A self-storage concept aimed at serving Spartanburg’s growing inventory of apartments near downtown and at Drayton Mills is poised to move forward.
The city of Spartanburg’s Planning Commission on Thursday approved a request to rezone a 2.3-acre property containing about 42,000 square feet of abandoned, dilapidated warehouses covered in graffiti at 899 E. Main St.
John Montgomery, principal of Spartanburg-based Montgomery Development Group, is seeking to purchase the property from Arthur State Bank in order to develop the self-storage facility.
“I am very pleased with the outcome,” Montgomery said. “And I’m looking forward to moving ahead with this project.”
City Council will have two opportunities to vote on the project at upcoming meetings.
At Thursday’s meeting, Montgomery asked commissioners to rezone the property from single-family residential district (R-15) to general business district (B-3) in order to allow the project to move forward.
Montgomery said the property has been vacant for at least 15 years. He described it as a “real blight” on the surrounding area, including the busy East Main Street corridor and Converse Heights neighborhood.
City Planner Natalia Rosario said it has been zoned R-15 since at least October 2000.
Rosario said city staff believed Montgomery’s plan for the property would be beneficial to the community and help grow the city’s tax base.
Montgomery said he hopes to rehabilitate the existing buildings into climate controlled and non-climate-controlled space. He said he also plans to add four or five single level structures.
He said there will minimal parking and the facility will operate from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Montgomery said the facility will be well lit, but existing buffers will minimize light pollution and keep the property secluded.
“The view of the property won’t be affected,” he said. “It will improve, really.”
A handful of residents stepped forward to speak in favor of Montgomery’s plan for the property. But they also voiced their concerns about rezoning the property B-3.
Planning Commissioner Phillip Stone asked Rosario to read the city’s ordinance for B-3, which included a long list of potential businesses that could be developed on the property if Montgomery ever decided to close or sell the facility.
Most of the residents said they didn’t want to see something that would compromise the character of the neighborhood.
“I’m not in opposition to what John Montgomery wants to do,” said Converse Heights resident Sidney Fulmer. “I know it would be of the utmost quality. It’s the zoning to B-3 that is the problem. … I do feel like we need to have some assurances that if this property got sold down the road that some of those things do not end up there.”
Montgomery, who is the majority owner of the Drayton Mills Marketplace and a minority owner of Drayton Mills Lofts, reaffirmed his commitment to Spartanburg and the project.
He said his family once owned the warehouses during Spartanburg’s textile boom, so the project carries deeper meaning.
Montgomery said he would not be opposed to restrictive covenants on the property.
In the end, the commission’s vote was unanimous.
“We’re excited to think it will go from what it is now to something even better,” said Michel Stone, a resident of Converse Heights.
