Uptown Developments

[gs3]

Bids for power-line burial along Haywood Road go out on June 29th. More info here: http://www.greenvill...77UtilityAd.pdf

Excellent news.

[mallguy]

Definitely good news.

I'd hope that the next steps will be (1) a good sign ordinance, making the visual appearance of signs along Haywood and Halton Roads more attractive, and (2) landscaping.

And hopefully Haywood Mall will resurface its entire parking lot and upgrade the mall's exterior? The interior is attractive, and the Macy's renovation looks nice. But when I parked in the parking lot in front of Macy's and walked towards the mall, with the brick exterior unchanged from 1980, the parking lot literally falling apart and the doors on the Macy's unchanged from 1980, with scratch marks all over them, I felt like I was walking into Shannon Mall in Atlanta or a somewhat better version of Eastland in Charlotte--not an upscale retail center in a nice city.

[vicupstate]

I agree with Mallguy, the Mall needs to alter the exterior in a significant way. Do you know examples of other malls that have done this well? Preferably, it would increase it's urban appearance as well as just its overall physical appearance.

[mallguy]

I agree with Mallguy, the Mall needs to alter the exterior in a significant way. Do you know examples of other malls that have done this well? Preferably, it would increase it's urban appearance as well as just its overall physical appearance.

Thanks. I think that SouthPark has done a good job on its exterior remodeling. There are few if any traces of a 1970-era mall left on it.

I'm also surprised that Haywood hasn't done an addition to the mall, with a Cheesecake Factory and a Maggiano's or the like, perhaps as a lifestyle center-type addition. Better-quality sit-down restaurants and an outdoor component are the two things that Haywood lacks. The mall has plenty of land for these things.

[gman430]

I also agree with mallguy. The interior of the mall looks great but the exterior like the department store buildings, landscaping, and parking lot especially on the Haywood Road side looks terrible. I do know Simon was thinking about doing an exterior renovation in conjuction with the Haywood Road Master Plan. Not sure whether when or even if that will happen. It sure would be great to see one though. In conjuction with an exterior renovation, I would also like to see an outdoor lifestyle center expansion of the mall on the Haywood Road side either in the areas of where JC Penney's and old Ruby Tuesday's are located or where Macy's and Sears are located.

[mallguy]

Thanks. I read recently (forget the source) that Simon has a large amount of cash available, and now not to be used for acquisition of General Growth. Hopefully some of it'll be used for some more updates to Haywood.

[gman430]

Whoops, looks like I made a mistake. Bids do not go out on September 14th for the Fairforest Way project. I got two separate projects mixed up. Bids have already gone out and construction has started on it according to SCDOT's website. The bid dates for the Church Street and Haywood Road projects are correct.

[btoy]

One thing to remember is that Simon does not own the Anchor spaces the department stores do and from the outside those make up the bulk of what you see.

[mallguy]

One thing to remember is that Simon does not own the Anchor spaces the department stores do and from the outside those make up the bulk of what you see.

The latest Simon 10-K says that it owns the whole building (pg. 16):

58. Haywood Mall SC Greenville Fee and Ground Lease (2017)(7) 100.0% Acquired 1998 97.9 % 1,231,469 Macy's, Dillard's, JCPenney, Sears, Belk

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1063761/000104746910001324/a2196642z10-k.htm

[gman430]

The large former Sofa Express store across Haywood Road from Jos A. Bank has been sold to Storage Partners LLC. Anybody know who that is?

News story: http://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/View-Article/ArticleID/419/CBC-Caine-Represents-Transactions.aspx

Pdf file: http://www.cbcworldwide.com/media/listing-fs/1/5/2/4657152_23.pdf

[RiverWalker]

Ritz Camera & Image has landed in bankruptcy again and is evaluating which of its 265 stores might be closed in order to cut costs. Ritz owns Wolf Camera, which has two stores in or near Greenville: one at Promenade at Haywood, across from Haywood Mall, and one in the Publix plaza on Woodruff Rd. When Ritz emerged from Chapter 11 two years ago, it had fewer than half of its previous 800 stores still open.

[GVLbikeNboard]

Well, the Wolf Cam on Woodruff is closed. Drove by today and most of the store was empty. I remembered reading the above post and went by to check it out, didn't expect it to be so sudden though! Oh well, I've never been impressed with those stores. Best Buy has a better selection of lenses in stock most of the time...and they aren't a dedicated camera store.