I am a Greenville native who moved to Charlotte straight after graduating from Clemson. When people would tell me they recently visited Greenville for a convention or conference, I would ask them what they thought of our downtown.
Nine times out of 10, they would answer that they never made it downtown. They saw Pleasantburg Drive 
and maybe some of Haywood Road before heading back to the airport or hitting the highway. I am a salesman by trade, and we call this a missed opportunity. When you have a great product, let it sell itself. Let people experience it themselves.
You hear stories of executives stopping through Greenville and falling in love with the city. Of them getting on the phone and telling their real estate broker to add Greenville to the list of cities the company might be considering for a new office. We need more executives visiting Greenville – specifically, downtown Greenville. A signature downtown facility with the backdrop of a beautiful, walkable, energetic downtown would give conference organizers around the country a reason to hold next year’s conference in the city everyone’s talking about.
I am excited to hear the city of Greenville is taking a hard look at this opportunity, putting out a request for 
proposals for a feasibility study for a possible downtown convention center. I can’t wait to see what comes of this study. I am a big fan of Chris Stone and his team at VisitGreenvilleSC, and I think if they had a jewel like this located in our walkable downtown, you would see a large economic impact as a result.
These visitors would be spending their money downtown at restaurants, hotels, movie theaters and stage performances. This will lead to more options for us as citizens. It will also lead to more tax dollars to support smart growth.
I believe it would also be beneficial to local business executives. Currently almost every large business gathering is held at the TD convention center. Thousands of local business executives attend the facility every year. It is a very nice facility, but I feel the location is not ideal. I would like the opportunity, both before and after an event, to do more business – to be within walking distance of a draft beer or a nice business dinner.
So now we must look at the business case for bringing a convention center downtown. The conversation continues, and UBJ supports these efforts.
Personally, I believe the site location is a no-brainer. It needs to go right here.
