interestedexpat

Thanks. Perhaps I should have been more clear. I was being a bit sarcastic. I'm all for public transportation, but G'ville doesn't have the density to need it or make it worthwhile. You'd need 365 times the number of current riders to make it a priority. (My attempted point in the above post.) I know transit systems never pay for themselves. They do have substantial residual benefits. But dpa's post hits the nail on the head. If GTA buses average 3 riders per trip (which I think is possible given personal observation), it's a huge waste of money. Perhaps GTA could consider a minivan service or something like that. In my humble opinion G'ville is 20 or 30 years from the density and traffic that will be necessary to create conditions under which a substantial population (enough to make the residual benefits outweight the public cost) to make the public bus system really work. Anderson and Spartanburg are further off than that. The CAT does have potential. Not in college to college transit, but as a localized service to Clemson students. Around Clemson town and to ICAR if there is student need. A stop in downtown G'ville might make sense, although I don't see many students opting for the bus over their personal vehicles when going out on Friday/Saturday night.

A few things announced in the Anderson Independent Mail recently. The debate over the old Koger building continues. The political bickering really is a black eye on the city and is probably contributing to a lack of economic development and poverty. Anderson is challenging Greenville for Freedom Weekend Aloft. The article says attendance is the problem with Anderson (which is why they are considering moving back to G'ville). I was in town two years ago. Attendance was terrible. Partly due to bad weather. But I'm glad to see Anderson fighting about this. It's probably a loosing battle. But at one time it looked like the County was going to take the position, "If you don't want to be here then good riddance." The Anderson Convention and Visitors Bureau looks to be doing some good work. They have bids in for some substantial convention business for a city Anderson's size. Go guys. I remember seeing an article last week that said that the free downtown wireless would be up and running in October. It seems like a small thing, but sometimes it's the little things that make the town!

So 900,000 passengers times 40% = 360,000 people affected. A conservative estimate then would be that there are 250,000 less cars on the roads ways because of the full functioning bus system. I wonder how much the city and county would spend on repairing a bridge that carried 250,000 cars a day?

I remember it being built and when it was new. It wasn't open for very long. I'm guessing on dates though I'd say early 80s. Maybe even mid 80s. Good question. I assume that the Council has priced it out. I would rather see a slightly more urban version of the mini-city hall proposed for south Main. But apparently it's cheaper to by the old Kroger and renovate. Seems odd to me that you can buy a whole other building for cheaper than adding one or two floors to one you will build anyway. However, my guess is that Kroger property isn't worth much. One of the Council members (who is often the enemy of development and an embarrassment to Anderson) has raised concerns about the price of the building. She'll lose the votes, but she might be right about this one....

Funny how the media works, isn't it? There were probably less violent deaths in Bangkok yesterday than in Greenville. I was in Anderson in June. Downtown is definitely making progress. But that progress has been a long time in coming. I'm confident in the Chiquola project. But I'm not so confident about the Calhoun. If it comes togther and sells well, it will be huge though! I'm still looking for some mid-rise developments with significant non-retail commercial application (not government, not retail, but offices!). Then I'll be convinced that Downtown Anderson is coming to life. Two or three 20-100 employee businesses locating downtown and I'll breathe easier about downtown's future. BoDragon's post highlights further expansion. The Kroger building is on the edge of downtown and I get the feeling that a project dubbed "mini city hall" is going to move forward even with the Kroger building. The "mini city hall" is slated for South Main and would make another nice anchor. Lots of good stuff happening. I'm just waiting for it to result in the recruitment of someone investing in downtown not because they are trying to be a good citizen but because it makes sense economically.

Thanks for the concern Spartan. It's true we had a coup this morning, but all the Thai people ran out to take photos of themselves with the tanks... so it's hard to take it too seriously. Anyway, back to Anderson... I think the downtown design guidelines are up for presentation (and maybe a first vote) this week. The discussion has been that they will help investors feel more comfortable making investments because there will be some security that the neighboring building won't destroy history or be in bad taste. Makes sense. And the guidelines are pretty well done. You can see them at the Downtown Anderson website. I've been in discussion with some of the local politicos and they keep talking about the city working with developers, lots of momentum and projects in the works. If this isn't just fluff it's exciting.

Okay, after giving some thought to the question of marketing... how about "Downtown Anderson - a great place to grow your business!" If that were backed up with really good incentives it could catch on. Selling points could be... (if these were true....) *A downtown atmosphere without downtown prices. (currently true) *Affordable, high quality office space, easily expandable. (not true currently but could be) *Small town feel with strong level of community support. (small town feel true, community support is questionable) *Small to medium sized business support services could be made available through Clemson, AU and Tri-County Tech. (easy to make happen) *The city could publish a short list of downtown support services to show potential recruits that not only is it cheaper to do business in downtown Anderson. (easy to make happen) To me this kind of campaign is much less about fluff (tourist retail) and much more about a substantive, sustainable, livable downtown. I've been encouraged on one of the Anderson Independent blog pages. There are people working hard to make downtown Anderson a better place. They are looking beyong retail. But it looks to me like they are focused on relocating companies from 'uptown' Anderson to downtown. I'm trying to think a little bigger, let's go after businesses relocating from other places. Or let's incubate new businesses.

I agree that better retail would be nice, but I don't think it's the solution to having a vibrant downtown district in Anderson. I also agree with your comment on the blue laws. Blue laws are really inappropriate. As to what would be a better way to promote Anderson? I'll have to give that some thought. But an initial thought...I think I object to the idea that downtown as a district needs special promotion. It needs to be clean, safe and have well publicized free parking. But I don't want to support downtown merchants because they are downtown anymore than I want to buy American just because it has a "made in America" label. I want the best product. I will give more thought to downtown marketing though. On an upnote, I did hear from someone who has more details on the downtown marketing study than I. She informed me that there is much more depth to the study than the summaries and powerpoint that I saw. She's actually very enthusiastic about it. Very upbeat about downtown's future. And also said that a great deal is in the works to actually create and attract office jobs to downtown Anderson. I take that as very hopeful.

The downtown Anderson Marketing Study was released yesterday. Not much of interest. They recommended adding more retail and better marketing and cooperation between existing businesses. Pretty weak for $13,000. Perhaps you get what you pay for. It all sounded pretty cookie cutter to me. "Come see 'Historic Downtown Anderson' signs on the freeway with a downtown shopping guide in hotels and restaurants... weak, weak, weak. That was innovative 20 years ago, now it's just tired. What Anderson needs is someone to figure out what types of companies should consider relocating to Anderson and how could the city recruit them and encourage them to locate offices downtown.

Great news out of Anderson this morning.... Clemson Research Park on Hwy 187 near Exit 14 to Expand Clemson is building an additional 40,000 sq foot office building and Anderson is building a 25,000 sq foot building. Both are to help incubate high tech businesses in the park. The idea is to have spin offs high tech industry fill the park. They are embarking on aggressive business recruitment as well. I know it's not like announcing a big investment from an outside company, but this shows Anderson County has it's eyes focused on recruiting High Tech jobs and working with Clemson...All good.

Let's not leave this Taxi2000 idea. I'm with RT and G'ville. This is very cool. It would be risky to be one of the first cities to try it. I like the idea of a couple of smaller attempts first. Put one around ICAR. You drive to work. But you get around campus via Taxi2000. Perhaps put one running around downtown. You drive downtown for a ballgame or concert. But you take Taxi2000 to the restaurant 15 blocks away. From what I can tell, the really cool part is it would be so easy to expand. Put a little system in downtown as a tourist attraction. It works. And boom you expand it right around the city. No need for lengthy right of way acquisition. No need for massive environmental impact studies. Just put poles in the median of every major street. A small drop off station at every major intersection. And, one night when everyone is asleep, attach tracks to the poles. Everyone in G'ville wakes up one morning and - smack - there's a really cool mass transit system. Can you imagine? This would be best if no announcement was made and so everyone was caught by surprise!

Thanks for the info Pringles. UP has scooped the Anderson Independent Mail. That's great news about Anderson Mall. I hope Dillards does a nice store. Another quality anchor could really help the mall. Good article in Today's AIM about the Imagine Anderson initiative. Planning ahead?! Who would've thought?

Thanks Skyliner. The G'ville skyline should look a lot more respectable in a year or two. Right now it just doesn't look like there is much of a downtown. You actually have to be there to see how vibrant it is. Although - I think we'd all agree it's better to have a great downtown even if it doesn't look like it, than to have one that looks great but isn't. Perhaps Greenville will have both soon.

Maybe I should ask about other areas that seem to lack logical development. Cycle shop to build $1.8 million expansion at I-85 Anderson Independent-Mail August 26, 2006 They are talking about 85 and Liberty Hwy. See discussion above. Great news.

Welcome to the forum pyper. It's good to have another person providing information on Anderson development. Great to hear the signs have gone up for the incoming grocers. I wonder when construction will start. In other news... CSXT's request to abandon rail lines has been denigned. We talked about this when CSXT proposed the abandonment. It's a pretty big victory (I think) for Anderson that the STB denigned the request to abandon the lines. Basically saying - it's a profitable line and serves a key economic interest in the area.

I'm not surprised that commercial development hasn't flooded Liberty hwy for the reasons you all said... more traffic on Clemson blvd. However, I am surprised more residential hasn't gone there.

Here's a question for you guys and gals... what's keeping Anderson I85 exit 21 from developing? Exit 19 is crazy with new stuff. Liberty Hwy is just a stone's throw away. Why hasn't anything gone there?

The Anderson Independent Mail reported today that the Food Lion slated for Hwy 24 and 187 is actually going to be a whole shopping center with 6000 sq ft of space. They are looking for banks, fast food, etc.... The plan is to break ground next month and finish by summer 2007.

I remember that. The crazy thing is it wasn't that long ago... or am I getting old?

Yeah, I know you are right. I just wish the city leaders would spell it out like you are doing. I fear there is no vision there at all. I think they travel to cities with cute downtown entertainment districts and think "we can do that". I fear the small town "historic downtown" has become cliche now that every town has signs on the interstate encouraging people to visit "historic downtown everytown". (Putting a sign up like that is actually one of the recommendations!) On another note: we'd been talking about development out 24 near ingles with White Jones and the Dollar store announcements. There is now a sign that says "Bi-Lo coming soon".

The fact that I had forgotten about that pea-sized store says a lot. Too small to really count as a borders. I suspect that if a bookstore like Borders or B&N created a 'destination' store, they'd do well. Glad to hear there are 'big' plans. Hope that's true. To Romania's comment... yeah maybe a Walmart out 29 way makes sense. I just don't know the demographics well enough to know if those populations are big enough to support it. Or if it would hurt the in-town ones too much. On another note... I was a little disappointed with the downtown study released last week. Restaurants and specialty stores seems to be the recommendation. I guess it makes sense. I just wish Anderson leaders would work their tales off to get some white-collar corporate jobs for downtown to create a much bigger business base and a demand for a little office space. Imagine what a couple of employers needing space for 100-200 employees would do for downtown...

That all seems very reasonable to me about the mall. Do you think a borders or barnes and noble could fly at Anderson Mall? Or in Anderson in general, maybe around exit 19? Or downtown?

The Jockey lot is probably more geographically northeast Anderson, but folks out there are more disconnected from the city in my opinion. They identify more as rural. The folks living out 81 identify more as part of the city. I wonder about the viability of a Wal-mart or Target on 81. I'm sure it's coming, I just don't know if the population is there yet. I suspect that in the next 5-10 years it will definitely work. Now I think it would be risky, but perhaps one worth taking. Anderson could definitely use another commercial corridor in an area convenient to the upper income folks (ie 81 north). I wonder if a second mall (outdoor or indoor with one or two department store anchors) is in the 81 corridor future. I really hope that residential development continues, especially some of the density that is being built in terms of apartment homes and townhomes. It's a pretty fast growing part of the county/city.

They are talking about what I always thought of as NorthEast Anderson. I'm not sure whether that's accurate geographically. But we're talking hwy 81 as it starts getting near 85. I think a couple of restaurants would do well on the 81 corridor. There is really nothing like an Applebees on that whole side of town. Actually aside from some grocers and small scale retail there is no shopping on tha side of town. I think we'll see some more infill around 81 and say Reed Road first before serious shopping comes to Hopewell Road and 81. That makes more sense to me.

Wow. It's great to get your perspective Pringles!