Downtown project draws critics

By Cindy Landrum  

JUNE 23, 2011 2:07 p.m. (0)

Some downtown residents are considering taking the city’s Design Review Board’s decision to approve plans for One, a $100 million development on Greenville’s Main Street, to court.

They say the plans approved by the board violate the city’s downtown design standards and intrude on public space.

“It is clear to us that the design guidelines were not followed in this case,” said Main Street resident Anthony Conway. “It will change downtown completely.”

Conway said the development, which will include the headquarters of CertusBank and the women’s fashion boutique Anthropologie’s first Upstate location, also would intrude on space bought and earmarked by the city to enhance Piazza Bergamo, an open space on Main Street near Coffee Street.

He said lawyers are looking at the case now.

“We welcome development,” he said. “But we don’t want to see development that puts high-rises on Main Street.”
Last week, the Design Review Board approved by a 3-2 vote the first phase of the project and gave conceptual approval of the second phase.

The first phase of the project will include nine-story tower. The second phase will include a 10- or 11-story tower. The towers will be joined by a single story of retail space on the street level.

The city had pushed for development of the site at Main and Washington streets to enhance downtown’s reputation as a shopping destination and as a vibrant business center.

Greenville Mayor Knox White said the design guidelines are just that – guidelines.

“That’s why we have a committee,” he said.

Sometimes, downtown developments have compensating issues that require give-and-take by the developers and the city, he said.

“Sometimes it’s you can do this, but you have to do that,” White said.

White said the property Conway is talking about is part of the old Woolworth’s property the city bought to facilitate the demolition of the building, not a part of the Piazza Bergamo.

In 2009 when the city bought 6,000-square-feet of the old Woolworth property for $360,000, an agreement between the owners of the property and the city said the property was to be used by the city “to develop an enhanced public space that is compatible with the type of retail uses and tenants” represented in the development plan.

“When this project is finished, there will be more public space,” White said. “It will just be reconfigured.”

White said even if the city wanted to allow public space to be used for the building’s footprint, it could.

“There’s encroachment on public space all over downtown,” he said.

The city had owned the lobby, ballroom and kitchen of the Hyatt in return for the city’s investment in the project some three decades ago. The city recently sold its interest in the hotel to the hotel’s owner for $1 million.

“He’s trying to turn a public-private partnership into a conspiracy,” White said of Conway.

Greenville developer Bob Hughes, who announced the One project last month, wasn’t involved in the 2009 property agreement, White said.

“That was a full year before Bob Hughes became involved,” the mayor said.

Conway said one of the biggest complaints of residents is the public didn’t have more of a say in the project.

“It’s supposed to be an open, transparent process,” he said. “But we had 10 minutes before the Design Review Board. They say it’s an open, transparent process, but that’s only in words, not in action.”

City officials said they are working on a development agreement with Hughes that will outline the developer’s and the city’s responsibilities.

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