SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF sjackson@communityjournals.com @SJackson_CJ
SQUARE FEET Real estate deals and developments across the region
Future takes shape for Greenville News site Movie theater, retail, restaurants, condos, offices and more slated for four-acre plot downtown A dine-in movie theater will reportedly join retail, restaurants, hotel, high-end condos, apartments and office space on the 4-acre site where the Greenville News building currently sits on Main Street. Dallas developer Trammell Crow Corporation announced this week it has chosen Greenville-based Centennial American Properties as co-developer for the prime piece of real estate Trammell has under contract. CAP works with retailers all over the country, but has deep roots in Greenville. “The site holds a lot of significance for me personally,” said CAP CEO David Glenn, a Greenville native who founded the company in 1976. “I was a Greenville News delivery boy from the time I was 10 years old until I left for college at 18, and both of my grandparents worked at the Camperdown Mill that used to be on this property. There’s a lot of history in this site, and it’s important to us that the new development honor that while continuing the great momentum that’s happening downtown.” Larry Pantlin, Trammell Crow’s Southeast managing director, said the company is “very excited to be involved in this new development in Greenville and understand that this is an iconic site in the heart of the city that we plan to treat with great care
PROJECT PARTNERS RETAIL LEASING: Jackson Hughes Jr., owner and president of Hughes Commercial Properties OFFICE LEASING: CBRE ARCHITECT: Atlanta-based Wakefield Beasley & Associates
Development Site: Approx. 4 acres
PLANNED FOR THE SITE
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and respect for what it is, where it is and what it will be in the future. We knew that [CAP] would be the perfect partner.” Until a site plan is locked down, hopefully by the end of this year, no tenants have been signed. But David Glenn’s son Brody Glenn – also a Greenville native who joined CAP in 1999 and currently serves as president – envisions a mix of local, regional and national restaurants and retail stores. “A ton of interest” has been expressed in the project, and “it will be interesting to see who comes,” he said. The project will be a live-work-play concept and will “really bring people into downtown Greenville on more of a nightly basis,” he said. “It’ll be more like [Atlanta’s] Atlantic Station but on a smaller scale.”
Glenn anticipates multiple buildings, public plazas and pedestrian walkways and other uses that would fit within the upscale nature of the project. The development will likely reach 10 stories high, he said, but it won’t be a skyscraper, as the developers want to fit in with the downtown Greenville landscape. Parking will be “in a hole underneath the buildings.” Several regional and national dine-in movie theater chains have expressed interest, Glenn said. Most offer first-run movies, reserved seating, full bars and full dining menus. Ticket prices run about the same as a regular movie theater. The concept has been tried regionally by Studio Movie Grill, which has locations in North Carolina and Georgia, and recently announced plans to
Hotel Underground parking Pedestrian walkways Public plazas 125,000-150,000 square feet of office space 225-250 apartments 15-20 high-end condos 100,000 square feet of retail space that includes a dine-in movie theater
expand nationwide. Another chain, Cinebarre, which is part of Regal Entertainment Group, the nation’s largest theater chain, currently has locations in Charlotte and Charleston. Construction on the new project is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2015, and will take about two years to complete. There will be no phases, Glenn said, as he expects to do all of the pieces of construction around the same time. “Downtown Greenville is about as good as it gets,” Glenn said. “We’re excited to add to our downtown.”
PLANNED GIVING FOR PAYING IT FORWARD From the Kroc Center to Greenville Forward, Jean Harris Knight’s legacy gift to the Community Foundation helped establish programs dedicated to improving Greenville’s future. We make it easy to give back to the place we all love to call home.
October 24, 2014
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