For years, the historic building at 711 W. Washington Street that once served as the headquarters of Borden Ice Cream has sat vacant, a monument of a bygone era.
Now, the Borden building will soon get a second life.
The Furman Co. has just announced plans to redevelop the building into an urban mixed-use project focused on providing what the company calls ,“new approaches to commercial space in a post-COVID environment.”
The project will be in line with Furman’s restorations of other historic buildings around Greenville, including Claussen Bakery, Key’s Court and, most recently, Poe West.
Photos: Tour the Borden factory — closed in 1989
The restoration will also be the first major commercial development focused on office space in the new Unity Park District.
“We are super excited about being a part of the park development and revitalization of the Southernside neighborhood,” said Robert Poppleton, vice president of the Furman Co. “We hope Borden connects downtown with the park and neighborhood in a seamless, inclusionary manner for all.”
The redevelopment of the 40,000-square-foot space will include commercial use offerings ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 square feet, with a focus on what Poppleton calls “cultivating healthy environments for its occupants.” Suites will be conditioned with purified air and will come with controllable common areas and restrooms, multiple outdoor spaces for work and play, and views of downtown’s skyline, all located steps away from the future Unity Park.
Blaine Hart of CBRE is handling leasing on the space, which he said is timed perfectly for the changing needs of the modern office tenant.
“There are lots of attributes from an office perspective that people are seeking in a post-COVID world, everything as far as being able to design the new space from scratch but still having a nontraditional format,” Hart said. “Office trends are changing, adapting, new ones emerging. It’s so much easier to build out from a clean box as opposed to retrofitting something existing.”
Assuming Furman finalizes the site’s historic status with the National Park Service, the design should be completed and groundbreaking should commence by the end of 2021, with a completion date set for 4th quarter of 2022.
The building was was home to the Greenville Ice Cream Co. starting in 1923 before being purchased by Borden Ice Cream in 1947. Borden served not only as the ice cream supplier to Greenville and beyond; it also employed generations of Greenvillians.
