Downtown Projects & Developments

[roads-scholar]

3 hours ago, spartanburgh said:

Some great news about the intersection of Pine St and E Main. Two of the three remaining hotels at this

intersection are supposed to close to new ownership this week. The plan is to tear them down!!! One to

go.

The old Pine Street Motel has been long gone.  I imagine you're referring to the Super Lodge and Village Inn?

[westsider28]

I REALLY hope the Village Inn is one of the ones that will be torn down.  The other two are less obtrusive, but that one is extremely visible to tens of thousands of people each day who drive on Pine Street.  Which doesn't give them a great impression of our city.  Fingers crossed.

(And I'd prefer the other to be torn down to be the College Inn. As I've said before, I think the Super Lodge has the best renovation potential as a boutique hotel or apartments.)

[spartanburgh]

I agree with you Westsider. The Super Lodge has good potential to be converted into something positive. The other two

really need to go.

[roads-scholar]

My father once owned the Super Lodge (It was a Travelodge back then) and it was a decent little motel with a great swimming pool.  But from what I can tell it has really deteriorated and maybe not worth a conversion. 

The property the Superlodge is located on is quite narrow, hemmed in by some offices and FedEx Kinkos.  In 1986-1987 there were plans to redevelop the entire NW corner of Main and Pine but nothing came of it. 

[Sparkleman]

Is there an official link for the buyout?

[Sparkleman]

I just heard from a very good source that Caldwell Banker Caine will be moving into the old Gilbert Shoes building (former home of hubbub). That will put more white collar jobs a little closer to the action than they formerly were.

[mainonmain]

19 hours ago, Sparkleman said:

I just heard from a very good source that Caldwell Banker Caine will be moving into the old Gilbert Shoes building (former home of hubbub). That will put more white collar jobs a little closer to the action than they formerly were.

That would be an interesting move. I believe their current office downtown is in one of the two Johnson-developed office buildings on East Main across from Mary Black Foundation.

[djh1963]

https://upstatebusinessjournal.com/news/coldwell-banker-caine-announces-new-office-downtown-spartanburg/

[Spartan]

That's great news! I'm always glad to see these kinds of jobs move to downtown

[westsider28]

Well, moving within downtown.  As mentioned before and in the article, they are currently in the TD Bank building (340 East Main).  But this new office will be closer to more of the action.

[Spartan]

Ah ok, I misread the article. 

[westsider28]

I was looking at NAI Earle Furman's website and saw that 186 East Main (former blood bank) is under contract.  This building has been an eyesore for a while, but there is a historic brick facade beneath the stucco.  There may be potential to add a few floors to the building (like Aug Smith), but I guess we'll have to wait and see what the plans are.  Really hoping for a restaurant on the ground floor.

[westsider28]

And here's the official confirmation.  Alex Orehowski has purchased the former blood bank building at 186 East Main.  He owns The Bargain Mill on Union Street.  He plans to do residential above and commercial below.  Honestly, he doesn't give me a ton of confidence he can pull this off.  The article mentions he needs additional capital, and he says he'd be willing to resell the building.  He'll apparently make his decision on how to move forward by February.

Side note: in the article, the owner of Price's mentions the importance of this block to downtown.  Well, then do something with your upper floors!  There's huge potential for residential in Prices' upper floors, yet they sit empty.  Put your money where your mouth is instead of looking to others to do all the work.  /rant

Edited August 31, 2017 by westsider28

[Spartan]

Hmm. That's sketchy. I'm betting it doesn't happen this go around, but it sounds promising for the future. I'll add it to the map anyway.

[roads-scholar]

15 hours ago, westsider28 said:

And here's the official confirmation.  Alex Orehowski has purchased the former blood bank building at 186 East Main.  He owns The Bargain Mill on Union Street.  He plans to do residential above and commercial below.  Honestly, he doesn't give me a ton of confidence he can pull this off.  The article mentions he needs additional capital, and he says he'd be willing to resell the building.  He'll apparently make his decision on how to move forward by February.

Side note: in the article, the owner of Price's mentions the importance of this block to downtown.  Well, then do something with your upper floors!  There's huge potential for residential in Prices' upper floors, yet they sit empty.  Put your money where your mouth is instead of looking to others to do all the work.  /rant

Looks to me as a speculative purchase.  Nothing tells me this buyer can develop this property into anything substantive.   

[westsider28]

134 & 136 Magnolia Street have been sold to Atlanta investor Daniel Park. He doesn’t yet have anything specific planned for the buildings and intends to find people interested in leasing the spaces. I suspect those buildings would need significant renovations before you could put something like a restaurant in there, though.

Also, Assistant City Manager Chris Story mentions the former Social Security office as "likely to see new life sometime soon." Not sure if that's a hint-hint, there's-something-happening or simply a prediction based on the recent trend.

[westsider28]

A few small things: firstly, the 2nd & 3rd floor window frames of the Montgomery Ward building were repainted this weekend.  It also had a new roof put on last year.  I'm glad the owners are at least keeping up the building.

Secondly, 2 local artists were recently commissioned to repaint/restore the "ghost sign" on the back of the Cantrell Wagons building.  It looks great.  I'd love to see more ghost signs restored, particularly the "Spartan Hotel" sign on the current Magnolia Lofts building.

Edited September 27, 2017 by westsider28

[Historyguy]

And there's this - for anyone wondering what's going on at the former Kimbrell's - Rome - Club Six...  some wooden structure is being added to the front for a public art project - What do you want to do before you die?  

https://greenvillejournal.com/2017/10/06/spartanburg-public-art-project-asks-want-die/

 

[Spartan]

Those are cool - I've seen them in other cities. It's kind of interesting to see what people write.

[westsider28]

A few things: Bond Street Wines has opened in the old Carolina Gallery space on Morgan Square.  Haute Mama (one of the Main Street Challenge winners) has apparently closed.  Also, there's a Coldwell Banker Caine sign on 186 East Main, so it looks like a flip, as we suspected.  Hope a legitimate developer buys it.

Finally, I noticed some new (to me anyway) colored LED lights on the College Inn.  Seems like they wouldn't do that if they were closing soon.  Any update on the motel buying/demolishing rumor?

[westsider28]

Goodbye, 142 S Spring Street.  Circa-1920 2-story commercial building demolished for parking.  Kind of a shame.  Circa-1910 garage is next.

Edit: H-J article

Edited October 30, 2017 by westsider28

[Spartanburg Dude]

34 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

Goodbye, 142 S Spring Street.  Circa-1920 2-story commercial building demolished for parking.  Kind of a shame.  Circa-1910 garage is next.

That's a damn shame. 

 

[cabelagent]

6 hours ago, westsider28 said:

Goodbye, 142 S Spring Street.  Circa-1920 2-story commercial building demolished for parking.  Kind of a shame.  Circa-1910 garage is next.

Edit: H-J article

It is a shame...does not appear to have been utilized for a long time and became an old eyesore. Change happens...wish it could have been revitalized  for the present.

[Spartan]

Sigh. We've seriously learned nothing as a community. This is literally the same type of project from the 1960s that resulted in our downtown being mostly devoid of old buildings. We don't need more parking downtown. We need more adaptive reuse of old buildings. 

[westsider28]

College Town and Hub-Bub have teamed-up to put artistic vinyl coverings representing Spartanburg colleges on downtown utility boxes.  Another nice little thing to make downtown more interesting to people walking around.  I personally like this non-college-affiliated one near the library the best, though: