Ruling expected soon on One development appeal

By Cindy Landrum  

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 11:47 a.m. (0)

A judge could rule as early as Friday on the appeal filed by the opponents of One, a $100 million downtown development city officials say will help revitalize North Main Street.

Downtown residents Heidi Aiken and Anthony Conway and commercial property owner Mary Dana Lowie filed in circuit court an appeal of the city’s Design Review Board’s decision to approve the project planned for Main and Washington streets.

In their appeal, they claimed the board should not have granted the project a certificate of appropriateness because it did not meet the city’s design guidelines for downtown projects and that the board member who cast the deciding vote should have recused himself because of a conflict of interest.

Judge Gary Hill heard oral arguments in the case on Tuesday.

Developer Bob Hughes announced the two-phase project in May on the site of the former Woolworth’s building.

The first phase would be a nine-story building with retail shops on the first floor, including national retailer Anthropologie, and house the Haynsworth law firm and headquarters of CertusBank.

The second phase, expected to be 10 to 11 stories, will also contain a mix of retail and office space.

Opponents of the project say the design violates city design guidelines because the high rises aren’t set back from the sidewalk.

They also contend board member KJ Jacobs should have recused himself from the vote because of what they called “serious conflicts of interest.”

The appeal alleges Jacobs had a conflict of interest because the architectural firm for which he works, McMillan Pazdan Smith, does business with Hughes’ company, Hughes Development Corporation.

Assistant city attorney Bob Coler said Jacobs did some architectural work for the company in the past but was not currently working on any projects for Hughes and does not have a financial stake in the One project. He also said the architectural firm is currently working on projects for Hughes’ brother, Phil, and cousin, Jackson, but that poses no conflict of interest for Jacobs.

“We think our board got it right,” he said.

Evelyn Angeletti, the attorney for the petitioners, would not comment on the case.

In the meantime, downtown business owner Deb Ayers circulated a letter of support of the One project. She sent the letter, signed by 52 people, to the mayor’s office.

“We’re all very aggravated that a very, very small contingent of people are trying to delay or stop the project,” she said. “The project is good for Greenville. There are so many people who have a vested interest in downtown who want this project to proceed.”

Ayers said she’s formed a new organization, the Greenville Retailers Organization, or GROW, to advocate for downtown.

“We think it’s a good thing, a great advance for everybody,” she said.