Fifth Third Park | $425 million MiLB Stadium + Mixed-Use Development

[roads-scholar]

3 hours ago, westsider28 said:

Best not to name after affiliates, as those tend to change.  I think you're going to be disappointed, because the trend in minor league baseball has been toward more clever/absurd names of late.  (i.e. Rocket City Trash Pandas, Amarillo Sod Poodles, Beloit Sky Carp, Gastonia Honey Hunters, etc.)

Diamond Holdings seems to be run by some pretty smart people.  They'll ultimately decide on a strong name that everyone will support.   I think the train connection ("Hub City") makes a lot of sense but I think we'll be hearing something soon.  

[westsider28]

21 minutes ago, roads-scholar said:

Diamond Holdings seems to be run by some pretty smart people.  They'll ultimately decide on a strong name that everyone will support.   I think the train connection ("Hub City") makes a lot of sense but I think we'll be hearing something soon.  

Good point, the clubs they own have pretty tame, normal names.

[westsider28]

This Post & Courier article about the project has this juicy tidbit:

"Johnson said they’re already talking with potential tenants to move into the office space, including one that could move 800 to 1,000 employees downtown. 'We feel optimistic about the ability to lease the space,' he said."

[spartanburgh]

It must be Fifth Third Bank?

Also,  I am hoping that the common area will be large enough to accommodate the Ice Rink that has been missing for a couple of years.

That would bring traffic to the area in the weeks after baseball.  

[gman430]

2 hours ago, westsider28 said:

This Post & Courier article about the project has this juicy tidbit:

"Johnson said they’re already talking with potential tenants to move into the office space, including one that could move 800 to 1,000 employees downtown. 'We feel optimistic about the ability to lease the space,' he said."

Flight Third Bank is going to move their corporate headquarters to downtown Spartanburg from Cincinnati and construct a new 35 story mixed use building for it.

Hey…one can dream.  

Edited November 3, 2023 by gman430

[distortedlogic]

5 hours ago, gman430 said:

Flight Third Bank is going to move their corporate headquarters to downtown Spartanburg from Cincinnati and construct a new 35 story mixed use building for it.

Hey…one can dream.  

Well we know Greenville will never build something that tall, maybe Sptbg will build a state tallest...

[westsider28]

Here are some early construction photos from opposite ends of the site (taken on Sunday):

[Spartan]

I hope the large "Spartanburg" logo is used as part of the team name. The font + logo is actually pretty sharp. I agree with not using Hub City or Sparkle City as the team name.... those are great nick names, but they should stay that way.

My concern with the team name is that the current team is called the "Down East Wood Ducks." Instead of the Kinston Wood Ducks. If you are not familiar with NC, "Down East" is not really a defined region - it's more an adjective. People who live inland refer to the area of southeastern NC around Wilmington/New Bern and the coast as living 'down east' - but people who live there don't identify with a specific geography as being down east.

So anyway, the name of that team is already awkward. My concern is they would continue that tradition and go with the something similarly weird.

I personally want a nice Spartanburg team name so I can get a hat or something with Spartanburg written in large letters to rep the city when I'm traveling.

[camtology]

11 hours ago, Spartan said:

I hope the large "Spartanburg" logo is used as part of the team name. The font + logo is actually pretty sharp. I agree with not using Hub City or Sparkle City as the team name.... those are great nick names, but they should stay that way.

My concern with the team name is that the current team is called the "Down East Wood Ducks." Instead of the Kinston Wood Ducks. If you are not familiar with NC, "Down East" is not really a defined region - it's more an adjective. People who live inland refer to the area of southeastern NC around Wilmington/New Bern and the coast as living 'down east' - but people who live there don't identify with a specific geography as being down east.

So anyway, the name of that team is already awkward. My concern is they would continue that tradition and go with the something similarly weird.

I personally want a nice Spartanburg team name so I can get a hat or something with Spartanburg written in large letters to rep the city when I'm traveling.

I've been thinking about it and there are many good team names to highlight the history and geography of Spartanburg,  one of the ones I think would be a good team name is "The Conductors" or something like that to highlight the importance of the Railroad in Spartanburg

[westsider28]

2 hours ago, camtology said:

I've been thinking about it and there are many good team names to highlight the history and geography of Spartanburg,  one of the ones I think would be a good team name is "The Conductors" or something like that to highlight the importance of the Railroad in Spartanburg

I like the idea of a possible railroad tie-in, but it's important to remember the "usability" or "communicability" of the name (i.e. does it sound good spoken).  Two syllables (with first syllable emphasis) is ideal for chants (three or one can be serviceable).  Also, "Spartanburg" is already a lot of syllables, so the nickname should be as short as possible if we want to use "Spartanburg Team-Name".

Edited November 6, 2023 by westsider28

[Spartan]

Spartanburg Locomotives

Loco's for short. People would go crazy for it.

[westsider28]

Agenda packet for tomorrow's (Nov. 7) DRB meeting has been posted!  "Other" is the file with site plans and renderings.  Consultant/staff are mostly concerned about the long blank wall along Henry Street.  Materials and streetscaping are secondary concerns.  There's an access road paralleling the RR tracks all the way across the site.  Stadium is set back pretty deeply from DMA, such that future development can happen along the street.  It's probably a wide enough site that a parking deck could go there under apartments.  Looks like three entrances: home plate, right field, and left field.  Team store is beyond the berm in left-center field.  

[camtology]

12 hours ago, westsider28 said:

Agenda packet for tomorrow's (Nov. 7) DRB meeting has been posted!  "Other" is the file with site plans and renderings.  Consultant/staff are mostly concerned about the long blank wall along Henry Street.  Materials and streetscaping are secondary concerns.  There's an access road paralleling the RR tracks all the way across the site.  Stadium is set back pretty deeply from DMA, such that future development can happen along the street.  It's probably a wide enough site that a parking deck could go there under apartments.  Looks like three entrances: home plate, right field, and left field.  Team store is beyond the berm in left-center field.  

kinda want to see some of the sketches of what the empty area between the stadium and the hotel, I know homeruns will mean much can't be built there but I would still love to see some trees and walkways

[westsider28]

2 hours ago, camtology said:

kinda want to see some of the sketches of what the empty area between the stadium and the hotel, I know homeruns will mean much can't be built there but I would still love to see some trees and walkways

There are buildings right behind the outfield wall at Fluor Field that get hit with home runs routinely, so that's not a problem.  They've got to fit 2 parking decks, an apartment building, and an office building on the site somewhere.

[mainonmain]

As long as buildings aren't within 50 feet or so of the outfield wall, it will be the rare homer that hits it. With the grass berms and concourse setup of this particular park, I don't think there will be a whole lot of home runs hitting other structures. Vehicles on Henry are probably more in danger of foul balls than buildings are of homers.

Edited November 7, 2023 by mainonmain

[gman430]

Will 800-1,000 employees even fit in these proposed office buildings? I feel like they would have to be a lot taller with more square footage. 

[camtology]

22 minutes ago, gman430 said:

Will 800-1,000 employees even fit in these proposed office buildings? I feel like they would have to be a lot taller with more square footage. 

I could easily see the current plans changing to be part of the overall plan. These buildings will begin over the next 4-6 years there could be many hoping that as more is completed the more investment comes into the later projects and allow them to expand beyond what current funding may allow

[Historyguy]

46 minutes ago, camtology said:

I could easily see the current plans changing to be part of the overall plan. These buildings will begin over the next 4-6 years there could be many hoping that as more is completed the more investment comes into the later projects and allow them to expand beyond what current funding may allow

I have gotten the sense that the office building will front on West Main Street between the AC and the railroad tracks.  Don't ask me where I heard that...  I also get the sense that there's supposed to be a central plaza in the area as well - probably designed to connect the AC, the other hotel, the office building, residential, and the garage...  I'll admit the stadium took up more space than I realized it would - I didn't have a great sense of the distances in the superblock.  I'm intrigued to know what the space fronting on Daniel Morgan will be - I'm guessing it's one of the residential buildings, but I suppose it could be the hotel...  As I recall, the Herald-Journal block is a part of the mix - so I suppose an office building and even a residence could be on that block...  There's certainly room for more than one building there.  But I know it's mostly speculation at this point.  

[westsider28]

7 hours ago, gman430 said:

Will 800-1,000 employees even fit in these proposed office buildings? I feel like they would have to be a lot taller with more square footage. 

Industry standard is ~175 SF per office employee, which at 800 employees would be a 140,000 SF building, which is exactly the size of office building #1 in the development agreement.  The QS/1 building is 120,000 SF for comparison.

@Historyguy The early renderings from the State budget documents showed the office building in left field, probably near West Main, and the apartment building in right field, along DMA.  It looks like that could still be the case, with the X-factor being parking decks.  The plaza was where that underground detention area is, and a retail building / event venue along DMA, too.  I believe the H-J block is for the hotel and office building #2, in the more distant future.  Edit: forgot there's another apt building; not sure where that will go.

Edited November 8, 2023 by westsider28

[westsider28]

The stadium received conditional approval for the structural massing and location on the site, but had conditions that they return with streetscape plans and ideas to address some blank walls.  They'll likely return for full and final approval in January, which is also when they hope to begin vertical construction.

Right now they're mainly working on upgrading/replacing a sewer line that runs east-west through the low point of the site.  It handles drainage from much of downtown west of Church Street.  I believe they said that powerlines along Henry and DMA will be buried (I really hope I heard that right).  They said they'd start a parking deck after the stadium construction starts, because it's faster to build the deck.  They said that the building along DMA (apartments?) would likely be under-construction during the first season.  That's all I can remember for now.  Anyway, things continue to move forward.

[mainonmain]

One thing about the Johnson Group - once an agreement is signed, they deliver what they say they're going to deliver, on or before the schedule they agree to deliver it on.

[westsider28]

Lots of site work going on when I passed by today:

[westsider28]

Massive piles of dirt as they do site work:

[Spartanburg Guy]

Seems like they will have to go vertical to fit everything in that block.

[gman430]