Clark, you serious?

Guys, I am a long-time lurker and an infrequent poster, but I feel the need to comment on Metropolitan Area's recent posts. I spent two wonderful years in Greenville and then made a job-related move to Dallas one year ago. I can tell that, if given the opportunity, I would move back to Greenville in a heartbeat. Certainly, Dallas has it's positives - job center, tons of corporate HQ's, dynamic real estate community, DFW airport, great art scene, educated workforce, every store and restaurant you can imagine. However, there is no soul here. No sense of community and very little sense of place. Dallas is the definition of sprawl. Clogged highways, higher property taxes, higher cost of living, poor infrastrucure, poor schools (except for the exurbs), bad architecture, few historic buildings. There are tons of developments going on here, but none of them excite me as much as reading about all of things going on in Greenville right now. Sure, Greenville doesn't have everything that Dallas has, but that's not such a bad thing. There's something to be said for a place like Greenville that values things like keeping Main Street and downtown unique (Dallas' downtown is huge, but a ghost town after 5:00), has a vibrant downtown, good public schoos, low cost of living, and the ability to be anywhere in 15 minutes. Metropolitain, best of luck with your move to Dallas, but I think Greenville will be just fine without you.

A new entrance for REI has been cut out on the far left of the space. The Circuit City entrance is gone and is now a blank wall. A new interior wall has been built to separate the former Circuit City into two spaces - one for REI on the left and another space for a tenant to the right.

So, I have to fly to Destin to get to Knoxville? That makes zero sense when you can drive there in 3 hours.

Look for the design to be better than the McBee side. Doubt they will use precast. Overall footprint and height will be similar. Units will be smallish. Price points on the high side.

Apartments = rental. Looks like 48 units.

Looks like apartments, some ground floor retail, rooftop pool. New design.

Word on the street is that The Bookends Phase II is being revived. New developer.

Word on the street is REI is looking for space in Greenville.

I have heard the SWA to Pensacola talk for several years. Makes sense from a vacation destination perspective, but that's about it. To my knowledge, they have no extra gates and geographically and demographically, I'm not sure if PNS makes sense for them. I'm biased, but GSP would be a perfect fit. 2-3 flight/day to BWI. 2-3 flight/day to Chicago Midway, 2-3 flights/day to either Tampa/Orlando/or Ft. Lauderdale, and then a flight or two to Nashville and/or Raleigh would seem about right.

Let me preface this by saying that I am new to Greenville. It seems to me that Bi-Lo center is pretty under-utilized (am I stating the obvious?). It's also a shame that it wasn't integrated into the street grid and/or downtown fabric a little more. It seems to sit over there all by itself with nothing much going on around it. I'm also curious about the debt situation. How was the arena financed and who is responsible for paying for it? A quick background story on the Bi-Lo center would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I just read that Pacific Wings is set to begin service to Nashville from Owensboro, KY, as well as, Jackson, TN. I believe these flights will continue on to Atlanta. These flights are part of the Essential Air Service program. Jackson has been without passenger service for 18 months. The airline will use 9-seat Cessna's. The fares start at $39, though and if you're flying from Jackson or Ownesboro, you may book your ticket throught to your final destination on any airline but Southwest. Pacific wings has a similar arrangement running from Athens, GA and Macon, GA to ATL.

Having lived in Knoxville for a time, I can tell you that the SPHL has gone over well there. I think they had an ECHL team (Cherokees?) at one time and then went without hockey for a spell. They play in dump and most of the players still hold down regular jobs, but the team draws really well. The organization has done a nice job of reaching out to the community and UT. I think an SPHL would go well for Greenville if it were marketed the right way. Reaching out to families, as well as, the local colleges would help. Plus, the natural Southern rivalries would perhaps get the fans more excited.

As a Nashvillian, but soon to be Greenville resident, I have flown Southwest a ton. Typically, when they enter a market they will start with several destinations and multiple flights to those destinations. I would imagine this would be the case with GSP because (I assume) they have plenty of available gates. Now, at an airport like Laguardia or Minneapolis, where gates are hard to get, they may start with less. It will always be SWA's intention to grow each base, though. If Southwest were to come to GSP, I would guess they would start with flights to Baltimore, Chicago-Midway, and Philadelphia, and maybe Nashville, Raleigh, or a Florida city like Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, or Orlando. Regardless, Southwest at GSP would be unbelievably positive for the area. They are the best in the business at what they do and prices will come down at GSP drastically. I really think GSP is a natural fit for them. They are not in Atlanta or Charlotte or anywhere close. At GSP, they could get in for cheap gate fees and not only draw from the Greenville-Spartanburg area, but they suburbs or Charlotte and ATL, as well as, Asheville and Columbia. Here in Tennessee, many people are known to drive from Knoxville or Chattanooga to Nashville to fly Southwest, much to the dismay of the airports in those towns. I'm personally very hopeful they come to GSP and have a flight to Nashville, which by the way, is a focus city for them. Sure would beat the 6 hour drive or flying through ATL or CLT.

So my first Frontier experience went really well. Flights to and from Denver were on time. Both flights were completely full. In fact, one was oversold. Really enjoyed the Airbus...smooth ride. Flight attendants were extremely nice, professionally dressed(and attractive), used an actual beverage cart, gave you the can if you wanted, and came back by offering bottled water later. They seemed genuinely happy to be there. Pillows and blankets were plentiful. Also, loved the moveable head rests. Best of all, was the DirectTV. Got to watch a movie and then a basketball game on the flight back. I would definitely fly them again. I wish they had more flights from here. Lexy, any chance they will add any flights out of here? I know they are kind of cutting costs right now with a new CEO in charge.