Major commercial real estate developments located in Upstate South Carolina are in varying stages of construction. Here are status updates on some of the notable projects.
Story by Megan Fitzgerald and Tiare-Leiana Solis
Fifth Third Park
131 W. Main St., Spartanburg
In April 2024, Spartanburg City Council voted to approve design plans for an upcoming development centered around a new minor league baseball park.
The $425 million development will be located in downtown Spartanburg’s west side along West Henry and West Main streets. Fifth Third Park will be the new home of the current Down East Wood Ducks, which will relocate from Kinston, North Carolina. The team will see a name change with the move and are expected to begin play in Spartanburg for the 2025 season.
The development will also be home to 200,000 square feet of office space, over 300 apartments and a hotel with roughly 150 rooms for a space that spans more than four blocks. Construction of Fifth Third Park is currently underway.
Gracie Plaza
250 N. Church St., Greenville
The mixed-use development located on the former Greenville Memorial Auditorium site has been redesigned. Updated site plans show a single, 25-story tower rather than two interconnected towers. The tower will include 12,000 square feet of commercial space, 342 apartments, a pool deck, an outdoor amenities terrace and a 363-space parking deck.
An April 18, the city of Greenville’s Design Review Board deferred the new site plans to its next meeting on May 16.
Architectural details, color, materials and more for the Gracie Plaza project will follow later in the design process and be reviewed by the board. Once design plans and permitting are complete, construction of the project should begin in the first quarter of 2025.
The Commons Phase Two
147 Welborn St., Greenville
Unity Park’s food hall and office space development, The Commons, is getting closer to completion of its second phase. For months now, The Commons Phase Two has been under wraps behind a covered fence. Drew Parker, founder of Parker Group Development said grand opening dates are expected in the near future.
Borden Building
711 W. Washington St., Greenville
Renovations of the former Borden Ice Cream headquarters building have been completed. The two-story, mixed-use building includes more than 40,000 square feet of commercial space. The Furman Co. spearheaded the over-$13 million project.
Blake Navarro, project manager for Furman Development, said the building received its certificate of occupancy Dec. 7, 2023. Allen Lund Co., a national transportation broker, is currently operating out of approximately 5,600 square feet of space in the building.
Southern Tide plans to move its headquarters to the Borden Building and lease around 23,000 square feet of space. Navarro said the company plans to start operating from the building in November after upfitting the space.
Crescent Startup Community
701 Poinsett Highway, Greenville
The initial phase of the large-scale, mixed-use innovation district called Crescent Startup Community is under construction. Hartness Development is completing the project.
Flywheel is the anchor tenant for the project’s first building called Crescent One. Renovations of the company’s 23,000 square feet of space are underway, and the innovation center is anticipated to open in July.
Jim Burns, chief operating officer for Hartness Development, said the company is working with four or five tenants who will potentially move into the Crescent One building. The tenants range from real estate firms to food and beverage companies.
The Mill at Fountain Inn
100 Ellison St., Fountain Inn
The Mill at Fountain Inn is set to open in May. The project transformed three historic flour-mill buildings into Fountain Inn Brewing Co., a common area and a food hall. A large outdoor space is also available with additional seating. Everything except the food hall will open in May. The food hall is expected to open in the fall.
The Vardry Residences by Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants
Rhett and North Markley streets, Greenville
The Vardry Residences is an upcoming development in Greenville’s West End near Fluor Field and the planned Trueline Music Venue.
There have been some updates to this development since the last check in. The project will now include 26 condos and 133 hotel rooms. The condos will range from 1,500 square feet to 4,000-plus square feet.
The retail space will total about 9,500 square feet including two food and beverage spaces — one restaurant and one cocktail bar. The development will no longer have a pool deck. Instead, the space previously allotted for a pool will be an outdoor terrace.
Kyle Keene of Keene Development Group said construction should begin in the fall at the latest, with the hope being for late summer.
American Spinning Mill
300 Hammett St., Greenville
The upfitting of Sans Souci’s historic American Spinning Mill is lurching closer to completion.
Residential spaces are already available for the mixed-use project with floor plans ranging from roughly 700 to 1,790 square feet in the massive 360,000-square-foot development.
David W. Schaffer, regional construction manager of Contour Development Group, said construction of all units should be complete by late summer. The food court and brewery are expected to be occupied during that time also.
Hub City Bottleworks
500 W. Main St., Spartanburg
Renovation has begun on the former Coca-Cola distribution facility location in downtown Spartanburg. The project is being developed by Coastal Partners LLC.
Andrew Babb, a principal with Roadstead Real Estate Advisors Upstate, said work on the 76,654-square-foot building began in late March-early April. Renovations are anticipated to take 14 months to complete.
The mixed-use property will include space for retail, restaurant, office and entertainment tenants. In the future, multifamily units will also be built on the back of the property.
PKL Park GVL
78 Mayberry St., Greenville
Construction of PKL Park GVL, a $3 million pickleball complex near Unity Park, is underway after permitting delays. Nick Gilley, president of BASE 360, said construction officially began in early April and is expected to take six months to complete. The project is expected to be completed sometime around September.
Featuring a mix of sports, entertainment and dining, the complex will include space for four restaurant tenants and a bar. Gilley said they have three or four tenants locked in.
“I think that we’re going to do a pro shop, a full-blown pickleball store instead of the fourth restaurant,” Gilley said. “That’s not set in stone yet.”
111 E. Main St.
111 E. Main St., Spartanburg
An upcoming mixed-use development at 111 E. Main St. in Spartanburg will create both residential and commercial space.
The development has seen some changes since it was announced in 2022. The exterior of the building will not change, given its historic standing, so most of the revision will be to the interior.
Andrew Babb, principal at Roadstead Real Estate Advisors Upstate, said the design should alter in favor of the retail aspect of the project. The number of apartments will be reduced, and it will no longer include parking. The retail space will total about 9,000 square feet while the residential component will include 28 condominium units.
A completion date was not given.
Aden Bonded
300 Aden St., Spartanburg
Aden Bonded is a development located in Spartanburg’s Northside neighborhood. James McKay, a senior associate with Avison Young, said the 97,229-square-foot project was delayed a year but has retained its tenants.
“We’ve got a great tenant roster,” McKay said. “They really believe in and project so we’re happy to have them.”
Some tenants include:
- Local nonprofit Urban League of the Upstate and marketing firm The Cargo Agency, which will work together to foster growth in South Carolina’s entertainment industry.
- Upstate Workforce Board, an organization providing job-seeking and training services
- Hubb Kitchens, a North-Carolina based commissary kitchen
McKay could not give an exact date of completion, but is looking forward to a mid-summer 2025 opening.
