Exile

Are those rafter-seats blocked off, or is that something else? Sadly, I've never been in the Well. I worked in sight of the construction, but I moved away before it was finished.

Surprisingly lacking in population density compared to Greenville, even in the early days, and esp. considering it was apparently mostly made up of former mill villages (?).

My point is the airport's county jurisdiction. The airport is at least 75% contained within Spartanburg County. Maybe a bit of runway and taxiway in Greenville county. It doesn't matter what it's closest to when it comes to potential issues of oversight/governance. SP will always be a major player in GSP's oversight. Not that I was taking Gman's "wish" seriously, in the first place. But I'll bring the popcorn if they ever try.

I'd love to see how the City of Greenville would take over management of an airport that is almost entirely in Spartanburg County. That would be fun to watch.

Me too. The last thing Greenville needs is any other Main St. buildings falling under the wrecking ball. Unless the building is a hopeless loss (which doesn't seem possible anymore?), or maybe a recent build without any historical or replaceable aesthetic value, new height needs to be off Main. Except for the one or two parking lots on Main, too, of course.

A flatiron building with even a little height would be a great gateway feature.

Here's hoping for the destruction of yet another brutalist monstrosity, however remote the possibility.

That's my point: he'll only earn a return on what he's invested; other investors, including the government, will get their share. Maybe Erwin's a saint, maybe he's the opposite. I don't know. But either way, unless there's some cronyism going on here (which, apparently not)--which would implicate the government as much as it would Erwin--the mere fact that he's looking for government participation in an arena where that is pretty much universal doesn't strike me as necessarily greedy or unethical. Or even create the appearance of it.

Did he say that he couldn't move forward? Honest question that I don't know the answer to. If he didn't (theoretically), to ask for public funds might not be substantively different than looking for deep-pocket private investors. It seems to be well-established everywhere that cities or counties want ownership in these kinds of venues. Could it be that it's more Erwin limiting his own risk exposure than looking for free money??

Good for SC then on that note. The examples I'm aware of were in other states.

Whether current state law is a great big mess or not, I find it disconcerting that the expressed sentiment here seems to lean toward a legal system that allows cities to unilaterally and without recourse bring people and property under their legal/taxing/eminent domain/etc. authority. Such actions don't always result in a cheaper deal for those taken over, or even a wash. I've known people who were summarily and imperially taken over into municipalities only to find their costs skyrocketing far past the possibility of a wash. Also, suburbs, for whatever you might think of them, are typically inhabited by well-educated, responsible people. They don't need to be managed, especially not by some governmental authority. But if the city can woo them, more power to it. And the day they try to put sidewalks in my neighborhood--I guarantee it would be over the strong objections of pretty much every resident here--is the day I go to war.

A few years ago, the Dean of Engineering expressed a desire to move the entire college of engineering to ICAR. Doesn't seem to have gotten any traction. It was never clear to me how he thought you could accommodate undergrads so far away from Clemson.

I think you're right about Friedman's. And that wasn't the only building with metal panels. The NE corner of Main & McBee had them too (not blue; if that building is even still standing). There may have been a couple others.

LOL! Exactly.

I understand what you're saying, but it was democracy that sentenced Socrates to death. Democracy inevitably leads to tyranny. Our republican government (small r; not the party, not by a long shot), however imperfect (and boy is it ever these days), is vastly superior in that respect to democracy.

, but this building reminds me of the Capris across the street, which we used to go to frequently when we lived in the N. Main area. Are there any Capris left? Or is it defunct?

The building is, I think, originally a 60's-era retail building: it was a Sears back as far as I can remember up till HM opened; then JP Stevens before Canal Ins. So I imagine, with that kind of acreage and the building's placement on it, that it'll be demo'd and something appropriately dense will replace it.

That and actual seasons, along with proximity to the mountains, which so many Floridians like to escape to during the summer, anyway. But I take Spartan's point about Horry's probable upper limit.

Can't wait to see the finished product. They're currently developing what, 60 acres or so? Is there a prospectus of what land a full 160-acre park would occupy? Or is the extra 100 acres likely not going to happen?

San Diego has only one runway, so we’re in good company. But Greenville has four active runways, and one inactive. So there’s that…..

Having lived for the last 6 years in a market that has HT and Publix and Lowes, I've been in grocery store nirvana. Getting ready to move to a market with, AFAICT, Publix and Wal-Mart. I'm already pining over the loss of HT and to a lesser extent Lowes. Hopefully, for Greenville's sake, this will be HT. Variety is the spice of life, as they say.

When I lived in FL, in a similar spot on the local trail, they built a tunnel under a busy intersection and installed gates on either end. They closed the gates before the sun set and opened them up after sunrise, and it was policed pretty well. I imagine they had cameras, too, though I don't remember. It provided as much security as you could and eliminated the risk of getting run over. And I don't recall seeing any graffiti, even after a few years. Hopefully they'll do something similar here.

Was driving down Academy yesterday: that building is about as imposing as Deca, only with a shorter pedestal.

I could easily see a scenario where a city like Greenville becomes the target of an even greater effort push it toward some cultural bleeding edge, whether they've got local funding or not. (FTR I have no opinion on the actual art in question, since I haven't seen it with my own eyes)

If you've disdained as "BJU" the opposition of some to this kind of art, having already lauded the actual BJU for its world-class art collection and its anticipated participation in the new museum/conference center, you might want to rethink your inconsistency. Not addressed to anybody in particular. Just noting a potential irony in this controversy.