The Montgomery Building

[roads-scholar]

On 10/8/2018 at 8:28 PM, westsider28 said:

Lots of glass going in last week.  Storefront and second-floor glass on Church Street, as well as storefront glass on St John (and 2nd-floor window frames).  Also some black (marble?) going in beneath the storefront windows.

The glass really opens the place up.  All these years all I've never seen the inside of the ground floors from the street. 

[Spartan]

Thanks for the pics!

Any chance its granite / mica or something? Marble would make the most sense, obviously.

[westsider28]

49 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Thanks for the pics!

Any chance its granite / mica or something? Marble would make the most sense, obviously.

Not sure.  I can't really tell from distance.  It could be some sort of composite material.  It looks a lot like the base accents on the Aug Smith building.

Also, here's a photo of the rear.  Painting is complete, curbing has been there for several weeks, and streetlights were recently added.

[westsider28]

Big article about the MB in the HJ.  The first apartment move-ins will start November 15.  Rents are $875-$2,400 per month.  The office floors will be left as "shell" space until tenants are secured.  Little River should be open in late December, followed by Sidewall Pizza in early 2019.  Office space is expected to be filled around mid-2019.  Lots of good interior photos in the article as well.

It mentions that crews will help with the Carolina Theater renovation following completion of the MB tower, but the article isn't clear whether funding is in-hand for theater renovations (expected to be ~$1 million).  So that's somewhat confusing.

Crews also (finally) resumed painting the exterior bay windows today, specifically the right side Church Street-facing ones (see photo).  And the sidewalk in front of Central Methodist has also been torn up, so the streetscaping project to replace it is already underway.

Edited October 14, 2018 by westsider28

[Spartan]

Looking good!

[westsider28]

Looks like hanging lanterns have been installed at the 2 main entrances. Very cool.

[westsider28]

A few miscellaneous photos from the past week or so. 

You can see a bit of the interior here (ceiling, chandelier, etc).

Lots of painting going on; everything becoming dark green.  New streetlights are up in front of Central Methodist.  (SCDOT is responsible for no trees on Church Street, so if you want to send them some strongly worded e-mails...)

Exterior looks VERY close to completion!

[westsider28]

Fencing is down (barricades still up), street lights are in on Church and St John, and likely only the traffic light mast-arm remains before the traffic lanes & sidewalks can be reopened.

Also, the rear parking lot is paved, and they're working on the side alleyway between the MB and the church (which will be a pedestrian plaza primarily).

[westsider28]

This photo of the interior hallway was posted on the MB Facebook page yesterday.  Beautiful!

[hub-city]

Traffic is back to normal on Church Strret and St. John is close.   (If this rain will stop)

[westsider28]

The article about the Star Mill renovation that I posted in the Northside thread also mentioned that the grand reopening of the Montgomery Building to the public will be December 6.  As someone who is relatively young, I've never been inside.  Can't wait to see it!

And here's a photo I took at dusk several days ago:

[Spartan]

It's almost surreal that something this amazing happened. The GC did a great job with the attention to detail. I wish all buildings could be built like this. Can't wait to go patron the future businesses!

[Spartan]

They're going to add awnings to it too, right?

[westsider28]

16 hours ago, Spartan said:

They're going to add awnings to it too, right?

I don't think so.  The building didn't originally have any.  (There are a few old photos showing retractable cloth awnings, but those are never used on any buildings anymore)

Also according to this podcast, the grand opening is actually December 7-8, including public tours of the building.

[roads-scholar]

12 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

I don't think so.  The building didn't originally have any.  (There are a few old photos showing retractable cloth awnings, but those are never used on any buildings anymore)

Also according to this podcast, the grand opening is actually December 7-8, including public tours of the building.

I drove by the MB this morning.  Crews are repaving St. John Street and workers are putting the finishing touches on the building's exterior. 

Curious: I thought the Church Street and St. John Street sidewalks were to be widened?

[westsider28]

6 minutes ago, roads-scholar said:

I drove by the MB this morning.  Crews are repaving St. John Street and workers are putting the finishing touches on the building's exterior. 

Curious: I thought the Church Street and St. John Street sidewalks were to be widened?

The Church Street sidewalk was actually widened slightly.  It used to narrow as it went north toward Central Methodist (see old Google Streetview), but it's now an even width.  Once again, the main issue is that these streets are owned by SCDOT, who is unwilling to give up any car space.  Saint John is further complicated (I believe) by being a US Highway route (even more non-road restrictions).

[Spartan]

13 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

The Church Street sidewalk was actually widened slightly.  It used to narrow as it went north toward Central Methodist (see old Google Streetview), but it's now an even width.  Once again, the main issue is that these streets are owned by SCDOT, who is unwilling to give up any car space.  Saint John is further complicated (I believe) by being a US Highway route (even more non-road restrictions).

Yup. Both Church St and St John have US highways on them, and those are even more sacred than normal state roads.

That said, the City/County could petition to re-route each one, but it probably would not make a difference given the traffic volume on Church St.

[Spartan]

50 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

I don't think so.  The building didn't originally have any.  (There are a few old photos showing retractable cloth awnings, but those are never used on any buildings anymore)

Also according to this podcast, the grand opening is actually December 7-8, including public tours of the building.

Normally I'd say that's disappointing, but this building looks great without them.

[westsider28]

Sidewalks are now open, so I took a closer look at the building this past weekend.  Here are some photos.

Light fixtures over the storefront entrances (kind of gothic-looking):

Side landscaping and plaza area:

Arcade hallway looking through the north entrance window:

Retail space (double width, i.e. 2 former spaces combined):

Detail of original metal trim around storefronts, and looking north up Church Street:

And finally, view from Magnolia parking deck:

[vicupstate]

Looking great.  A true testament to the spirit that is driving Spartanburg these days.  A sea change from 10-12 years ago. 

[Spartan]

22 hours ago, vicupstate said:

Looking great.  A true testament to the spirit that is driving Spartanburg these days.  A sea change from 10-12 years ago. 

Agreed 100%. Spartanburg rediscovered its soul when it renovated Morgan Square. The rest is history.

[roads-scholar]

2 hours ago, Spartan said:

Agreed 100%. Spartanburg rediscovered its soul when it renovated Morgan Square. The rest is history.

Agree too.  Fix or improve the core assets and everything else will fall into place.  In the last few years:

• Morgan Square
• Cleveland Park
• Downtown Airport
• Memorial Auditorium
• East Main Street straightening
• Montgomery Building.

And a lot more we have to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Eve. 

 

[Spartan]

I would add Wall Street, Magnolia Street, and the AC Hotel to that list.

[Spartanburg Dude]

Aug Smith too! 

[vicupstate]

BAR Agenda 11-28-18

Page 138 Precedent 7.