Greater Spartanburg Projects & Developments

[lynturner99]

Hey, I just found this web site and are very glad to see others thinking the way I do about Spartanburg. I work for a local television station and am always looking for good story ideas to pitch. This group seems pretty knowledgeable about the city's ongoings, so hopefully you guys can fill me in on downtown and county developments. I read an older post about whats planned for downtown anybody care to write a new one.

[goodbye]

Welcome to UrbanPlanet.org, lynturner99! Hope you enjoy reading the many discussions we have around the Upstate. Feel free to join in anytime. The more perspectives we have, the better the discussion.

[roads-scholar]

Hey, I just found this web site and are very glad to see others thinking the way I do about Spartanburg. I work for a local television station and am always looking for good story ideas to pitch. This group seems pretty knowledgeable about the city's ongoings, so hopefully you guys can fill me in on downtown and county developments. I read an older post about whats planned for downtown anybody care to write a new one.

Welcome to UP. I'm glad you share our enthusiam for whats's happening in Spartanburg. Keep us bookmarked and you'll pick plenty of good information.

[Spartan]

Hey, I just found this web site and are very glad to see others thinking the way I do about Spartanburg. I work for a local television station and am always looking for good story ideas to pitch. This group seems pretty knowledgeable about the city's ongoings, so hopefully you guys can fill me in on downtown and county developments. I read an older post about whats planned for downtown anybody care to write a new one.

Welcome to the forum lynturner! Its good to know that some people in the media are thinking like we do If you have some questions, we can probably answer them, and we always want to hear everyone's comments! I guess I'm not sure what you are asking in the last part of your post?

[lynturner99]

At times we do enterprising stories on building and development and their impact on the community and it helps to know some of the building projects. Info is scarce to come by in the Journal's. And frankly I believed Greenville gets too much of the press attention, and that is in part due to the fact that they do a better job of keeping the media aware of every project.

[Spartan]

Thats true. Greenville does get a lot of press, but they have lots of great things going on over there, and they are getting more of a "national" spotlight. Spartanburg has yet to reach that level. I think that it can one day. Right now in Spartanburg, the big things are in place, and we need a lot more small businesses such as restaurants and shops and smaller offices to more in. Johnson is building lots of spec office buildings, but they aren't filling up. ESA sits half empty.... but on the otherside of things is QS/1, which is over flowing.

I completely agree that Greenville does a much better job of keeping the public informed. All of their larger projects have websites, and cool signs out front that let people know what is going on. The city has an email listserv that informs everyone of what is going on in the city, inluding meetings, new developments, and other things like that. I would love to see Spartanburg develop a system like this. I believe that as more things start to happen in Spartanburg, people will want to know about it (of course, that is what UrbanPlanet is for ). I think that the city is improving in this regard.... I have been seeing more signs for projects, but I always want to know more

[lynturner99]

there were a couple of typos on that last message but its pretty understandable. Anyway nobody has filled me in on downtown developments.

[Spartan]

Yeah I agree. That should have been huge news. 1300 jobs is nearly the same as BMW's numbers. If the Echostar things works out I hope that there will be the same amount of coverage. Greenville did a tease though... They announced that some comany may come to the area, and bring a lot of jobs... then they left everyone to their own to guess and talk about it for a while. That was genious. That way, the company wouldn't be pointed out, and people still know something may be coming. That is what they should have doesn with EchoStar. 1300 jobs is no small potatoes. Its good to know that someone out there is looking out for ol' Sparkle City

there were a couple of typos on that last message but its pretty understandable. Anyway nobody has filled me in on downtown developments.

Don't worry about typo's. As long as its readable it should be fine. You will find that I am the master of typos' here on UP What do you want to know about downtown?

[lynturner99]

Ive read old posts about possible downtown construction but their pretty old. And also if any buisnesses are coming downtown

[Spartan]

Well, here is what I know....

The Z-Mart just opened up on Morgan Square. A new restaurant/bar type of place is cupposedly coming to the location of the blood bank on Dunbar St. That end of downtown is hampered by being near First Baptist because there are location based zoning laws that restrict the sale of alcohol to less that 500 ft (I think) from a church or school. So that basicly rules out that first block of downtown accross from Denny's Plaza ever becoming anything fantastic. Restaurants need to be able to sell alcohol to be successful. Now, I could be mistaken about that law. It could just be liquor stores and places who's income is more than 50% alcohol.

A new Mexican restaurant is coming to Main St at the Bijou International Market. This part of Main St (technically the first block of East Main) has been slower to pick up, so this activity should help pull people that way. I think this is one of the better sections of downtown. It has easy access/parking with the Dunbar St garage nearby. Supposedly they are going to straighten out the serpentine section of Main St. Thats just a rumor though.

There are also plans to narrow E Main to two lanes from Converse to Pine. Possibly thhrough to St John, but they aren't sure so far as I can tell. I assume that they will include bike lanes, streetside parking, and wider sidewalks. I would love to be able to sit outside at Venus Pie

Johnson's first building with Carolina First as the anchor tenant has topped out, and its coming along nicely. His second building is going to go on that same block where that little brick building is today on Alabam St I think. The Mary Black Foundation is finishing up rennovations on the old Duke Power building. It looks GREAT! Much better than the old look. I heard from another forumer here on UrbanPlanet that the Catholic Church is going to build its new sanctuary on that vacant lot on E Main. They are rennovating the building on the south corner of Main and Liberty. Both shop spaces are for lease. There is a picture in the Spring Fling Photo thread. That end of Main St is really changing for the better. Johnson is also working on the project at Broad and Liberty. It will look similar to his project at the north corner of Main and Liberty. I hope that it has ground level shops. I think that the key tp Spartaburg's success lies in ground level shops (that is my number one complain about ESA).

The Chapman Cultural Center is really coming along. There are plans to restore and narrow Converse St to St John. Liberty will also be restored. No word on what will take up the rest of Renaissance Park. The City sees St John St as the office building corridor of Spartanburg, so I would assume that more projects of that nature will be popping up. There is a new city parking lot behind the Montgomery building, but I heard that there might be a new garage there some day. I read that a new Spot of Pride is coming to St John near Barnet Park.

The city has identified Harris Place (the western extension of Kennedy St) as an area of focus. Perhaps some new residential projects are on the way? Mark Scott also identified the industrial site at the bottom of Daniel Morgan Ave in this area as a site for a park with some sort fo water feature. This area is just beyond/below the new Hub-City building (formerly Gilbert Shoes).

The city is thinking about a new city hall.... the current one kinda sucks, IMO.

The Memorial Auditorium is plannin an expansion with a parking garage and additional show room space... maybe a bridge over the railroad tracks to connect with the Marriott. This will likely include the destruction of the old Krispy Kreme and realigning Memorial Dr to meet with Alba Ct at the same intersection. That will help traffic in that area tremendously.

Starbucks is going in on N Pine at Garner Rd. CVS accross the street on the old Kmart site. I think a Food Lion is going in there as well.

The 221/Hwy 9 intersection(s) with 585 is(are) being fixed so that they aren't so dangerous. Project info is on the SCDOT website. 585 and the old 85 intersection is being reworked to make it safer and to provide better access to USCS.

295 widening project has finally started!!!

New offices are nearly complete (looks like doctor's offices) on 295 near the Reidville Road end.

The big proejct on the Eastside is the Easton Village (or something to that effect) which will be located ont he former Lan Yair golf course. I would love to know the status of this project (hint hint). It seems to have fallen off the face of the earth except for that sign.

I heard that some developmer may be looking at condos downtown somewhere. Hopefully not in Renaissance Park. That is a bad idea right now.

Costco is looking at the area. Westgate may be the site for it (suggestion from UP I think)

Olive Garden on the Fellowship Baptist site on the Westside near Circuit City and Golden Coral.

The Hub City connector will open up soon (rail-to-trail project) between Union and S Pine.

Various Southside projects ware going on with ReGenesis.... housing projects have been torn down and are being replaced with newer models and mixed income neighborhoods. Various park rennovations too. The Arkwright connector is going in there. Supposedly there will be bike lanes on that road as well.

Thats just off the top of my head, so there are probably more things going on that I am not thinking of.

Keep in mind that I get all of this info from reading the Herald-Journal, the Spartanburg Journal, watching the news, reading local websites (especially the city's) and most importantly, UrbanPlanet.org . All of this stuff is out there somewhere if you look hard enough. Keep an eye on the Spartanburg Journal thread. That is usually where we get our most up to date tidbits on what businesses may be opening downtown. Usually before the HJ or the news says anythign about them. What would really help is if everyone participated in our discussions here on UrbanPlanet and helped to keep up with these developments. Spartanburg has lots of great things going on

[Spartan]

[addition]

I just thought of a couple more. Johnson is also involved in the residential project on Woodburn Rd near the railroad tracks. I have no idea what is going on there (hint-hint).

The Spartanburg County Foundation is building a new office building on E Kennedy St near the old Hardees.

[lynturner99]

Thank you guys much. There is a lot going on. Has anyone noticed that there are only a few houses left on Pearl St. Any ideas on that one. Looks like most of the land has been leveled out for something. Also in Boiling Springs the land between the new Parr 3 and the bank in front of Greene Creek neighborhood looks like its about to be developed, I heard talks of an Outback Steakhouse.

[Spartan]

Ah, thats something I fogot about. I think the ever expanding Spartanburg Regional is doing something there. I'll read through some old posts and see if I can figure out what it is.

Outback would do well in Boiling Springs I think

I have also heard about some sort of chain restaurant that was interested in downtown. I honestly can't recall which one, but I remember being excitied about the idea. It may have been a rumor though.

Found it:

Duke Sandwich Shop is looking to locate downtown. They have locations in the Upstate. I know there is one over in Duncan.

an East Indian cuisine restaurant will open at the former Fatmans location on E Main.

Hooters is looking to locate on the Westside somewhere. Its anyone's guess. Possibly at Summit Point near the new theater or one of the outparcels at Best Buy or Dorman Center.

A new oyster bar is coming to the old Java Jive location on Ezell St. Its owned by the peopel who run Sonny's Brickoven Pizza.

[Spartan]

Ok, here is what is going on with Pearl Street... turns out its a Wofford project:

"Wofford is planning a $15 million student-housing village. It will include apartments and a village store. The first phase will have housing for 74 students with an eventual goal of 300 students after all 3 phases. It will move Wofford over to Pearl street basically connecting it to SRHS. It seems that the buildings will truly have a neighborhood look providing for lots of green space etc.. and the apartments will have the same italian Collonade style that is seen on the Snyder House and other campus structures. While city officials are never excited about losing tax generating land, they know the trade-off is positive in this case."

thats from the Journal.

[goodbye]

Wow! Great update, Spartan! Thanks for the leg work.

[GMoxley]

[addition]

I just thought of a couple more. Johnson is also involved in the residential project on Woodburn Rd near the railroad tracks. I have no idea what is going on there (hint-hint).

The Spartanburg County Foundation is building a new office building on E Kennedy St near the old Hardees.

Is this where they tore down all those old apt buildings?(right by the intersection of woodburn and conn.?)

[Spartan]

Is this where they tore down all those old apt buildings?(right by the intersection of woodburn and conn.?)

You got it!

The other update from the TBAs this week is that there are some retail shops opening on Ezell St, and Sonny's is expanding into the stop adjacent to it (and across from QS/1).

[Spartan]

Look like Costco is coming to Spartanburg. article.

They will tear down Proffits and build a freestanding store. In other amusing happenings- in the wake of EchoStar, nobody in the city wants to be the one to acknowledge that Costco is coming to Spartanburg.

The article also talks about the mall's status, as some had feared the mall may be near the end of its days. They seem to think the mall is fine, and it will have many good years left.

I am not particularly thrilled about this development. Costco is great, but how far away will they build it? I am guessing it will be pretty far out there. What does this mean for Westgate? I think that its time that the mall had another upgrade.

[GMoxley]

You got it!

Are there plans for the RR tracks? That track always seemed so odd to cut through such a wealthy neighborhood. I would think a nice trail would be a good replacement for the track, since it's so lightly used.

[GMoxley]

Look like Costco is coming to Spartanburg. article.

I am not particularly thrilled about this development. Costco is great, but how far away will they build it? I am guessing it will be pretty far out there. What does this mean for Westgate? I think that its time that the mall had another upgrade.

It sounded like they are going to build it where the old Proffits store is, but it just wouldn't be connected to the mall. Which I don't really understand. If you're going to go to the trouble and money of building at a mall site, it would make sense to take advantage of the through-traffic that is generate with a mall entrace.

[Spartan]

Are there plans for the RR tracks? That track always seemed so odd to cut through such a wealthy neighborhood. I would think a nice trail would be a good replacement for the track, since it's so lightly used.

They are used probably more than you think. Those tracks go down through Pacolet to Union and on to Columbia then on to Charleston. BMW sends cars down that way to the port.

It sounded like they are going to build it where the old Proffits store is, but it just wouldn't be connected to the mall. Which I don't really understand. If you're going to go to the trouble and money of building at a mall site, it would make sense to take advantage of the through-traffic that is generate with a mall entrace.

"Following a fairly recent trend for the company, Costco will demolish the former Profitt's and build a free-standing location in its place that reportedly will not have an internal entrance/exit to the main mall."

[Spartan]

I moved the posts related to WSPA into a new thread:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...t=0#entry429050

[hub-city]

Looks like the city is still working on sign for downtown. The proposal that has been put forth is for $500,000. WHile that is a large chuck of change, I feel that great signage (not good) would be worth the investment. haven't seen a drawing.

Check the ARTICLE

[emo]

that's great news about new signage. maybe i should put in a bid for the designs.

[hub-city]

The hard copy of the paper had a picture of the signs. they are blue with orange borders on a very nice post. One thing that was a little confusing was that they didn't incorporate the city logo into the signs. I'm not the hugest fan of the logo anyway, so maybe they're phasing it back out.