An Augusta Street shopping center and a new development along West Stone Avenue were the main topics before the Greenville Planning Commission in its monthly meeting last week.
Lewis Plaza
The City of Greenville Planning Commission approved a developer’s request to modify his plan to remake the Lewis Plaza Shopping Center on Augusta Street.
Developer Tex Small has said he bought an office building at the site that houses the Woodward Medical offices.
Small said he plans to tear down the building along Aberdeen Street and build a new two-story, 15,000-square-foot building for the doctors that would be incorporated into the remade Lewis Plaza.
Small’s previously approved plans for the 68-year-old shopping center call for a 60,000-square-foot Harris Teeter as the anchor. The developer just completed a 2,900-square-foot building at the site to house a Wells Fargo branch.
Including the proposed modification, the shopping center would have 102,950 square feet of office and retail space when completed.
No one opposed the modified plan at the commission’s Oct. 20 meeting. The commission’s approval was subject to a staff recommendation that the applicant provide an amended planned development agreement.
West Stone Avenue
The commission also recommended to City Council the rezoning of four parcels fronting West Stone Avenue for a retail, restaurant and office-space development, including a second Coffee Underground location.
Developers Pete Brett and Michael Fletcher are under contract to purchase the 1-acre property at 109 W. Stone Ave., home to Battery and Electric Company, a small engine parts store, along with other businesses since the 1960s. BECO is moving to a new location.
The property has historic significance, as it was also home to Star Cleaners, one of the first commercial buildings built on Stone Avenue in the 1920s, Brett has said.
There is approximately 18,000 square feet of existing buildings, which Brett and Fletcher said they would redevelop, not tear down.
“There’s a very big need for commercial businesses along this corridor,” Mark Godfrey, a West Stone Avenue architect, said in support of the project. “It’s a growing area. There’s a lot of residents that may not want to go all the way to downtown to eat and drink and be merry. I support what they’re doing, especially the fact that they’re maintaining a lot of the existing structures and redeveloping instead of clearing a site and starting from scratch. I appreciate that as a designer.”
Brett and Fletcher hope to have a good mix of restaurant, general retail, office and maybe a fitness center or brewpub.
The second Coffee Underground location will occupy approximately 4,000 square feet. Owner Dana Lowie says she plans to expand her offerings with more food and restaurant space than the downtown location that’s been in business for 21 years.
The application from Westone Development LLC will go before City Council for two readings. Since the property was once home to a dry cleaner, the site is also under a DHEC voluntary cleanup.
Other action
The commission also:
-Recommended, subject to staff conditions and approval by City Council, rezoning 2.4 acres on Bennett Street that includes the historic Beattie House on the northern edge of the property. The City of Greenville applied to rezone the acreage from RM-2, single- and multifamily residential, to OD, office and institutional, for Lot 1 and R-6, single family residential, for Lot 2. The OD designation will allow more opportunity for different uses for the Beattie House as well as opportunity for reinvestment and rehabilitation, planning staff members said. Colliers International is representing the city in the sale of the Beattie House, the third-oldest structure in Greenville. The 4,908-square-foot two-story home is being sold through a sealed-bid process.
-Approved an application from Mark Thoennes Builders LLC to develop 10 townhouses on 0.65 acres on the southwest corner of Arlington Avenue and South Leach Street. The action was subject to staff approval of site lighting, fence details and final materials and colors.
