The Montgomery Building

[Historyguy]

Saw this today:

http://www.themontgomerybuilding.com/floor-plans

Those floor plans look awesome!  

[westsider28]

Small update on the MB in the H-J (and on the MB website).  A few renderings of what the storefronts will look like; basically identical to their original look.  They're still waiting on final approval from the National Park Service before they can start.  Should be soon.  The projected completion date is August 2018.

Edited February 11, 2017 by westsider28

[Spartan]

Unless they are going to widen the sidewalk, I think they are being too generous on how much pedestrian space there is going to be.

That said, I love this project and I'm excited about the opportunities for the retail spaces.

[mainonmain]

Expect construction fence to go up around the building on March 1, with closures of lanes closest to the building on St. John and Church streets on or about March 20. Those lanes are expected to remain closed for about 14 months, basically the duration of the project. Obviously, this will create some traffic backups during certain times of the day. The end result will be worth it.

[spartanburgh]

Great news!! So happy to see this building renovation happening.

[vicupstate]

16 hours ago, spartanburgh said:

Great news!! So happy to see this building renovation happening.

Indeed. I very difficult but important project is moving forward after years of fits and starts. Very good to see. 

 

[hub-city]

So happy to see that they closed on the building today.  Now we will really start to see some movement!

[gman430]

22 minutes ago, hub-city said:

So happy to see that they closed on the building today.  Now we will really start to see some movement!

Yep: http://upstatebusinessjournal.com/news/montgomery-building-renovation-spartanburg-ready-move-forward/

[westsider28]

This is fantastic news.  I can't wait to watch the renovation progress!

Interior work will start immediately.  Exterior work should start March 27.  Exterior renovations will start at the top and work its way down. The panels will be taken off and then a wall will be put up that’s waterproof while the new panels are made.  Then they'll be reinstalling the new panels in the same way as the old ones; in line with the National Park Service’s guidelines.  (H-J article)

Also worth mentioning, The Palmetto Trust has signed a long-term lease on the Carolina Theater, so I presume fundraising efforts for its restoration will begin soon.

[Spartan]

[roads-scholar]

On 2/28/2017 at 11:06 PM, westsider28 said:

This is fantastic news.  I can't wait to watch the renovation progress!

Interior work will start immediately.  Exterior work should start March 27.  Exterior renovations will start at the top and work its way down. The panels will be taken off and then a wall will be put up that’s waterproof while the new panels are made.  Then they'll be reinstalling the new panels in the same way as the old ones; in line with the National Park Service’s guidelines.  (H-J article)

Also worth mentioning, The Palmetto Trust has signed a long-term lease on the Carolina Theater, so I presume fundraising efforts for its restoration will begin soon.

I've said this before and will say it again: redevelopment of the MB will be the boost needed to take downtown to the next level.  A restoration of this scale and cost (25 million dollars) will cause other investors to take notice. 

Now downtown has four major projects: (1) Montgomery Building on the north edge, (2) AC Hotel and the Royce Camp Building on the west end, and (3) the Bishop Furniture / Aug W. Smith Building on the east end. 

I'm hoping the ground floor tenants (and the 5,000 square foot restaurant) will be high-quality and bring more people to downtown. 

Edited March 2, 2017 by roads-scholar

[westsider28]

The City recorded a podcast with the MB developer.  I encourage you to listen, if you have the time.  Here are some highlights:

There is a lot of interest from potential restaurant tenants for the ground floor corner space and several LOIs from possible office tenants.

Apartment rents should be middle of the market for downtown. (he describes Drayton as top of the market & Church St Lofts on the lower end)

First week of April exterior work starts, which will close a lane of Church & St John.  They'll work top-down; interior demo first, then exterior. Removing panels then putting up insulation. So it will probably look similar to the AC Hotel pre-brick-cladding until the new panels are put up.  Speaking of new panels, they'll be replicated as they're taken down, and they'll have increased detail (over time the originals have worn & been painted) and will be bare/unpainted.

Theater will get new roof, dehumidifier to keep space in good shape.  They'll preposition electric, plumbing, HVAC hook-ups to make things easy to connect to when that renovation happens.

[roads-scholar]

8 hours ago, westsider28 said:

The City recorded a podcast with the MB developer.  I encourage you to listen, if you have the time.  Here are some highlights:

There is a lot of interest from potential restaurant tenants for the ground floor corner space and several LOIs from possible office tenants.

Apartment rents should be middle of the market for downtown. (he describes Drayton as top of the market & Church St Lofts on the lower end)

First week of April exterior work starts, which will close a lane of Church & St John.  They'll work top-down; interior demo first, then exterior. Removing panels then putting up insulation. So it will probably look similar to the AC Hotel pre-brick-cladding until the new panels are put up.  Speaking of new panels, they'll be replicated as they're taken down, and they'll have increased detail (over time the originals have worn & been painted) and will be bare/unpainted.

Theater will get new roof, dehumidifier to keep space in good shape.  They'll preposition electric, plumbing, HVAC hook-ups to make things easy to connect to when that renovation happens.

The city podcasts are lively and informative.  I really enjoy them. 

And, yes, I did listen in to the Montgomery Building podcast.  It was good to get the developer's perspective on this project. 

[westsider28]

The top 4 floors have been stripped all the way to the steel frame (riveted!) in the back corner.  It will look pretty wild when most of the building is down to the frame (minus the copper bays, bricked rear, and ceilings/floors).  Here are a few photos I took this evening:

[roads-scholar]

I had no idea they were going to remove the concrete cladding and the walls!

[Historyguy]

I knew they were going to have to remove the concrete panels - because that's the part of the building that was failing.  The concrete - pressed concrete I think is what it is - was made with beach sand in the 1920s, which was acidic, and so it gradually started to corrode the rebar, and expand, and thus cause the concrete to flake off.  They had to go through their hurdles with the Park Service to be able to do the work and still get the historic preservation tax credits.  The new panels are supposed to be exact replicas.  

What I didn't realize is that it would mean you could see INSIDE the building - I thought they were panels that gave some structural support, sort of like a veneer, but I didn't realize they went all the way through!  Basically the building will be getting an entire new skin.  

 

[Spartan]

So they are going to replace the 1920s concrete with the same thing - so in 80 years we'll have to do this again? Seems like a bad idea considering we have better concrete technology that would still look the same and function better...

[hub-city]

I think they are exact replicas of the design, but with newer formulas for the concrete.  Also, do you think that they are having to expose more in that section because they are installing an interior stairwell to replace the one they tore down?

[roads-scholar]

3 hours ago, Spartan said:

So they are going to replace the 1920s concrete with the same thing - so in 80 years we'll have to do this again? Seems like a bad idea considering we have better concrete technology that would still look the same and function better...

Listen to the city podcast.  The developer goes into great detail on why the new panels will be much, much better than the originals. 

[westsider28]

The whole top section of the north face has now been removed.  Crews seem to be working pretty quickly.  Scaffolding is going up on the Church face too.

[westsider28]

There was a restoration kick-off ceremony last week.  They're really ramping up now.  The in-progress state is about as odd-looking as I expected, and it will look even more strange when the main face is stripped.

[roads-scholar]

9 hours ago, westsider28 said:

There was a restoration kick-off ceremony last week.  They're really ramping up now.  The in-progress state is about as odd-looking as I expected, and it will look even more strange when the main face is stripped.

Thanks for the photos!  I am just amazed.

[Spartanburg Guy]

Took some pictures this evening.

[westsider28]

Awesome aerial progress photo by Steve Fincher Photography

[Spartan]

This whole project is slightly mind blowing. I'm used to seeing buildings go up... but I've never seen one stripped and reconstructed before. Very cool.