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South Ridge (Church St. and University Ridge)


legend2308

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. You may apply your concerns to all retailers equally, but others don't. My parents live in a central neighborhood not far from the proposed site and their neighbors are venting about Walmart coming in. I am 100% confident that if it were Whole Foods or an "upscale" retailer, they wouldn't care about the fact that it's not "urban" since they don't walk anywhere much- they just tool around in their Range Rovers.

There are a few people that are okay with the Walmart plan as is. The vast majority in the Alta Vista neighborhood are opposed on the grounds of the plan itself, and have not attached Walmart itself. You would be hard pressed to find even one or two details in Walmart's plan that meet the requirements of the Haynie-Sirrine plan. The requirements are often violated not just a little but by a LOT, starting with the footprint square footage.

I will look at the Pleasantburg plan in more detail, to see what 'violations' or exceptions where made, but I don't think it has anywhere near the requirements of the Haynie-Sirrine plan.

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Trending off-topic, but the Pleasantburg plan is available below. It contemplates a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use, dense development in the Antrim Drive/Pleasantburg at Laurens area, complete with a new street network. Didn't happen- instead we got a car-oriented large store surrounded by another large parking lot. No material outcry over the design of the upscale retailer.

http://www.greenvillesc.gov/PlanningZoning/forms/PleasantburgMasterPlan.pdf

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The parking is totally interior to the site, with the buildings pushed to the streets. That is more pedestrian and urban than Laurens Rd style suburban strip centers.

There is no street grid, but when the plan was developed it was not known that the entire parcel would be part of a single development. There were different properties each with a different owner.

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I know it is not finished yet and hope to be totally wrong but I am not impressed with the Church Street improvement project so far. Sidewalks same width as before, power lines remaining above ground, grass seed instead of real landscaping....yuck.

Edited by citylife
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I know it is not finished yet and hope to be totally wrong but I am not impressed with the Church Street improvement project so far. Sidewalks same width as before, power lines remaining above ground, grass seed instead of real landscaping....yuck.

The medians and lighting should make a world of difference. BTW, they've begun putting the new lighting in on Fair Forest Way. They're the black poles like at the Point. Looks good :thumbsup: Still a lot of work to go, though.

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I don't know for a fact, but I would bet my next check, that the grass is merely to keep weeds out until the real thing goes in. The final landscaping wouldn't be done until it is finished normally, which is still some 6-7 months from now.

The sidewalks before weren't very wide, I am sure these are wider, albeit not as wide as I was expecting.

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The sidewalks before weren't very wide, I am sure these are wider, albeit not as wide as I was expecting.

Agreed. They're definitely wider than a typical residential area sidewalk. You can really tell when they get close to crossing the Reedy where they narrow down to meet the sidewalk on the bridge.

I was disappointed to see that a sidewalk was poured around a utility pole near the intersection of University and Church. Would it really have been that difficult to place it outside the concrete? All the poles were replaced, if I'm not mistaken...

Overall, a solid project and a good investment IMO.

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I know it is not finished yet and hope to be totally wrong but I am not impressed with the Church Street improvement project so far. Sidewalks same width as before, power lines remaining above ground, grass seed instead of real landscaping....yuck.

Per workers on site I asked - vicupstate is correct. Seed is just in place until landscaping is ready to go in. He could not comment on exactly what was to be done, but trees in the median and trees between the road and sidewalk originally planned.

Agreed. They're definitely wider than a typical residential area sidewalk. You can really tell when they get close to crossing the Reedy where they narrow down to meet the sidewalk on the bridge.

I was disappointed to see that a sidewalk was poured around a utility pole near the intersection of University and Church. Would it really have been that difficult to place it outside the concrete? All the poles were replaced, if I'm not mistaken...

Overall, a solid project and a good investment IMO.

I dont mind the sidewalk, because the bike lane will be there also.

All poles were replace, except for the shorter ones (not sure what those are for) and are the ones where the sidewalk was poured around it in two spots. I am wondering if these will come out once they take the old stop lights out. Seems weird they would pour the sidewalk, then rip it up, i know... but I have seem them do this in multiple spots already.

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I was disappointed to see that a sidewalk was poured around a utility pole near the intersection of University and Church. Would it really have been that difficult to place it outside the concrete? All the poles were replaced, if I'm not mistaken...

As I suspected, they began taking the wires off the "short poles", the ones that they did not replace and were poured around. When i went for a run this morning I saw they had pre-cut the concrete around the poles. I suspect they did this so they could pull them out and easily repour. Though the power lines are not berried... the less the better. there is a lot of conduit on site so I suspect they will at least put the stop light wires underground, reducing the clutter even further.

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As I suspected, they began taking the wires off the "short poles", the ones that they did not replace and were poured around. When i went for a run this morning I saw they had pre-cut the concrete around the poles. I suspect they did this so they could pull them out and easily repour. Though the power lines are not berried... the less the better. there is a lot of conduit on site so I suspect they will at least put the stop light wires underground, reducing the clutter even further.

That's great to hear! Thanks!

I assume we could potentially see line burial funds potentially come to Church Street as new developments and investment begins?

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That's great to hear! Thanks!

I assume we could potentially see line burial funds potentially come to Church Street as new developments and investment begins?

The reason they weren't buried to start with is the cost was nearly as much as the streetscaping itself, according to the city. That is a major distribution line. I doubt it will be buried in the future, since the cost is so high.

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The reason they weren't buried to start with is the cost was nearly as much as the streetscaping itself, according to the city. That is a major distribution line. I doubt it will be buried in the future, since the cost is so high.

Well that's why I was thinking it might be possible to have it done incrementally alongside development. Can any of this cost be passed on to developers? :dontknow:

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http://www.thestate....ndly-store.html

If Walmart did something like this at Church & University, I would have no problem with it.

Note that a Greenville firm did the engineering and landscaping.

For Greenville, that would still leave a lot to be desired, IMO. There is no real street presence and a lack of urban identity-- plus it's not mixed-use. It should never get passed the master plan guidelines if it were proposed for Greenville.

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http://www.thestate....ndly-store.html

If Walmart did something like this at Church & University, I would have no problem with it.

Note that a Greenville firm did the engineering and landscaping.

While this plan does look better than the one proposed for Church & University, it is still not good enough in my opinion. No mixed use elements, parking still in front of the store, etc. Not against Walmart coming to this location in Greenville but I am not happy with the design of the store and layout of the site plan. Something along the lines of McBee Station would be much better instead. If Publix and Staples can do it why not Walmart?

Edited by citylife
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I was speaking somewhat in a general sense.

Since the Columbia plan is more than twice the size of the Church & University site, obviously there would be significant differences in the Greenville location. But in the general sense, there is multi-level parking, walkability from the adjoining neighborhood, interior parking and reasonable buffering and landscaping.

I would like to see Residential or office added myself, but I might could accept that as a later phase. There does need to be more than one level on at least some of the building(s) that might go up at Church & University.

The Publix at McBee Station has parking in front, the same as this plan. All the parking is interior to the site, and hidden from view. GvilleSc is right that there needs to be storefronts at the street though.

Basically this is the direction that the Greenville location needs too move in, and is proposed for a very similiar location/city as Church & University. Previously, the only Walmarts that were in the vein of McBee Station were proposed for Washington DC. On the whole, this gives me hope that something acceptable can be reached for Church & University. Albeit, 93,000 SF is proabbly still much too large for Church & University though.

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Yes, that's the White Plains Walmart. There is a Target and a Barnes & Noble across the street, a Ritz-Carlton a block or two south, and multiple department stores within a few blocks- Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Macy's and Sears.

Good for them, but at the end of the day it's still White Plains. We are Greenville, and I expect different things for Greenville than for White Plains.

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Good for them, but at the end of the day it's still White Plains. We are Greenville, and I expect different things for Greenville than for White Plains.

OK, to each his own. I'd be pretty happy if a Ritz-Carlton, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, together with "day-to-day" retail, came to downtown Greenville, like they have to White Plains.

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