Renaissance Park Projects & Developments

[hub-city]

Was there any discussion about extending Converse Street back to Daniel Morgan?  With the apartments on one side and potential home sites on the other, it seems logical.

[Spartan]

14 hours ago, westsider28 said:

Okay, I've got the presentation from the DRB meeting, so I've looked over it more.  If you have any questions, I can probably answer them.  First, here's the site plan.  It's a bit hard to tell, but I think there's parallel parking on Liberty and Silver Hill.  The sidewalks are planned to be quite wide to accommodate bikes & pedestrians (functioning as part of the Rail Trail extension, essentially).

 

I think overall it a huge improvement over the old site plan, and it will add a lot to downtown. I'm less concerned about the specific architecture. Even the most well-designed residential buildings all sort of look the same when you start adding balconies.

Is the red area an internal sidewalk?

[Spartanburg Dude]

I like the design, I like that the parking is on the back side of the buildings. I'd hope they'd put some commercial on the ground level, make it truly a walkable area. But oh well I guess. 

[Spartanburg Guy]

When is the construction supposed to start?

[roads-scholar]

This particular site definitely has its challenges and this apartment complex will certainly help.  I wonder if there plans in the works to improve the appearance of Daniel Morgan Avenue?

Edited August 17, 2018 by roads-scholar
Did not finish comment

[westsider28]

@Spartan Yes, the red is an internal sidewalk.  It's intended as the primary pedestrian corridor for residents.

@Spartanburg Guy I think the apartments would probably start early next year (assuming approvals proceed on-schedule).  Their development agreement with the City requires the apartments to be completed by/in 2020, I believe.

This H-J article gives a few more details about the planned projects in this area.  Particularly noteworthy is that the office building is planned to start in (early?) 2019 and be completed late-2019/early-2020.  They hope to have road work (realigning Silver Hill) started late this year.  IMO, the schedule hinges on finding an anchor tenant.  Hope they get one (or more) locked in soon.

[Sparkleman]

I heard from that project manager at the Montgomery building tour I had last week that this whole project is on hold because they cannot get the permits approved by DHEC/EPA because this land was once used as a dumping ground many years ago and is still polluted.

I can remember way back before Vic Bailey was down on the corner and the Chevy place was where the Marriot now is now, all in between was low income housing. My Dad said they used to dump everything into a pit between Dean St & Liberty St.

[Spartan]

^that area was called the Gas Bottom (or something to that effect) for a reason.

[roads-scholar]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

^that area was called the Gas Bottom (or something to that effect) for a reason.

"Gas Bottom" is where the local gas works operated  and, from what I've been told, located in the North Pine / Daniel Morgan Avenue area.  The local works was the gas supplier for commercial and residential lighting.   

My dad worked at the Chevy dealership (where the Marriott is now located) and I remember several industrial buildings, warehouses, and even an ice house along Daniel Morgan as the the street sloped downward toward Liberty Street.  There was also a railroad spur that crossed Daniel Morgan  which served this area.  Back then Daniel Morgan Avenue was "Charles Street". 

It wouldn't surprise me if dumping of waste and chemicals occurred there. 

Edited August 28, 2018 by roads-scholar

[westsider28]

Saw this new sign at the corner of Converse and Silver Hill for the single family housing project discussed earlier in this thread and brought before City Council a few months ago.  It shows 18 detached homes and 10 townhouse/duplex units.  All garages are accessed by alleys, which is great.

EDIT: Here's a link to The Terranova Group website.  Most of their homes look terrible; hope these will be better...

Edited November 8, 2018 by westsider28

[Spartan]

I'm hopeful that the code will require decent materials. FWIW if it's not vinyl or EFIS I'll consider it a win.

[westsider28]

The Morgan Silver SFH project will go before the DRB at their December 4 meeting.

Also, last night City Council approved an extension on the land deal with Gibbs/Cajka (up to 24 more months) for their pending office building.  The existing deal was about to expire, and they have yet to find tenants, despite their "best efforts".  It was mentioned that no other party had expressed interest in developing that parcel, so the City felt comfortable extending the deal with Gibbs/Cajka. 

IMO, these guys don't seem to have what it takes to get a project like this done.  We need someone who is able to build on spec, because we have a dire lack of available Class-A office space (see this article).

Edited November 27, 2018 by westsider28

[westsider28]

The DRB also gave conceptual approval to the Silver Hill SFH development on Tuesday.  The article doesn't really mention it, but the DRB wanted to be sure the sidewalks and tree lawns (particularly on Silver Hill Street) were of sufficient width, even if it meant narrowing the interior street or removing guest parking spots.  The applicant agreed to work to make that happen.  Disappointingly, all but one alley was removed due to challenging topography.  I hate when developers do that.  If anything, under-promise or be pessimistic with your initial plans.  On the plus side, the types of homes they're planning to build appear to look quite attractive.

Edited December 7, 2018 by westsider28

[Spartan]

I agree with all of that. The added density will be great though. I think all of the area in and around downtown that isn't single family houses should be townhomes and low to midrise apartments.

[1Spartanburg]

The  new neighborhood is on go but I am concerned about the 200 apartments has anybody heard anything ?

[westsider28]

In a City podcast with Jennifer Evins, it was mentioned that they are working closely with the apartment developers to have some connectivity between the SFH neighborhood and the apartment complex.  That suggests it's still happening, but I haven't heard anything else about it lately.

[1Spartanburg]

I hope so we really need that development to happen! That is a challenging piece of property!

[westsider28]

I saw a notice in the paper this morning for a Voluntary Cleanup Contract for the land where the 200-unit apartment complex is going.  That's an important step in getting this developed, so it's good to see.  Progress continues (slow as it may be).

[westsider28]

Groundbreaking for "Silver Hill at Barnet Park" happened today.  Though it's mostly ceremonial, as the article says site work will begin in June, while home construction should begin in September (4 SFHs + 4 townhomes to start).  They hope to have the whole neighborhood complete in 3 years.  The townhomes start from the $190s; SFHs from the $320s.

[gman430]

What’s the status of the office building for here?

[westsider28]

12 hours ago, gman430 said:

What’s the status of the office building for here?

No clue. TBH, I have little confidence in Gibbs/Cajka to deliver.

Unfounded speculation: the BB&T building at 380 East Main was for sale back in 2016-7 around the time the Liberty Street office building was first publicly revealed, and they claimed to have a bank anchor at the time (which is why the design had a drive-thru ATM).  I wonder if BB&T was the tenant, but obviously that fell through.

(380 E Main was purchased in Feb, and appears to have been undergoing interior renovations, but that's straying off-topic...)

[roads-scholar]

12 minutes ago, westsider28 said:

No clue. TBH, I have little confidence in Gibbs/Cajka to deliver.

Unfounded speculation: the BB&T building at 380 East Main was for sale back in 2016-7 around the time the Liberty Street office building was first publicly revealed, and they claimed to have a bank anchor at the time (which is why the design had a drive-thru ATM).  I wonder if BB&T was the tenant, but obviously that fell through.

(380 E Main was purchased in Feb, and appears to have been undergoing interior renovations, but that's straying off-topic...)

There's still a sign on the property but I've had my doubts on this one since day one.  

[westsider28]

There's a website now for the Silver Hill neighborhood.  You can see the site plan and example homes/floorplans there.  Looks like they're mainly going with a Tudor-style for the homes. (could change; I think they'll build semi-custom)

[westsider28]

After a brief absence, the Liberty St office building has been relisted on Loopnet with a 2020 estimated completion and a Downtown Development Partnership fact sheet attached.  It must be tough for the NAI Earle Furman agents and the DDP to work with developers who appear to be incompetent. (I'll gladly eat crow if this gets built)

On a more positive note: The 200-unit apartment complex will go before the DRB on May 7 for Conceptual Approval.  It will be interesting to see what, if anything, has changed.  Fingers crossed for at least 1 retail spot.

Edited April 23, 2019 by westsider28

[roads-scholar]

https://www.goupstate.com/news/20190508/200-unit-apartment-complex-behind-spartanburg-marriott-gets-final-approval