Downtown Greenville, SC

Downtown is bound by Academy to the west and North, the river to the south and roughly David Francis to the east. Greenville was nothing special compared to other mid-sized American cities in the south for much of its history. It has a historic main street where all the City’s shopping was concentrated, industry and warehousing along the river closest to Dwtn, and major downtown decline and urban renewal projects in the 60s and 70s. But what separates Dwtn Greenville from many of its peers is the civic leadership in the 1980s & 1990s. The City made major investments in new streetscaping, especially along Main street, attracted a new Hyatt Regency, and redeveloped the Reedy Riverfront into trail and recreation space taking advance of the Reedy River Falls. At the same time the urban West End neighborhood on the other side of the river redeveloped creating a seamless urban connection to Dwtn. Local shops opened, antique skyscraper were renovated, and new urban infill buildings started to fill in.  Most recently the City has created a quality civic center and pedestrian zone with the creation of the One City Plaza and pedestrianizing Lauren St.

But I won’t say that Downtown Greenville is the best mid-sized City southern Downtown and there is certainly room for continued urban improvement. I place Dwtn Knoxville, Lexington, and Chattanooga ahead of it. The western, northern, and eastern edges of Dwtn are still plagued with surface parking lots, dead spaces and wide boulevards, dwtn’s residential population is below average, public transit access is sub-par, and the City’s main post office, convention center, and public library are located outside of Dwtn. But with Greenville’s continued explosive growth,  including inner city growth, I have hope that Dwtn Greenville will continue to urbanize in a positive way.

Click here to view my Downtown Greenville Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Main st is the north to south spine of Dwtn and is the beating heart of Dwtn many intact historic 2-3 story bldgs with active shops. Also contains Dwtn’s better antique skyscrapers. Washington St east to west also has good urban form and active store fronts. Laurens St hosts several semi-pedestrian blocks.
* Most of Dwtn (other than the outskirts) has modern ADA curb cuts.
* Good bike infrastructure within Dwtn branching out to some of inner city neighborhoods with a few suburban connections. Good bike share system Dwtn & in the West End with several other inner city neighborhood stations spread throughout.
* Good amount of rental hsg but on the price side. Studios are located mostly in the Westend. 1-beds lease anywhere btwn 1.2K-2.3K, 2-beds btwn 1.5K-3K, and some 3-beds btwn 4-7K.
* Good amount of for sale product and diversity. Studios are limited. 1-beds sell btwn 300K-700K, 2-beds btwn 350K-800K, and a decent # of expensive 3-beds selling btwn 650K and the low 1ms. Some affordable hsg dwtn.
* Several quality schools in and around Dwtn including a Catholic and public grade school, Arts High school, and the main high school is located less than 1 mile for Dwtn. All rated well.
* High level of safety in Dwtn Greenville.
* Good historic stock esp. along Main Street. Pretty impressive number of urban in-fill bldgs for a City of it’s size concentrated near the West End.
* Quality streetscaping on many Dwtn Streets even outside of Main St.
* Solid tree canopy esp. along Main St.
* Good pedestrian activity especially along Main St. Certainly plenty of dead areas on the edges of Dwtn.
* Really good buzz and vibe dwtn.
* Excellent park and recreational trail along the Reedy River and Falls. The One City Plaza is a well designed Civic Plaza with ample seating and uses spilling into the plaza. A couple other decent plazas and a historic cemetery exist Dwtn.
* Great cultural amenities with plenty of food & bev businesses, several small & medium theaters, several live music venues and art galleries & museums. Regional amenities include a sports arena and ballpark just south of Dwtn.
* Retail amenities include a Publix, a drug store, plenty of boutiques/clothing stores & gift shops, a bookstore, plenty of dessert joints & gyms, 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Plenty of surface parking on the western, northern, and eastern edges of Dwtn.
• Urban density is below average for a Dwtn.
• Public transit is pretty poor across Greenville and its suburbs. Dwtn has decent public transit but sub-par compared to almost any other American Dwtn.
• Street network is a bit sinuous for a Dwtn. Roads are pretty wide especially on the edges of Dwtn.
• Not a ton of generational diversity dwtn but decent # of museums including a children’s.
• Only a handful of small satellite colleges in Dwtn. Larger colleges with 3-5K students are located 2-3 miles for Dwtn.
• No large parks in Dwtn Greenville.
• Convention center is a couple miles outside of Dwtn.
• A couple 20K people work in Dwtn which is about average for a Metro of Greenville’s size.
• Post office and public library are located just outside of Downtown. The closest hospital is a couple miles from dwtn and few medical offices.”