Halftime report: Upstate economy riding crosscurrents

Posted Friday, June 25, 2004 - 9:01 pm


By Woody White, Rudolph Bell and Jenny Munro
BUSINESS WRITERS

Construction continues at the River Place development. Staff/Patrick Collard

The Upstate's two biggest business stories in the first half of 2004 portrayed an economy riding the crosscurrents of global commerce and at-home entrepreneurism.

On Feb. 4, developers unveiled plans for RiverPlace, the largest single development in the history of downtown Greenville — a $55 million project that will put nine new buildings and an assortment of business, commercial and residential enterprises on 10 acres on the banks of the Reedy River.

RiverPlace: Hampton Inn, apartments, offices

Offices, apartments and a Hampton Inn and Suites are being built on a nearly vacant parcel along the Reedy River in downtown Greenville that has been eyed by developers for nearly 20 years.

RiverPlace will be the largest single development in downtown history, adding approximately 720,000 square feet with nine buildings stretching from Main to Academy Street.

The project will unfold over seven years and in three phases. The first phase will include the 100-room hotel, 50 residences and 87,000 square feet of office space, said developer Bob Hughes. It should be completed by late next year.

The development will be across Main Street from Reedy River Falls Park, a $13.5 million project that included demolishing a driving bridge for better access to the falls, a public garden, walking trails and a pedestrian bridge across the river. The park is scheduled to reopen in late May.

"If we hadn't done the public garden, we probably wouldn't be here right now," Mayor Knox White said.

The city is presently building a 550-space parking garage to support the project.

The second phase will include 135,000 square feet of office space, 75,000 square feet of residential and 20,000 square feet of retail, said Roger Miller, one of the project's architects. Work should start in 2005, Hughes said.

A 240,000-square-foot third phase will follow. Hughes said he has been contacted by representatives of a movie theater and two grocery store chains about space in the third phase.

unsecured notes and subordinated debentures to its depositors, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents.

— Staff writers John Boyanoski and David Dykes contributed to this report.