Northside Developments

[westsider28]

Bank of America gave $250,000 today toward programming for children and families at the new TK Gregg Center.  The center should open in April 2020.

[westsider28]

Northside updates: TK Gregg has the nice royal blue panels up on the entrance now

Mixed-use building got its Howard Street sidewalk poured.  It looks like the ground-floor offices have no individual entrances on Howard Street, which is pretty disappointing.  Only a main entrance near the corner and entrances from the parking lot side, it appears.

Also, 2 Habitat houses going up on N Forest Street

  

[Spartan]

Is that not an entrance at the corner?

[westsider28]

14 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Is that not an entrance at the corner?

Yes, I said that.  But all along Howard are only windows.  I thought / was hoping there would be a door for each office (it appears the rear is that way).

It's admittedly nit-picking to some extent.  But having multiple entrances on the sidewalk would've made for a more vibrant pedestrian experience.

[Spartan]

Ah ok. I must have skimmed past that. I agree 100% with what you're saying... but its hard to hate this building. I feel like they're doing the best they can given the market realities. If this were in downtown proper, I would be more upset about it.

[westsider28]

Yeah, it's a fantastic project otherwise.  And the enhanced streetscape is great.  Huge improvement overall from previous conditions.  And once the apartments across the street start rising, this area will feel even more urban.

[westsider28]

I was perusing the agenda for the Jan. 13 City Council meeting and found where the City intends to sell some properties to the Northside Development Group for a housing development.  It's called College at Creekside, and it's a redevelopment of the entire block bound by College, Brawley, and Manning for 35 housing units.  The site plan shows 11 attached homes, 9 detached homes, and 15 "brownstones".  The agenda mentions that this project will have to go before the DRB for approval.  Seems like solid density.  Looking forward to seeing more details in the future.

[Spartan]

That is excellent!

[westsider28]

Here's a new site plan for College at Creekside from the City Council meeting last night.  It appears the corner parcel couldn't be acquired, so they're working around it.

Below is a preliminary site plan for Midtowne Heights (the City seems to be calling it Norris Ridge, so apparently the name is moving with the residents?)  I wish it had a bit more road connectivity, but at least it has one through street.  The Planning Commission minutes mentioned that HUD required more parking then the City/developer would like, but they tried to make it mostly street parking rather than lots.  The architecture will be somewhat craftsman-like to blend in with neighboring homes.  Development should start this summer, with completion summer 2021.

The City also voted to acquire a parcel at 218 N Forest for the future police HQ.  It will make the site more simple / accessible (they'd have had to build around it otherwise).

Also, the Planning Commission minutes mentioned that a traffic light is going to be installed at the intersection of Wofford St and St John St (and hopefully square off that intersection).  I think that is mainly because of the future central fire station that will be at Wofford and Forest.

[westsider28]

The old Star Mill building will be the new home of the Spartanburg Housing Authority.  This will put their offices in a much more convenient area than their current location way out on South Pine.  Work on the building will begin Monday, and SHA expects to move-in in December.

[Historyguy]

That's great for so many reasons - I love an adaptive reuse of an older structure, and the idea that the city housing authority was so far from the city center, not on a public transit line - it was just not a good plan . This is so much better.  

[westsider28]

Here are some random photos from the past week or so.  I believe the new apartment building (500 Northside Station) is in the process of getting a bond approved, which should be done in February, so I'd expect construction to start soon after that.  The site is ready to go.

TK Gregg:

They refuse to pour diagonal concrete.  Right angles only:

Rear of the mixed-use building:

All canopies up, fencing for Wofford patio up:

500 Northside Station (90 apts) site ready to go:

[westsider28]

Curbing went in all around the 500 Northside Station site today.  There's quite a bit of parallel parking around the project.  That should be helpful for Farmer's Market customers.

[westsider28]

Street trees are in, and there are a lot of them. Great to see.

Cool distance view:

[Spartan]

That's a really good looking building. thanks for the pics!

[westsider28]

Just a few photos from Sunday. 

EDIT: I just looked over City Council minutes and saw that NDG has secured an easement from AT&T to expand the sidewalk and add lighting along College Street in front of AT&T's facility at 200 College.  That will be a welcome improvement between Magnolia and the new mixed-use development.

Star Mill renovation underway (roof is totally removed at the moment):

Rear of TK Gregg:

Not sure the cobra lights are necessary here, as it will be quite urban when the apartments across Howard are done.  Would've preferred only pedestrian-scaled acorn lights:

View from Butterfly Branch Greenway:

Edited February 20, 2020 by westsider28

[westsider28]

Saw in today's Planning Commission meeting agenda that site and landscape plans for The Tapestry at Bon Haven apartments were recently approved, so it appears that the project is continuing to move forward behind the scenes...

[westsider28]

There was also an informational update on the Village at Creekside at last night's DRB meeting.  They should be asking for conceptual approval at next month's meeting.  Site plan is the same as the updated one posted previously; they aren't going to be able to acquire the final corner parcel.  Half the "brownstones" will be 3-story, half will be 2-story, and they'll be brick-faced.  The site has quite a slope, so townhomes facing the interior park will be 2-floors or 3-floors, depending on the side.  These will be for-sale, mostly market-rate (a few will be 100-120% AMI "affordable", I believe).  Looks great.  Can't wait to see this move forward.

[Spartan]

I don't hate it. The parking situation is weird though.

[westsider28]

The City is apparently having a "virtual" DRB meeting on April 7 (it will be interesting to see how they handle the required public comment obligation).  The Village at Creekside (mentioned above) will be up for preliminary/conceptual approval.  However, there's also another townhome project by Montgomery Development that will be on most of the block between Raindrop and Milan Streets (see parcels below).  It will be interesting to see what the plan is here.

[Spartan]

How did it go?

[westsider28]

On 4/8/2020 at 8:18 PM, Spartan said:

How did it go?

I only caught about 30 min. in the middle of the meeting.  I believe both projects received conceptual approval.

The Village at Creekside mentioned earlier is very similar to before, just some slight tweaks.

The new townhome project by Montgomery Development between Raindrop and Milan consists of ~44 units, most have garages (accessed by an interior alley), and street parking on Milan.  Street parking on Raindrop was desired by the City consultant and DRB, so they're trying to make that work (possibly by narrowing the interior alley).  Because of a significant grade change, the units facing Howard are planned to have "basement" entrances on the street with "2nd floor" access from parking pads.  Pretty solid density.

[westsider28]

TK Gregg progress: parking lot curbing and gravel is in, and curbing for on-street parallel parking was just installed as well.  Looking good.

View of downtown:

[westsider28]

The Lofts at Northside Station are now leasing.  First move-ins are scheduled for May 1.  Rents look like they start at $1,050 for a 705 sq ft 1BR.  Seems a bit steep for a transitioning location, but it's a decent size unit (plus balcony).  I guess they're targeting VCOM people?  They seem to be leasing well, based on FB posts.

Edited April 16, 2020 by westsider28

[westsider28]

Progress at TK Gregg seems to be accelerating.  Sidewalks and landscaping going in.  I suspect the grand opening will be delayed by the coronavirus, but it's clearly getting close to the finish line.