What’s the status of some of Greenville County’s largest commercial projects?
Despite supply chain delays and workforce shortages, major commercial real estate projects in the Upstate have continued to advance. From hotels to mixed-use developments, community gathering areas to transformed mill buildings, concert venues to company headquarters, the Greenville metro area will likely look a little different by the end of 2022.
Here are a few key projects to keep an eye on.
Grand Bohemian Lodge
The Grand Bohemian Lodge at 44 East Camperdown Way, rising above the Reedy River, is a major addition to downtown Greenville’s skyline and a focal point of Falls Park.
With 187 rooms, timber balconies, and a multi-story outdoor bar and restaurant overlooking the river, the hotel will combine a rustic aesthetic with modern amenities. The lodge will feature an onsite spa, art gallery and fitness center, while hiking trails criss-cross the property and give access to the park.
Supply chain challenges have delayed opening to fall 2022, and other specifics related to certain amenities – specifically, the outdoor bar and restaurant – have yet to be announced.
BridgeWay Station’s first phase includes more than 450,000 square feet of new development, including retail, restaurants, office space, multifamily residential, and event space, along with a pedestrian bridge over the highway. Rendering provided by Hughes Investments.
BridgeWay Station
The first phase of the $150 million, 450,000 square-foot urban village billed as a cornerstone of a new downtown Mauldin (along with the planned City Center project, mentioned below) is on track for a late 2022 completion. Harper Construction is already at work on a six-story building at the heart of the overall project.
Hughes Investments is spearheading the project alongside McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture and Harper General Contractors. Designed to emulate “old-world architecture,” the development is expected to bring more than 1,000 new jobs to Mauldin within the first phase alone. Tenants include Poogan’s Southern Kitchen, Cohesive Coffee, Belladina’s Italian Market, and Dodge Bearings and Power Transmission.
The 25,000-square-foot food hall will combine various restaurant concepts, with a spacious 5,000-square-foot outdoor area with plenty of covered seating. Renderings provided by The Parker Group.
Mauldin City Center
The longstanding goal to create a true downtown area for the city of Mauldin is on track to be complete this summer.
City officials and the Parker Group, which is developing the project, revealed plans last year for Mauldin City Center, a 6.5-acre adaptive reuse project that will feature a food hall, residential townhomes and a 25,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor entertainment complex .
The food hall will serve as home to several restaurant concepts as well as a beer garden, an outdoor stage, covered outdoor seating, a 5,000-square-foot patio, fire pits and a large swath of green space. Patrons will have access to a 100-space parking lot directly adjacent to the food hall.
New United Community Bank headquarters rendering by McMillan, Pazdan, Smith
United Community Bank headquarters
Located at 200 E. Camperdown Way, the 117,000-square-foot United Community Bank headquarters will rise seven stories and house about 300 employees by the time they move in early 2024.
Plans include a 154-space parking garage with 200 more spots located across the street.
United Community Bank chairman and CEO Lynn Harton said while the building is something Greenville can be proud of, his first thought has and continues to be the investment the bank is making in its employees.
“We’re excited about that. I don’t think about the building making a statement, necessarily to the community, but what I wanted was a place where people wanted to come to work. We’re a very connected company. My belief is people like to work with people they like … I wanted the building to be a place that signifies that. My first audience that I thought about was employees.”
This lot, the “last undeveloped piece of property on the river in downtown,” may one day be home to a conference center. Photo by John Olson
Downtown Conference Center
Plans for the conference center billed as a “nexus of downtown Greenville,” according to Mayor Knox White, are still in the early stages, with concepts of the $78 million project revealed in late summer 2021. The city still needs to pass the plans through an interim review process, after which a more detailed design will be worked out between public and private stakeholders.
The proposed conference center from developers Phil Hughes and Bo Aughtry, designed by LMN Architects, will sit on 6.7 acres along the Reedy River between River and Academy streets across from the Embassy Suites hotel, what Hughes calls “the last piece of undeveloped property on the river in downtown.”
As it stands, the project will consist of 184,000-square feet of mixed-use space including a conference center, support space and two museums.
Events at Judson Mill. Rendering provided by High Spirits Hospitality
Judson Mill
The 35-acre site off Easley Bridge Road now under redevelopment from Belmont Sayere is near complete, with roughly 450,000 square feet of space being transformed into a major commercial and community hub.
Consisting of a warehouse, a mill, a smokestack and an old paint shop, the oldest of which dates back to 1912, the site will be the host of the new Feed and Seed hub (opening soon), the country music venue Cowboy Up Nightlife (opening in March), the event space of High Spirits Hospitality (opening in April) and more, with the climbing gym BlocHaven already open.
Rendering provided by Hartness Living
Hotel Hartness
Set to open this case, Hotel Hartness will feature 69 luxury rooms, with four additional guest suites and a spa, along with a new restaurant, 20,000 square feet of event space and outdoor event space. The restaurant, Patterson, will be helmed by chef Tanner Marino and will overlook the property’s ponds. The menu will utilize produce grown on the Hartness own farm.
Situated on Hartness Village, located on the Eastside of the Hartness family estate, the hotel will be the final project of the master-planned village.
Photo by John Olson
Union Bleachery
Developer Dean Warhaft of Florida-based Cone Mills Acquisition Group’s plans for an ambitious mixed-use project on the site of the former Union Bleachery Mill, itself a federal Superfund site, are moving forward. Once complete, the 238-acre development near the Sans Souci community will bring a new spur of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail that would eventually extend to Paris Mountain, a pedestrian bridge, 10 miles of trail and more, to Greenville.
Plans include an as-yet-unspecified number of housing options, some at market rates and others as affordable workforce housing, as well as retail and restaurant space. Union Bleachery opened in 1903 and continued to operate until a major fire in 2003 destroyed a large part of the mill, which is located along Old Buncombe Road near West Blue Ridge Drive.
Rendering courtesy of McMillan Pazdan Smith via the city of Greenville
Rhett Street Concert Venue
Construction has yet to begin on the new, 25,000-square-foot concert venue planned for 401 Rhett St. in the West End of downtown Greenville, although early plans released last year describe the project as a “mid-size music venue” that would bring an entirely new strata of entertainment to downtown.
The venue’s plans feature two levels and a standing balcony, in which an event space, bar space, kitchen and more would be housed. It’ll be large enough to accommodate about 2,000 people (just under the size of the Peace Center).
Rendering provided by Seamon Whiteside
West End apartments by Fluor Field
Two major housing developments are in the works just a stone’s throw from one another in downtown’s West End.
The project closest to Fluor Field, dubbed The .408 (an homage to the batting average of Shoeless Joe Jackson during his 1911 season), is well under way from Woodfield Development. The development will serve as the focal point of the planned District 356 (that name also an homage to Jackson’s lifetime batting average) — a planned entertainment district, outdoor market area and gateway to the ballpark along Field Street.
The other project facing Fluor Field, which has yet to begin, is a mixed-use project from SunCap Property Group, which will consist of 250 apartment units, 6,950 square feet of amenities, 12,000 square feet of retail space and 560 parking spaces. The 3.1 acre site runs along Markley Street across from Fluor Field and is bordered by Vardry Street, Green Avenue and Main Street. Included in that site are 2.7 acres owned by Allen Temple AME Church which is used as the church’s recreation center.
Rendering by Lighthouse Living
The McClaren
The mixed-use, nine-story development rising over Academy Street will bring 224 luxury apartments to the edge of downtown (20% of which will be dedicated to workforce and affordable housing).
The development gets its name from The McClaren Medical Shelter, a one-story brick building which has occupied the space for decades.
The McClaren Medical Shelter was built in 1949 by Dr. EE McClaren, a prominent Black physician in Greenville who used the space as a clinic that served primarily Black residents during the Jim Crow era. Rather than raze the structure, the clinic will be moved to a prominent position 70 feet away at the corner of Wardlaw and Academy Streets, as a way of paying homage to its historical significance.
Rendering provided by Merrill Gardens
Merrill Gardens on Academy
Sitting at the gateway along South Academy Street between North Markley and Wardlaw streets, Merrill Gardens at Greenville will bring 138 senior living apartments to downtown’s West End.
The six-story building will feature roughly 16,000 square feet of common space and 69 at-grade parking spaces. Amenities a library, a living room, a full commercial kitchen with a community dining area, a theater and a community salon.
Construction is underway, with a planned opening set for the end of 2022, according to Pillar Properties and Second 50 Communities.
Rendering provided by First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church broke ground on a $33 million campus expansion back in 2020 and should be done by the end of the year.
The 77,000-square-foot campus addition, designed by Greenville-based architectural firm Craig Gaulden Davis and being built by Triangle Construction, will add a 1,100-seat Worship and Arts Center, a new gymnasium, state-of-the-art children’s facilities , a central gathering space, a new youth floor and additional adult classrooms.
Senior Pastor Rev. Richard Gibbons said the project aims to be a key aspect of the city’s extensive growth with a campus that will serve the area for many years to come.
“It would be difficult to exaggerate how excited we are about the future of our rapidly growing city,” he said.