to get my alcohol vending machine hangout spot fix.

Hoppin is way superior of a spot too. Pour always had terrible acoustics and environment. Was cool when there wasn't any other options, but now there's too much competition.  Group Therapy in Camperdown will also have a self-pour feature, so there will still be that option in that general area.

[vicupstate]

Gringo's got in trouble with the city for violating the zoning or alcohol I liked Pour but it was never very busy when I went there.e

[gman430]

Southern Fried Cotton closing downtown.

The old Cook’s Station at 26 Augusta Street and old Lynn Strong have been leased.

Sum Bar opening next to Fireforge: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/greenville/2022/03/03/sum-bar-open-greenville-sc-first-dim-sum-focused-restaurant-chinese-food-near-me/6847223001/?itm_source=premium_bundle&itm_medium=onsite

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by gman430

[gman430]

Chase is now open.

iStore to open this month. 

[gman430]

Building permits issued for 219 N. Main Street building across from Hyatt and the former Liberty Tap Room next to Fluor Field.

Edited March 9, 2022 by gman430

[GVLer]

Does anyone know what is going in the former Liberty Taproom space?

[gman430]

9 hours ago, GVLer said:

Does anyone know what is going in the former Liberty Taproom space?

No clue. Creative Builders is the contractor though. A little over $193K and 3,500 square feet. Does that seem right or am I getting the tenant space wrong? Googling the address shows the former Liberty Tap Room though so who knows.

Edited March 10, 2022 by gman430

[gman430]

Work now underway for former Liberty Tap Room and Cook’s Station (the smaller location on Augusta).

Edited March 11, 2022 by gman430

[gman430]

Gallery 42 now open in old Dark Corner Distillery space. 

Café West is opening in downtown Greenville this week. The NY-style bagel shop will be located in the former Greenfield’s Bagels & Deli location at 206 E. Coffee St. In addition to traditional bagels, the cafe will also have local coffee + treats. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by gman430

[GvilleSC]

I don't think I realized that Greenfield's had closed their downtown outpost. Hopefully Cafe West does well. The location could be seen as tough, but the Afghan restaurant and Swordfish Cocktail Club seem to be doing quite.  well.