Downtown Projects & Developments

[gman430]

Looks like the media has gotten word of what we have known about on this forum for a while now: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120710/ARTICLES/120719963/1083/ARTICLES?Title=City-leaders-Engineering-and-design-firm-could-move-to-downtown-Spartanburg Would be great for downtown.

[westsider28]

Having CH2M Hill downtown would be absolutely HUGE. I think the City has to get them in the Montgomery Building. Beaumont Mill is already renovated, but it lacks parking. Hopefully the historic Lockwood-Greene connection and the huge new parking deck nearby (as well as other advantages of being in DT proper) sways CH2M Hill to the Montgomery Building. If that happens, it would be the biggest boost to downtown in years (since QS/1, probably).

[spartanburgh]

This would be really great news. The only thing better than CH2M Hill relocating to the Montgomery Building would be for the recently announced developer who wanted to convert the Montgomery Building to residential; do the Montgomery Building and George Johnson build a monumental new office building Downtown to suit CH2M Hill. Either way, getting the Montgomery Building redeveloped and fully occupied is a top priority.

[Spartan]

To have a large professional firm like that in downtown Spartanburg would be fantastic. A commitment like that to downtown and the Montgomery building no less, would be a hug he boon to downtown. I hope that it happens, but something tells me Beaumont is more likely. I hope I'm wrong though.

[roads-scholar]

This would be really great news. The only thing better than CH2M Hill relocating to the Montgomery Building would be for the recently announced developer who wanted to convert the Montgomery Building to residential; do the Montgomery Building and George Johnson build a monumental new office building Downtown to suit CH2M Hill. Either way, getting the Montgomery Building redeveloped and fully occupied is a top priority.

Not to throw cold water on this news but the Montgomery Building will require massive renovations while the Beaumont Mill (renovated just a few years ago) will presumably need only minor renovations for a new and large tenant like CH2M Hill.

[westsider28]

Going back to the West Main streetscape improvement project; I found some more detailed plans, if you want to check them out. The interesting thing is that they include a streetscape plan for Lafayette between Ribault and Henry (near the YMCA) as well. It looks like that segment of road will get sidewalks, trees, and streetlights added.

[westsider28]

Morgan Square could have an ice skating rink this winter!

Herald-Journal article

An as-yet-unnamed sponsor will help fund it. City council will hear the proposal Monday. Skating would cost $10, which includes skate rental (same as Greenville). This would be awesome! I've been to Raleigh's downtown rink several times. It was very popular and a lot of fun.

[Spartan]

Those are popular. Somewhat ironically, they tend to close if there is snowy weather. At least the one in Charlotte does

[gman430]

Construction bids for our third floor upfit at the George go out August 28th. According to the paper here at USC Upstate, it is slated to be used for start-up companies like the NEXT center in Greenville.

[Spartan]

Nice. Thanks for the update!

[westsider28]

The West Main streetscape project will begin on Monday and is expected to be completed in mid-October.

Herald-Journal article

Bike lanes on the section of West Main between the RR tracks and St. John Street will also be added during this time period. I presume they're going to resurface/restripe. Anyway, can't wait until it's completed!

[Spartan]

Very exciting! This work will happen quickly, as it will not take long to resurface two blocks.

[westsider28]

Here's another update about the West Main project. I inquired about, and received, plans for the section between the RR tracks and St. John St. / John B White Blvd. See the PDF files below:

W Main Bike lanes s2.pdf

W Main Bike lanes s1-1.pdf

Center turn lanes remain throughout. I like the spacious 6-foot bike lanes, but don't like the way-too-wide 15-foot vehicular lanes. And there is no on-street parking. This seems very similar to the Broad Street resurfacing. I'm all for more bike-friendliness, but I feel like they're going overboard with some of these projects and not taking into account ALL uses--both current and future--of the street.

A final gripe: I don't like the new turn configuration on eastbound W Main at St. John (left-only, left & straight, right-only). I was hoping for left-only, left-only, right & straight. The new configuration will only make this heavily-used pedestrian crossing even more dangerous.

P.S. - I still prefer this plan to the current setup. I'm just disappointed it's not as well-designed as it could've been.

Edit: Here's a Google Streetview link of the recently re-striped North Main Street in Greenville. I would've preferred to see something like this.

Edited August 20, 2012 by westsider28

[spartanburgh]

I think this will be a great improvement for this area. I just wish that they would expand the scope of the project to include Daniel Morgan Ave from St. John St. to Henry St.

[Spartan]

What the hell? Why would anyone have 15' travel lanes? Interstates are 14'. Was their design vehicle a doublewide trailer?

[westsider28]

Yeah, I don't know. That's sort of what I meant when I talked about the excessive focus on bike lanes. It's like they designed the road completely around bike lanes (and perhaps a center turn lane) and didn't consider what else to do with the leftover road width. The most poorly designed roads in the city (Broad, Spring, Magnolia, now this) seem to revolve around bike lanes. Plus it seems like the City actively tries to avoid adding on-street parking in general.

spartanburgh, a redesign of the entirety of Daniel Morgan Ave is in the planning stages. I posted a PDF of a road-diet study in the Long-Range Transportation Plan thread, if you want to check that out.

Edited August 21, 2012 by westsider28

[Spartan]

As a general rule, you want your lane widths as narrow as possible in a downtown area. Wider lanes produce fast traffic, narrow lanes slow traffic down. Ten feet would be ideal. Id rather have a crazy wide median and narrow travel lanes.

[roads-scholar]

Yeah, I don't know. That's sort of what I meant when I talked about the excessive focus on bike lanes. It's like they designed the road completely around bike lanes (and perhaps a center turn lane) and didn't consider what else to do with the leftover road width. The most poorly designed roads in the city (Broad, Spring, Magnolia, now this) seem to revolve around bike lanes. Plus it seems like the City actively tries to avoid adding on-street parking in general.

spartanburgh, a redesign of the entirety of Daniel Morgan Ave is in the planning stages. I posted a PDF of a road-diet study in the Long-Range Transportation Plan thread, if you want to check that out.

This is GREAT NEWS! Daniel Morgan Avenue is, plain and simple, an ugly street. There's not one stretch of it that I find attractive.

[westsider28]

The refurbished Southern Railway caboose has finally arrived at the Hub City Railroad Museum! It was placed on some rails today, pretty close to Magnolia Street. It's bright red, so it should really attract people. The caboose will have a model train, train radio (for listening to), and a gift shop inside. It should be ready for visitors in 2-3 months.

Herald-Journal article

[westsider28]

The Spartanburg Music Trail is being expanded! Four new musicians will be added to the trail next year (2 in January, 2 in summer). There is a public vote (open thru Oct. 31) among 8 nominees, with the top-4 vote-getters to be added to the trail. Here's a link to the voting website (with info on the nominees).

Here are the nominees: David Ball (country), Buck Trent (country), Bob Beatty (soul/gospel), Julius "June" Cheeks (soul/gospel), The Sparkletones (rock), Marshall Chapman (rock), David Daniels (classical), and Carlos Moseley (classical).

[westsider28]

I found this on the new City website: Main Street Challenge. It's an economic development program where the City, with property owners, will help 3 entrepreneurs open new businesses on Main Street next year. They'll be required to sign a 3-year lease, and they'll get $12,000 to help with rent, as well as marketing help. More details to come. This sounds awesome!

[westsider28]

Here is a (somewhat crude) rendering for the ice skating rink that will be in Morgan Square in a few weeks:

[Spartan]

Wow can we get you to design all the new buildings in Spartanburg? I WISH Morgan Square was surrounded by buildings like that.

[westsider28]

I didn't actually make the rendering; just posted it. But the buildings do look pretty nice.

Here's the Facebook page for Skating on the Square (where I got the rendering). They've posted some good photos of the rink building progress.

[gman430]