The Convention Question Currently the city of Greenville has the TD Convention Center, an obvious attraction for those looking to the area for large gatherings and events. “It started out as a textile hall that the city rescued from bankruptcy,” says Hirsch. According to Hirsch, Greenville is now at the place that it is competing for conferences because of the lack of a central, downtown convention center, because travelers stay in one place and often have to budget for additional transportation. Thus, the question of a downtown convention center and its necessity comes up again and again. So, an outside advisor has been brought in to take a hard look at the market and examine every aspect that would go into the project. “That report should be in by the end of this year, it will be a very honest look at our market and, should [a new convention center] be downtown,” says Hirsch. According to Unterzaucher, a downtown convention center would have a significant impact on downtown itself. “We need to be aware that we want to preserve Greenville’s style of living that we enjoy,” he says. Traffic, parking and more construction would only be some of the changes to downtown due to the increase of activity from the convention center. According to Hirsch, it would have to really blend into the fabric of downtown, be mixed use and walkable. Many of the hotels agree. “A lot of work needs to go into what makes sense,” says Herron. For Unterzaucher, preservation of what the area already boasts is key. “There is an overall consensus that whatever we decide to do, it needs to be considerate and not damaging to what makes Greenville so spectacular,” he says.
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Business Black Box Q4 2015