Greenville Journal contents

[vicupstate]

I was very interested in the 'flying' sidewalk that will connect Heritage Green with Main Street. The disconnect between the two has been a hard nut to crack. Are there examples of these that where given?

Also, droping College Street below grade is a great idea, but will it return to grade at the stop light in front of the new library? Is there enough room to drop the road low enough fro 18 wheelers and then bring it back to gard so close by?

I'm all for a smoking ban, but that topic probably belongs in the Coffee house.

[goodbye]

...

Also, droping College Street below grade is a great idea, but will it return to grade at the stop light in front of the new library? Is there enough room to drop the road low enough fro 18 wheelers and then bring it back to gard so close by?

...

My guess is that the pedestrian bridges would also have a slight incline, but lowering the road underneath would help keep it to a minimum.

[GvilleSC]

I love the College Street idea!

[distortedlogic]

Welcome John, good to have you aboard! As for the new tourism plan, the more I hear the more I love it. I think a real visitor's center DT, highlighting all the area attractions would be excellent. I like the way the rendering incorporates foreign flags and other regional points of importance. (It would be really cool if there could be some sort of International museum!) I also hope that Paris Mtn can be improved. It presents such a great opportunity, but it just sits up there with media towers, Kudzu, spray paint, and teenagers making out. I have heard that many of those towers are no longer used, that whole area could really be cleaned up nice. It would be really good to have a park and little restaurant or something up there, with a small nature trail. If you have ever been to Montreal, there is a small mountain that a lot of people drive up to, and overlooks the city. This could be similar, only better. Granted an overlook of greenville is not the same thing as overlooking Montreal, but it could be really neat, especially in a few years from now. This tourism package could really be a great foundation to have in place as the city and area continue to grow. I only hope they make the DT visitor's center large enough to add highlights later on.

[adrockc2]

If you have ever been to Montreal, there is a small mountain that a lot of people drive up to, and overlooks the city. This could be similar, only better. Granted an overlook of greenville is not the same thing as overlooking Montreal, but it could be really neat, especially in a few years from now. This tourism package could really be a great foundation to have in place as the city and area continue to grow. I only hope they make the DT visitor's center large enough to add highlights later on.

Mount Royal in Montreal is amazing and I could see Paris Mtn. becoming something similar. Very good comparison distortedlogic.

[johnboyanoski]

Mount Royal in Montreal is amazing and I could see Paris Mtn. becoming something similar. Very good comparison distortedlogic.

Winn Dixie Distribution site just sold...don't have a lot of details, but figured you guys might like to notice that. Wasn't sure what thread to put this on, but thought I would break it here for obvious reasons...

The site is 800,000 square feet on 57 acres...

[TREY]

Thanks for the heads up. Any info on the buyers or the future use for the site?

[GSP Tiger]

Winn Dixie Distribution site just sold...don't have a lot of details, but figured you guys might like to notice that. Wasn't sure what thread to put this on, but thought I would break it here for obvious reasons...

The site is 800,000 square feet on 57 acres...

This site indeed has something in store soon.

Its indrustrial days have faded. Most structures are 40-60 years old. Besides a railroad spur, the site lacks direct access to an interstate. The immediate area has shifted to residential/commercial in the past 25 years.

The best use for the site is a restaurant/retail complex. Find one or two major anchors (JCPenney and/or Dillard's), minor anchors (Dick's Sporting Goods, hhgregg, Office Max, Stein Mart, etc.), a cineplex (8-10 screens) and some restaurants (Applebee's, Pizza Hut, Ryan's). Instead of several buildings spread out, why not build it up on 2-3 levels? This gives Taylors a retail center than driving out of the way to the Cherrydale area or Haywood and Woodruff roads.

[Chickenwing]

I wouldn't be surpised to see something like a Sam's there as well. Good news.

[distortedlogic]

Why not annex into the city, and put some high density housing?

[Chickenwing]

Why not annex into the city, and put some high density housing?

Where?

[crescentmoon]

It was be a near impossible task getting this site into the city. I'm pretty sure it's a long way from contiguous.

Also, high density along a rail line doesn't sound like a very good idea to me.

[Chickenwing]

It is not actually on the rail line. It just has a spur. The highest and best use for this property is retail commercial.

I live and work in this area of town, and we could use a few more restaurants for one. The Texas Roadhouse down the street routinely has 1 1/2 hr waits on the weekend. It would be nice to have more options.

This site is 55+ acres. There is a lot that could be added here.

[distortedlogic]

It was be a near impossible task getting this site into the city. I'm pretty sure it's a long way from contiguous.

Also, high density along a rail line doesn't sound like a very good idea to me.

You may be right, I haven't seen a map showing where this is in relation to the current CL. To bad though, this would be a pretty good chunk of land to annex. I think there could easily be some housing , perhaps on the other side from the tracks, with some mixed use in between as a buffer. I dunno, just an idea.

[Chickenwing]

You may be right, I haven't seen a map showing where this is in relation to the current CL. To bad though, this would be a pretty good chunk of land to annex. I think there could easily be some housing , perhaps on the other side from the tracks, with some mixed use in between as a buffer. I dunno, just an idea.

The city limits are over 2 miles from this site. There is no way housing will happen here. Other than the fact that it would be an extremely poor use of the site, the site backs up to Warehouse Ct, and on the other side of the street is a steel manufacturing plant.

http://www.gcgis.org/webmappub/ Go to the website and type in P015040101800 (P015040100403 is also part of the 55 acres). That will give you a better overview of the site.

[vicupstate]

Annexing the site would be more difficult POLITICALLY than it would be GEOGRAPHICALLY, IMO. Taylors PSD would be in a huge uproar. But if that where not an issue, this is how the annexation could take place;

The city would use the RR tracks to access the site. The tracks extend directly from the current limits on Pleasantburg to the site. If the new owners agreed to it, the Winn Dixie site would more than meet the 75% of assessed valuation requirement. Putting the title into the names of multiply persons or entities (companies) would allow the 75% of owners requirement to be met. That might not ever be necessary if the RR company did not oppose it. If the new owners need some 'convincing', the city could offer to pay for certain infrastructure on the site.

That scanario or something close to it, is how Charleston would do it anyway.

Using RR tracks could also have been used to establish contiguity to annex Charrydale, but that horse is out of the barn now.

[Chickenwing]

http://www.scstatehouse.net/code/t05c003.htm

South Carolina Code section 5-3-305:

Contiguity is not established by a road, waterway, right-of-way, easement, railroad track, marshland, or utility line which connects one property to another; however, if the connecting road, waterway, easement, railroad track, marshland, or utility line intervenes between two properties, which but for the intervening connector would be adjacent and share a continuous border, the intervening connector does not destroy contiguity.

I am not an attorney, but it sounds like from this that using the railroad would not be possible, because the properties would not be contiguous without the railroad.

Btw, in my reading on this, it was because of something Charleston tried to annex, that this is now included in the Code!

[crescentmoon]

<<Annexing the site would be more difficult POLITICALLY than it would be GEOGRAPHICALLY, IMO. Taylors PSD would be in a huge uproar. But if that where not an issue, this is how the annexation could take place;>>

I assume you mean the Taylors Fire and Sewer District (That's the area that recently failed at an attempt to incorporate) and I'm pretty sure this property isn't part of that district. I think it is part of the Wade Hampton Fire District.

[GSP Tiger]

For 20-OCT-2006:

TBAs:

The plans for an eight-story tower on Rhett Street will go back to the Design and Preservation Commission on Nov. 2. Some members questioned the height of the building during an August meeting when it was being called a 10-story tower.

Cal it the "BEST effect" if you will, but outsiders are taking notice of the almsot $1 billion spent on school construction in the last few years. At least one giant business prospect is said to be looking here because of the the new schools.

Retial stores keep inching into downtown Greenville and the WEst End. The latest is Go Fish Clothing and Jewelry, a semi-national, Christian-based chain. It has purchased a storefront on Main Street in the West End.

The Chamber of Commerce, Greenville Aera Development Corp., and the city economic development department are looking to hire two people, whose sole job will be to call on new businesses and get them interested in Greenville. It would be a joint effort between the three groups to help lure businesses here. The three are looking for a grant to fund the positions.

Renaissance Place, the mixed-use development on Pleasantburg Drive, will share more than just temporal proximity to Bob Jones University. Apparently, a lot of BJU alumni are purcahsing the condos to be close to the school.

Last week, SCRA announced it gave $150,000 to help bring a company to Charleston that will beta-test products with the Greenville Hospital System. However, there may be some announcements cming about Upstate projects shortly.

Wachovia is moving its mortgage division to a new location near St. Francis Woment's Hospital sometime in the coming months. It is currently located at teh corner of Laurens and Woodruff roads.

Other notes:

Steve and Barry's University Sportswear is coming to Haywood Road's The Gallery in the former Rhodes Furniture.

[mallguy]

Steve and Barry's University Sportswear is coming to Haywood Road's The Gallery in the former Rhodes Furniture.

oh no, a sign of retail decline! Not good.

[GSP Tiger]

Why is it not good? It is better than having nothing in a space where Pharmor and Rhodes Furniture have been.

This is a growing positive trend of various national retailers coming to Greenville. You are guaranteed to see more come in the next 1-2 years - REI, Bass Pro Shops, Borders, etc.

[mallguy]

Why is it not good? It is better than having nothing in a space where Pharmor and Rhodes Furniture have been.

This is a growing positive trend of various national retailers coming to Greenville. You are guaranteed to see more come in the next 1-2 years - REI, Bass Pro Shops, Borders, etc.

Steve & Barry's is a classic dying shopping center anchor; it locates in low-end places with low rent, with a few exceptions. Not a class A store for a class A shopping center in a class A part of town, and not nearly as desirable as a Bass Pro Shops, Borders or REI, which are all class-A stores in their categories.

[Greenville]

Steve & Barry's is a classic dying shopping center anchor; it locates in low-end places with low rent, with a few exceptions. Not a class A store for a class A shopping center in a class A part of town, and not nearly as desirable as a Bass Pro Shops, Borders or REI, which are all class-A stores in their categories.

That shopping center isn't going to attract a Borders, Bass Pro Shops, or REI anyway, so what's wrong with a decent tenant like Steve & Barry's going in to fill a large space? Last time I checked, that's always better than an empty store. Besides, I could think of many chains that could be worse (Big Lots, etc.).

We will get our Bass Pro Shops, Borders, etc., but not at that location.

[mallguy]

The shopping center could be redeveloped into a use other than a strip mall, or the space could be subdivided into small shop space; either of those uses wouldn't lead to an empty store and would be better than a Steve & Barry's. Come with me to the Rock Hill Galleria or the Manhattan Mall (in NYC) and visit a Steve & Barry's; it is not a desirable tenant and with it and other desirable stores leaving and non-desirable stores coming, Haywood Road could eventually face the same fate as Pleasantburg Drive, which I don't want to see happen.

[krazeeboi]

But the Galleria isn't exactly a dying mall; it just got an American Eagle not too long ago, and renovations are planned.