MAJIKMAN

Hey. I’ve been kind of wondering who would know about the new development on Caulder Avenue by the Montgomery Development Group. There redeveloping the old school at Caulder Ave and Caulder Circle. Here is the website: https://www.montgomerydevelopmentgroup.com/portfolio/multifamily/the-avenue

Surprised no one here has mentioned this. But have been out of town for some time and drove up Rutherford Street to notice that something was being built across from the Salvation Army. Does anybody have any insight?

Well I maybe able to elaborate better on that. The city and the residents of the southern side neighborhood have a long standing agreement of not allowing establishments that serve alcohol. That means if you have to get a liquor license, they don’t want it. That’s the reason no one has opened anything in the old nightclub space next to the post office. I personally know of a couple that wanted to open a restaurant there. But couldn’t get the approval of the whole neighborhood. Now in that case. The Hampton-Pinckney folk were in favor of it. But the Southernside folk didn’t. And that’s probably what’s going on here.

Just went by there just a few minutes ago and it appears that they are assembling the crane today.

Well they can't muck it up any worse than they already have. We will just have to see.

It's the change in the roofline. I don't know if I'm really feeling the flat roofs. Felt like they are forcing things to get this thing through. Just my opinion.

Everyone is basically rehashing the same points. But essentially the market will determine what's going to be built and where, with maybe a couple of exceptions. Like with the city of Greenville buying property around downtown for the main purpose of affordable and work force housing. So just because people don't hear about those kinds of things, please don't assume they aren't happening. And by the way everyone isn't going to want to be in downtown proper. Being a mile or even two away is more than close enough. That's where public transportation comes in. Being honest that is where the focus should be. Normally land cost justify that kind of development. And that puts at least 95% of people who want to live close to downtown someplace to live.

Look for all who are thinking that this site will ever have a low income or an affordable home option need to keep dreaming. The price of this property will make it prohibitively unobtainable. Every development in and around downtown shouldn't be aimed at the upper to middle class. And I think we all can agree with that. But there are/will be other areas that affordable housing will work.

I would have to assume that alot of this stems from the Pendleton St. Church project and the neighboring community. I get it. Most development is spreading out so fast that surrounding neighborhoods want assurances that they won't be next. And there will be a next one. Think County Square, areas along Church, Main, and of course Pendleton Streets. There are countless number of other examples and you all get the jest. Planning is important.

Well, with that many rooms and accompanying space. Height is to be expected. So we would have to imagine the first floor would have administrative office, restaurant, and museum space. Then account for minimum 10 to 15, maybe more, rooms per floor. Being in that tight a space. Well you do the math.

Now I can say this. If they hadn't built those cottage home directly behind there. And then plan to construct a driveway from townes to wilton then I could possibly see something like that. But that is a would of, should of, could of kind of thing.

Long of short of it is this. I went back in and talked to the guy who I got the initial info from about the potential buyers. He told me that a developer had approached them about building a multistory apartment building stretching from their property over to the property next door. Maybe a couple hundred units. He kind of said it in passing, the first time we spoke. But I think when this person came back he knew he was seriously considering it. But I said then that something like that happening there was slim to none. Traffic would've been crazy trying to get that many vehicles in and out of there. Unless you constructed a back road onto wilton. But I know the folks in the Heritage Historic District and Viola Street were not gonna have that. So Im figuring they scrapped that idea.

I knew that there was alot of intereste in this property. Kind of glad this one materialized. The others I had heard about were going to get alot of push back from the folks in the neighborhood. Especially the apartments mentioned in the article.

I gotcha.

I believe the mystery over the signs is over. If you were watching the Olympics last night, I don't remember when, you saw a commercial with two animated cars. Well it was the latest drunk driving deals and in it the drunk driver mentions the signs to the officer. Edit: may be a coincidence, but the commercial was about something else. The plot thickens.....

It doesn't look like the church building itself. But the community center building. They never really used it. Letting another church use it on Sundays and New Horizon did have space there, but not any more. Since there new building went up across from Memorial, they have not been there. So like Pendleton Street Church they started to see the dollar signs. Good location. It shouldn't take long before they get some very good offers. Next to Pendleton and Greenlink , you don't see that kind of acreage in the neighborhood. I'm not talking County Square. That's something totally different.

Well it didn't surprise me at all that they would have done something like this. The manager in its present location says the company doesn't usually build there own stand alone buildings, since the city basically are pushing them and all that type of business out of the city limits, are now being forced to make some unusual decisions. There is one on South Pleasantburg drive, down from Mcalister Square, that is being forced to do the same thing, There building a new store on Mauldin Road across form BI-LO. Matter of fact, they said it anger the owner so much, they intentionally chose this site. Saying the Poinsett location was a symbolic stand by the owners. A thumb in the eye of the city, so to speak. Basically saying we're literally in eye sight of our old building and look at what we are doing and there is nothing you can do about it. But they probably could have been a little premature and should have done there homework. The city has had its sights set on annexing that area. That's whether people want to believe it or not. So sad it went down that way. But we will to see what happens........

It's all good. I didn't see it 'til you said something. But that's what happens when you're trying to type and get your point across.

Your joking. Right? Sure you are.

I was just as surprised as you. They were going through the front of the building this morning when I went by. There had to be some deficiencies in the structure for them to want to tear it all down. We may never know.

Richland via Traxler is the most logical route. Traxler has the abandoned rails, next to it, where that line went through there and the area for the/a bridge, next to the church, is there on both sides of Laurens Road. Using the Richland route may have some short comings. Its far fewer than the other option.

I kind of like it. But not in or near downtown. That's the look of some true town centerish development. More fitting for the Verdae development. Matter of fact, that would be perfect for Verdae. Thanks for sharing.

Now if they can find some money to connect that area to Miller Road, then I'd be happy. I wish we could've got that penny referendum passed. But that's water under the bridge.

I lived in Baltimore, where for a long time didn't have to use the interstate and still zipped from one side of town to the other. Same for certain parts of the Hampton Roads area of Va. In which both are far more dense than any North or South Carolina city. They don't have the same issues as some of there southern neighbors because all streets lead to another street. Rarely leading thousands down the same road. I talked about the unconnected nature of a lot of the areas of city and county of Greenville with a few on the local councils. They know they have work to do. There were streets in and near downtown Greenville that had free flowing traffic. Now closed because a developer wanted a quiet cul de sac street. Those kinds of request are not granted in aready established neighborhoods. But they do sneak in. Aka Verdae. But that's for another forum. The cities and counties, well some anyway, want to fix the connectivity issues. But working with the state DOT is just....... Maybe things will change after the reorganization process is done. Fingers crossed.

I understand what you are saying Spartan. Politicians up this way in Greenville have been in discussions for years about the very same things, light rail, commerter rail between Greenville the airport and Spartanburg, for that matter anything not having to do with roads has been ridiculed. Attitudes are changing though . Like with the proposal by the Greenville county councilman for the pods ideas. Which didn't pan out. In fact it made more people start to think out side the box. Cause most of us know that more and wider roads are the answer. So I'll challenge all my fellow Carolinians to push for anything to get more cars and trucks off the roads.