This small neighborhood is bound by North St, Washington St, Church and 276. In the end of the 19th century the neighborhood was subdivided, developed and became Greenville’s first upscale suburb. By the 1970s, the elite neighborhood had transitioned into a commercial historic district, and the apartments and larger homes were converted into offices.
Nominated in 1981, the Pettigru Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places making it the largest district in the city. The District is home to 88 structures built between 1890 and 1930.From an urban standpoint Pettigru’s best asset is its proximity to downtown and historic character, and the expansive Cleveland Park on the southern edge.The District also has some good retail concentrated at McBee Station, a decent amount of for-sale housing options, and good bike lanes.
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But the District has no historic main street and the arterials it does have are wide and very autocentric. Density is more akin to a suburb, there are no schools located in the neighborhood, rentals are limited, there is lots of crummy post WW II commercial bldgs., and there is a Confederate Museum… unfortunately. But given Greenville’s explosive urban apartment growth I do believe Pettigru will continue to urbanize and fill in. Hopefully the urban design is of decent quality and North and Washington Streets can become more pedestrian friendly.
Click here to view my Pettigru Historic District on my Flickr
URBAN STRENGTHS:
- Decent bike infrastructure wit h multiple bike lanes and easy access to the recreational trail along the reedy river which connects to Dwtn.
- Great access to Dwtn Greenville sitting just to the east of it.
- Excellent economic diversity and decent racial diversity.
- Good for-housing diversity with a decent # of condos with 1-beds selling 200K-500, 2-bed selling btwn 250K-550K, 3 & 4 bed sell btwn 350K-600K.
- Large metro park on the southern edge of the neighborhood (Cleveland Park), which includes a Zoo, ballparks, tennis courts, recreational trails, but no small parks or plazas within the neighborhood.
- Generally a pretty safe neighborhood.
- Lots of old mansions from the late 19th century. Homes are no mostly office but Historic district has preserved their original character from the exterior.
- Retail amenities are concentrated mostly at the McBee Station shopping plaza located a block south of the neighborhood. The Mall has a supermarket, staples, several restaurants, and a couple other neighborhood retail. Other than that there’s a bank, a running store, tons of law offices, bed & breakfasts, a couple churches. Decent access to some amenities Dwtn.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Density is pretty low for an urban neighborhood.
* Connectivity isn’t great.
* Mediocre public transit access esp for an inner-ring neighborhood.
* Excellent Income diversity
* Lots of preschools within Pettigru or Dwtn but no other walkable schools. Some well rated schools about 1-mile away but again not walkable.
* Rentals are pretty limited. A bit on the pricy side.
* Cultural amenities are limited to a several restaurants, the Bon Secours Arena, a wedding venue, and the” Confederate Museum” * cough * cough. But many Dwtn cultural amenities are walkable.
* Lots of crummy auto centric post WW II housing. Really no quality urban in-fill here.
* No cohesive urban commercial district. The main arteries North and Washington are both wide streets and very autocentric.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 