City Council votes to demolish former Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital site
Along the south side of Wade Hampton Boulevard, just west of Highway 14, a 10-acre piece of property has sat vacant for the past five years. Now, in an effort to attract developers to the site, Greer City Council voted last week to move forward with demolition of the existing buildings.
Once the home of the Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital and the Roger Huntington Nursing Home, the city of Greer has owned the property since 2010, when the Greenville Health System gave it to the city. Greenville County EMS will remain on a small portion at the rear of the site.
“GHS was very gracious to gift the Allen Bennett Hospital to the city,” said Mayor Rick Danner. “The council’s philosophy and our No. 1 desire have been to utilize this land to create jobs, expand the tax base and to provide more amenities for our citizens.”
A January 2015 market analysis report of the site by Charlotte-based design consulting firm Kimley-Horn and Associates recommended demolition of the 243,000-square-foot buildings, stating that the “analysis forecasts demand for retail and office uses on the property if all of the vacant buildings are removed.”
With the ability to reconfigure the parking and refocus the buildings toward Wade Hampton Boulevard, approximately 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of office space and 30,000 to 50,000 square feet of retail could be supported at the site, said the report. Considering the site’s location away from I-85 and major employment centers, as well as current hotel vacancy and rental rates in the area, no hospitality users are recommended, according to the report.
“With the location along Wade Hampton Boulevard, it might end up as some sort of retail use, but there’s really no limitation on what the use could be,” said Danner. Several projects have had “starts and stops,” and he believes that with the building on the property that it’s “hard to see the potential.”
The study said that residential uses, including an assisted living facility, are “likely feasible” for the site but may not be the highest and best use for the city. It also said that given the configuration and size of the existing structures, if they were not demolished, it would limit the types of users that can be attracted and that configuring the remaining property around the existing structures is a challenge given the shape and slope of the site.
Greer City Council approved Danner to negotiate the contract for demolition with Neo Corporation, not to exceed $790,000. Demolition is expected in January 2016.
“It was a purpose-built building,” said Danner, “and it’s served its purpose.”
Once the property is sold, the tax benefits and proceeds could be used for projects within the city of Greer that aren’t part of a regular budget, such as a new park, new cultural arts facility, a new senior center, “or any number of things out there,” said Danner.
