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Lieu's, annexation, city of greenville

By Charles Sowell

FEBRUARY 9, 2010 10:35 a.m. Comments (0)

Greenville City Council breezed through a light agenda Monday night giving final reading approval to the annexation of Lieu’s Restaurant at 1149 Woodruff Rd. and to a public right of way agreement with Burgess Investments for the same property.

The annexation clears the way for a festive Chinese New Year celebration on Sunday Feb. 14 as liquor can now be served on the Sabbath at the popular eatery.

The total acreage in the annexation is small, less than two acres but places the city in an advantageous position on other properties, officials said.

An ordinance to appropriate $80,000 in miscellaneous grant funds and to transfer $20,000 from the Tennis and Basketball Improvement Projects fund for development of a bicycle master plan cleared council unanimously on first reading.

Council also held a public hearing on abandonment and closing of Sycamore Street to clear the way for the Salvation Army’s planned tournament-quality tennis complex across the Reedy River from the soon to be completed Kroc Center and A. J. Wittenberg elementary school.

The measure must still go through two readings before council.

Projects in the West End played prominently at council’s work session, held before the formal meeting.

City officials heard from developers of Markley Place a luxury condo development located a stone’s throw from the Kroc Center and Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive baseball team.

The 12-unit development will be sandwiched in between Pendleton Street Baptist Church and an old warehouse that is currently being marketed.

Markley Place also will be the anchor of one end of a $3 million streetscape project for Rhett Street stretching from Camperdown Way at River Place to Markley Street.

Andrew Meeker, urban planner for the city, told council members the Rhett Street streetscape project will probably be broken into segments since the cost is so high.

West Camperdown to River Street, 515 linear feet, will cost about $647,000; from River Street to Oneal Street, 545 linear feet, will cost $795,000; Oneal to Wardlaw Street, 355 linear feet, will cost $524,000; and Wardlaw to Markley, 800 feet, will cost just over $1 million.

Currently the city has $792,000 in the project account. Design expenses to date have been almost $98,000, Meeker said.

The streetscape will use a variety of trees and landscaping devices to improve the look of what officials hope will become a main thoroughfare in a new “warehouse district” parallel to South Main Street.

A series of built to spec brownstones next door to 2^nd Presbyterian and the Markley Place project should anchor development plans for the area. City officials hope to see an influx of new homes and businesses drawn by the Kroc Center and the area’s close proximity to Fluor Field.

One of Meeker’s primary drives in the streetscape plan is to reduce the number of power poles in the area. Costs for undergrounding utilities in the area are prohibitive, Meeker said, although there are plans to add conduits for future undergrounding while sidewalks are torn up, if possible.

“I know we can cut the number of poles in the area by half,” Meeker said. “Whether they will be replaced by metal poles, which is preferred, or wooden ones hasn’t been settled yet.”

One of the issues for the developers of Markley Place is the condos’ close proximity to existing power lines. The condos will be two, or three story buildings and the existing wooden poles would mar residents’ view of the downtown skyline.

Council was also updated on the $250,000 Brown Street streetscape plan.

Brown Street runs between Coffee Street and East North Street. The Corner Pocket billiards anchors one end of Brown and Dixie’s Tavern the other.

Council next meets on Monday, Feb. 22, at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall.