Greater Spartanburg Projects & Developments

[Spartan]

The Westside is finally getting a Brusters. It will be located next to Outback and the old putt-putt place. They will tear down the Hong Kong Express, which moved further down the road, to build it. It will be larger than the one in Hillcrest and Boiling Springs, I think, with 8 serving windown and a drive thru.

[krazeeboi]

There is a good article in the Herald-Journal today that highlights the city's downtown master planning process. This plan will set the tone for development in downtown for years to come. Now that the city is starting to be proactive about change, I think lots of good stuff will be coming our way.

Sounds good! As far as the complaint that the city's highest priority right now is neighborhood revitalization, particularly those in and around downtown, it should be realized that in many cases, development that goes on downtown spills over to such neighborhoods. A great example of this can be found in Greensboro.

[hub-city]

I agree with you krazeeboi. The downtown has to be made a place where new people want to move in and live; not just fix up the existing neighborhoods.

I'm excited that the city plans on this being an open process that encourages public input. There is a lot of people on this board that have wonderful ideas for cities and I hope that those in Spartanburg and Greenville can get by and provide fresh ideas and approches to help our city develop the best plan possible.

[Spartan]

I agree. I think the City's investment in downtown is finally startin gto pay off. In a few more years the surrounding neighborhoods will start to improve.

The major problem is that right now, there are only two desirable neighborhoods adjacent to downtown- Converse Heights and Hampton Heights. Downtown outside of the CBD has a lot of work to do. Kennedy St and Henry St in particular are eyesores (though Kennedy is showing signs of improvement). This master plan should help realize this goal.

Neighborhoods are was make cities work, so the City should not abandon them (not that they are). the North Dean neighborhood could be something particularly cool (and convenient!) as well as the Hamburg Heights area and the area along Wofford St (which has great access to downtown, despite its lack of desirablity).

The other problem is that the shady parts of town are directly northwest, south, and southwest of town in a sort of crecent. This presents a major challenge to the City, but I think its one that they can overcome without causing mass gentrification.

[tdreamweaver]

Don't forget Park Hills and Duncan Park. Both neighborhoods with great potential. Have you ever been on Victoria Road (I think that's the name?!?). It has some really neat houses.

:-) t

[Spartan]

Don't forget Park Hills and Duncan Park. Both neighborhoods with great potential. Have you ever been on Victoria Road (I think that's the name?!?). It has some really neat houses.

:-) t

I thought about Duncan Park, but really thats not adjacent to downtown which is why I excluded it. The South Converse neighborhood isn't too bad, but it wouldn't list it as desirable. Would you?

I did forget about Park Hills though. Its sort of removed from downtown, and I'm not as familiar with it. How desirable do you think it is?

BTW, my definition of 'downtown' is everything contained by Henry St, Pine St, and Daniel Morgan and also the area immediately west of the railroad tracks along Main St to around Wakefield Buick.

[tdreamweaver]

Yeah...I guess DP is not adjacent nor is Park Hills. Although with new greenways they have planned DP residents might be able to hop on a bike and be anywhere pretty quickly. (I just got back from the City's Parks and Rec meeting they had with the public about the Master Park Plan).

I LOVE Park Hills. It is a neat neighborhood. And really...while not adjacent...it's pretty close. Unfortunately, like many other City neighborhoods, in the 70s and 80s many of the homes were bought by investment companies and slumlords and the area suffered. We have fought the same battle here in Hampton Heights.

Also, the Beacon area really hurts Park Hills. I know the Spartanburg Housing Authority is renovating many of the housing projects. I certainly hope the ones behind the Beacon are on the "TO DO" list.

Anyhoo, with some TLC from the City, YES, I believe PH could once again be a desirable place. I think they still have a fairly strong base of owner occupied homes and I'm sure with some leadership from the City those folks could be organized to get their neighborhood to wherever they want it.

ALso, as I mentioned in my previous post...the next time you are in Spartanburg drive down Victoria Road if you never have. Coming east on 29 it's on your right before you get to the OLD Toyota place (now it's Joe Gibson auto or something?). It comes out down across from the Beacon. The houses are really cool and very well maintained.

I'm curious as to your thoughts. I happen to run across it sometime in the past couple of years and was like WHERE DID this come from???

t

[hub-city]

I can't find the story online, but the HJ reported yesterday that Pink Bee - an upscale clothing bouitque based in Greenville - announced it was coming Morgan Square. It will have a 1200 sq. ft store in the pink building near the statue.

[Spartan]

Oh cool. Thats exciting news for downtown. I was hpoing that building would become a restaurant, but oh well... this is still good news.

[roads-scholar]

Oh cool. Thats exciting news for downtown. I was hpoing that building would become a restaurant, but oh well... this is still good news.

Wouldn't be great if downtown Spartanburg became thedestination for entertainment and shopping in the upstate. It could happen.

[Spartan]

Wouldn't be great if downtown Spartanburg became thedestination for entertainment and shopping in the upstate. It could happen.

True. You never know. It will require a lot of tourism though. Spartanburg needs more support from a larger population. Right now the existing and most future development could be supported, but we can't expect to become larger than Greenville (in terms of downtown) unless we have better marketing and more tourist/visitor support. I do think that we have the capacity to do that, but I wonder if the will (or desire) is there for those in charge.

[Spartan]

This is exciting news I think. There is a proposed Skateboard Park for Union St.

There are a lot of local activists pushing for this (parents and kids alike).

This is a great location. They want to put it in the empty lot next to Ricky's Drive-In on Union St near Henry St. This park is also adjacent to the Hub City Connector. It would further enchance that linear park system as well as clean up the eyesore of a site.

The article says it would be a urban terrain park, which would mimick the real work environment (stairs, rails, etc.) and not be composed of tubes an curves, etc. This would certainly be a unique feature in the region.

[emo]

i agree. if spartanburg wants to grow in that direction, than they need something to really draw in tourists and visitors from neighboring cities.

i think they should continue to strive to really support the arts and maybe even become like Santa Fe, NM. it has almost as many art galleries as New York and i think that it's about the size of spartanburg.

what else do you think the city could do to be unique and offer something that nobody else has. at least, no one else nearby. maybe lots of cool fountains and public art? i think the citie really needs to make a sculpture park. thoughts?

[spartanburgh]

i agree. if spartanburg wants to grow in that direction, than they need something to really draw in tourists and visitors from neighboring cities.

i think they should continue to strive to really support the arts and maybe even become like Santa Fe, NM. it has almost as many art galleries as New York and i think that it's about the size of spartanburg.

what else do you think the city could do to be unique and offer something that nobody else has. at least, no one else nearby. maybe lots of cool fountains and public art? i think the citie really needs to make a sculpture park. thoughts?

Someone in the Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Department should make a brochure about the fountains in Downtown. I think there are about 30 within easy walking distance of Morgan Square. Welcome centers and Hotels in the area could distribute them and it would give people another reason to spend a little more time in Spartanburg. They could even do a fountain trail that mapped the fountains on the back of the brochure showing other points of interest along the way. This might help get some tourist and locals to explore beyond Morgan Square. Guests in the Marriott wondering what to do with extra time might appreciate something like this.

[Spartan]

Capitalizing on our fountains is a great idea. I've never really thought about it, but we do have quite a few of them in town. I don't think there are 30 within walking distance, but there are a lot to be sure. The city should invest in a few large/unique fountains for other parts of the city (or get them thorugh the Spot of Pride program).

I also like the Fountain Trail idea. We could set up an urban trail system similar to the Freedom Trail in Boston.

[hub-city]

Starbucks is up and running. It was good to drive by and see a crowd inside as well as people sitting outside reading the paper and enjoying some good coffee.

Edited September 18, 2006 by hub-city

[Spartan]

The City is going to present the development master plan for downtown on Monday! There will be opportunites for public input in an upcoming design workshop in October. Make sure you go out to make your voice heard.

Article

[emo]

i went to the meeting on monday and there was a really good turnout. about 150 people. i made sure to speak up and give my thoughts. it went really well and it's exciting to see things finally getting started.

[krazeeboi]

Exciting!

[hub-city]

What type of suggestions did you make Emo, and did you feel that they were well received? I wasn't able to attend, but I'm glad to hear about the turnout.

[djh1963]

Not to answer for emo but

I also attended the meeting. I felt all the suggestions were well recieved

plus they will be set up @ The Showroom the 17-20Oct to take more suggestions and ideas from everyone. Please make time to stop by.

[Spartan]

I am glad to hear that the turnout was excellent.

What sorts of ideas were suggested, and where there any common themes that people tended to address?

[erm1981]

Im not sure if this has been posted but Harper has been renovating a building for integral solutions in spartanburg. QS/1 has something to do with it. We did all the brick work on the building. It is turning out nicely and i hope someone would take some pics of it before it gets completely done. It is located near the miracle hill home where that steel bridge is at(the real old one). It is sort of a bad part of town, but i heard that they are going to clean that whole area up which is a big area. Spartan might know where im talking about. We also built that new brick porch on the sonny's brick oven pizza that is beside the new QS/1 office building. We did that last summer

[Spartan]

Thats the old Smith distribution warehouse on Wofford St... Smith is a sister company of QS/1. That bridges is Forest St, near the new St John St extension. I think we have a post or two about it further back.

That part of town is kinda sketchy, but its not that bad. The City is trying to fix that area up. They are tearing down and rebuilding lots of abandonded houses in that area.

The new deck on Sonny's looks great. It sure beats the heck out of their old deck. Spartanburg needs more places like that!

[emo]

i told them that i thought the most important things to start with are to complete new streetscapes and provide more housing downtown. especially affordable housing.