Downtown Projects & Developments

[gman430]

SC House has overridden all of the earmark vetoes including the one that includes money for this project. Next up is the Senate. 

[gman430]

Earmark vetoes fully overridden: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article252442283.html

[Spartan]

Why the actual hell do we need another parking deck at this point? Are we at capacity with the other ones? I've literally never had to look for a place to park downtown.

[mainonmain]

Office space isn't the only potential Class-A thing new infrastructure in that part of downtown is needed to support.

[westsider28]

Montgomery Ward building has sold.  Anyone know who the buyer is?  GIS / property records usually aren't updated for at least a month or so.

[westsider28]

Here's an HJ article with more details the $12M downtown infrastructure.  Some relevant quotes from City Manager Chris Story: 

"There will be significantly more public discussion in the months to come as possibilities are refined, private sector plans are solidified, and other funding is sought. There will be a fully transparent and detailed public process before any use of these or other public funds are contracted or expended."

"We envision the necessity to make some street improvements, parking improvements, lighting enhancements, significant utility relocations and other infrastructure upgrades to accommodate and complement new private investments downtown."

"The goal [...] is to ensure that downtown Spartanburg is a hub for innovation and white collar employment, which is essential to boosting prosperity and increasing long-term opportunity in the economic engine that is Upstate South Carolina."

This sounds like a potentially huge set of developments.  Probably lots of moving parts and more funding to be secured, but this seems like it could be a total game-changer for Spartanburg.  I hope it all works out.  Can't wait to learn more...

[gman430]

https://www.postandcourier.com/spartanburg/spartanburg-plans-infrastructure-upgrades-to-citys-westside-to-evolve-downtown-economy/article_71eff8a6-e586-11eb-bc2d-df3602b60b39.html

[westsider28]

A few random downtown updates:  Rustic Llama boutique is open at 146 East Main (former Three Sisters boutique), Talan Antiques & Interiors opening soon at 167 East Main (former East Main Arts), work is finally continuing on the apartments above Hub City Scoops.

The old Montgomery Ward building was purchased by "111 Main Street LLC" which is Andrew Babb, who also owns the building shell to the west (with the One Spartanburg mural).  Babb seems to be willing to sit on properties for while before developing, but hopefully something will happen here sooner rather than later.

Also, Rigsby's in the former Co-op building has finished their outdoor seating area and signage is up, so they're getting closer to opening.

[westsider28]

Noticed the the small office building at N Church and Archer was sold on Aug. 26 for $1.25 million.  The seller was an LLC owned by Bill Barnet; the buyer is an LLC owned by John Montgomery.  The 2 parcels included in the sale total about 1 acre.  Just thought that was an interesting transaction.  This block has a lot of redevelopment potential.

[Spartan]

Would love to see anything other than that crappy office building on that site.

[goodbye]

Local leaders will meet later today to review plans for a significant ~75$ Million mixed-use development along East Main Street.  The plans include an 11-story building and two 7-story buildings.

[Spartanburg Dude]

14 minutes ago, Skyliner said:

Local leaders will meet later today to review plans for a significant ~75$ Million mixed-use development along East Main Street.  The plans include an 11-story building and two 7-story buildings.

Spartanburg needs this to happen. I believe it would be a catalyst for some serious Downtown growth. 

[goodbye]

In other news (very sad news), Skating on the Square has been cancelled.  I didn't hear a reason for its cancelation yet.

[gman430]

1 minute ago, Skyliner said:

In other news (very sad news), Skating on the Square has been cancelled.  I didn't hear a reason for its cancelation yet.

Supply chain issues. Not able to get enough skates.

[Spartanburg Guy]

9 hours ago, Skyliner said:

Local leaders will meet later today to review plans for a significant ~75$ Million mixed-use development along East Main Street.  The plans include an 11-story building and two 7-story buildings.

This sounds exciting.

[westsider28]

25 minutes ago, Spartanburg Guy said:

This sounds exciting.

Just so you know, there's a dedicated thread for that development here: https://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/topic/120882-100-block-e-main-redevelopment/

[Sparkleman]

More news on Morgan Square:

Sunshine on Morgan Square

By Betsy Wakefield Teter

Shady Morgan

Nov 18

 

The future redesign of Morgan Square took some key steps forward this week when members of Spartanburg City Council met in small groups on Zoom with one of the most widely regarded urban planners in the country, Craig Lewis.

Photo from Level 10 by Carroll Foster

Spartanburg is indeed lucky to have a consultant of Lewis’s ability in its hip pocket. With clients all over the world, he and his Dallas-based employer, CallisonRTKL, provide global leadership on issues of downtown walkability, livability, sustainability, and landscape design. Lewis currently has a contract with the city to advise Spartanburg’s Design Review Board, and it’s nice to see City Manager Chris Story pull him in to initiate discussions about the future of the Square. Lewis, who lives near Charlotte, has always had a special place in his heart for the little city of Spartanburg.

Word is, there soon will be an official Request for Proposals (RFP) for an outside urban planning firm to lead local discussions and to create a plan based on community response. It would be great to have Lewis as a partner to council all the way to the end.

At this point, it’s worth talking about why the alarm bells went off for lovers of Morgan Square with the news that a redesign was coming. Over the past five years, there has been an intense lobbying campaign from prominent downtown developers and OneSpartanburg Inc. to increase the amount of hardscape on the Square, to create a space to serve thousands, to “leverage” it for more economic impact.

This campaign, directed at elected officials, has included a questionable economic impact study, push polls about programming, the arranging of two flights for community leaders to view Sundance Square in Texas, independent pursuit of federal funding, and a suggestion to put the square into the hands of a non-profit entity.

The 2019 economic impact study, co-funded by OneSpartanburg, the city and county, was a true source of concern. It indicated a “reconfigured” Morgan Square could accommodate up to 5,800 attendees at a public event. Think of the home-side grandstand at Wofford’s Gibbs Stadium at near-capacity—that’s how many people this study put into the Square. (An aside: I asked a downtown observer recently how you get 5,800 people into Morgan Square. He replied, “You don’t. You build crosswalks to Barnet Park.”)

The concert venue at Barnet Park. Photo by Kevin Ruck

That study also suggests a Morgan Square overhaul costing $9.6 to $12 million—something that could be disruptive to downtown businesses, not to mention putting some of the mature oaks and elms into the crosshairs.

OneSpartanburg has been serving both as the city’s economic development department and as an impatient proponent of a substantial alteration of the Square. To its credit, City Council—despite an increasing propensity for discussing its business in private—has so far resisted the pressure to give powerful stakeholders what they have been pursuing.

This is not to say we shouldn’t make adjustments to the Square. Bushes and mulch and fences need to come out. To take full advantage of the shade that’s been created, the Square should have moveable furniture so that when it’s not being used for public events like Music on Main, tiny clusters of people can find an intimate home there. A do-nothing fountain can become an interactive water feature.

We don’t need massive events in the Square to activate it. Outdoor diners already have done much of that work. Now, white collar jobs are arriving, thanks to the hard work of local leaders. A growing residential population around the Square will do far more for bringing liveliness than any one-night giant concert will ever do. This week, a city board gave the green light to Greenville’s M Peters Group to design three residential towers along East Main. That may just be the beginning.

On the horizon is a yet-unannounced Johnson Development project behind the AC Hotel reportedly with hundreds of residential units, retail and restaurants. This enormous project has been described as akin to the Drayton Mills redevelopment. (Can we get a food hall, please?) Just around the corner from that, Greenville’s Blackstock Development is said to be nearing an announcement of a big residential conversion of an old industrial site that now houses Cohen’s Clothing.

---

Spartanburg residents care deeply about the future of their downtown. In these partisan times, it’s something that holds us all together.

---

Meanwhile, it was good to see a recognition in the city’s new comprehensive plan that public transparency must be a part of the way forward. Lately, there have been an unprecedented number of City Council discussions in private. From 2016-2018, City Council meetings ended in executive session 44 percent of the time. From 2019-2021 (discounting Covid-related video meetings), sessions ended behind closed doors 82 percent of the time. This year alone, 95 percent of public meetings ended in executive session, all but one of them on the broad topic of “economic development.”

Spartanburg residents care deeply about the future of their downtown. In these partisan times, it’s something that holds us all together. The more that discussions about downtown occur in private, the more distance the public feels from its elected government.

And that brings us back to Morgan Square. Why am I so passionate about it?

I believe that throughout its history Spartanburg has been too casual about its distinctive features. We have destroyed important historic places that could provide character to our city, and we have continually re-landscaped downtown streets that might today be enveloped in the shade of large hardwoods.

I don’t want to see our city led down a path of compromising the intimate loveliness of the existing public square. In the five years since the lobbying campaign began, the Square’s graceful hardwoods have grown to impressive heights, revealing an enticing vision for this important common space. Let’s hold on to what we’ve got.

[westsider28]

On 11/3/2021 at 6:37 PM, westsider28 said:

Noticed the the small office building at N Church and Archer was sold on Aug. 26 for $1.25 million.  The seller was an LLC owned by Bill Barnet; the buyer is an LLC owned by John Montgomery.  The 2 parcels included in the sale total about 1 acre.  Just thought that was an interesting transaction.  This block has a lot of redevelopment potential.

I went by here the other day and saw a DRB notice on-site, so redevelopment plans are already in-motion!  Meeting on Dec. 7 to consider preliminary/conceptual approval for new construction.  I wonder what type of project it will be.  Could be office, since it's near the courthouse (i.e. lawyers office).  But Montgomery Development Group has been doing a lot of residential lately.  Guess we'll find out soon.

[westsider28]

Saw a notice in the paper for the Jan. 4 DRB meeting where a "Blue Moon Bodega" will be requesting final approval for a renovation of 220 East DMA (former Motte & Sons distillery).  I wonder if this is a relocation of Blue Moon's Church Street location or an additional concept.  Either way, this should be a great addition that's very convenient for residents of The Charles apartments (though a traffic light is really needed at Liberty and DMA or the apartment entrance on DMA to cross the dangerous, high-speed street that DMA is there).

[westsider28]

Saw a notice in the paper about a "full-service branch" of Coastal Carolina National Bank (from Myrtle Beach) coming to 142 Magnolia Street, Suite B.  This is a retail space of 142 Social.  I saw some upfit going on there last time I walked past.  Suite B appears to be the center space (see below), but I saw work in Suite A as well.  Their listing on NAI Earle Furman only shows Suite D on Spring Street as available, which suggests all the spaces on Magnolia are leased.

(just discovered that CCNB has had a "loan production office" here at 324 E St John since 2019)

Also, work appears to be happening at the former Pure Barre training center at 154 Magnolia (next to Subway). Not sure what it's for.

(side note, I didn't realize Pure Barre was acquired by Xponential Fitness in 2018 and their HQ moved to Irvine, CA)

[Spartan]

I love a non-resturant retail operation like a bank, but TBH Magnolia Street feels like a weird place for a bank. And perhaps more importantly, retail banks are going out of fashion quickly... 

[westsider28]

16 hours ago, Spartan said:

I love a non-resturant retail operation like a bank, but TBH Magnolia Street feels like a weird place for a bank. And perhaps more importantly, retail banks are going out of fashion quickly... 

There's defunct drive-thru ATM infrastructure under the Magnolia Deck originally for Palmetto Bank, then United Community Bank.  I wonder if they'll try to revive that in addition to the retail bank, since it's right across the street.  (I have no idea whether that would require an agreement with the City. I don't know what the original deal was when the deck was built.)  But that could be a reason for that particular location.

[westsider28]

I found a listing for 100 East Kennedy Street (Goodyear service center) that advertises "High Profile Mixed-Use Urban Redevelopment Opportunity with Ground Floor Retail" and "Ability to construct up to 11 stories of office use (315,000 SF), ideally suited for corporate HQ, floor by floor company occupancy and/or individual office suite tenancy".

If this is a serious proposal, it could be really exciting.

[roads-scholar]

41 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

I found a listing for 100 East Kennedy Street (Goodyear service center) that advertises "High Profile Mixed-Use Urban Redevelopment Opportunity with Ground Floor Retail" and "Ability to construct up to 11 stories of office use (315,000 SF), ideally suited for corporate HQ, floor by floor company occupancy and/or individual office suite tenancy".

If this is a serious proposal, it could be really exciting.

I'm no expert in commercial real estate but do know that some of the old financial prohibitions toward speculative projects aren't as rigorously enforced as they've been in the past.  That doesn't mean financing is an automatic but it does mean that lenders are looking for opportunities.    

Spartanburg is on a lot of people's radar these days.  This project may not see the light of day but at least a national developer is interested in Spartanburg enough to create this listing.  

 

 

[westsider28]

On 1/6/2022 at 11:55 AM, westsider28 said:

Saw a notice in the paper about a "full-service branch" of Coastal Carolina National Bank (from Myrtle Beach) coming to 142 Magnolia Street, Suite B.  This is a retail space of 142 Social.  I saw some upfit going on there last time I walked past.  Suite B appears to be the center space (see below), but I saw work in Suite A as well.  Their listing on NAI Earle Furman only shows Suite D on Spring Street as available, which suggests all the spaces on Magnolia are leased.

(just discovered that CCNB has had a "loan production office" here at 324 E St John since 2019)

Also, work appears to be happening at the former Pure Barre training center at 154 Magnolia (next to Subway). Not sure what it's for.

(side note, I didn't realize Pure Barre was acquired by Xponential Fitness in 2018 and their HQ moved to Irvine, CA)

Follow-up on this.  The former Pure Barre training center (154 Magnolia) will be home to an (expanded?) office for Atlas Organics, a company that provides composting services.  They're currently next door (156 Magnolia), on the second floor above the Subway.

Also, a permit on the window of Suite A of 142 Social (that's being upfit) says "hair salon".  No idea about the name / specific business.