02. PLAN ESSENTIALS

02.1 Intentions of This Plan

ȑ The goal of this document, the Strategic Planning Analysis for the Village of West Greenville Arts District, is to unleash the potential of the Village to become an attractive, accessible, and vibrant neighborhood anchored in history and the arts. Achieving this will promote the sustained welfare of stakeholders, including residents, protection of the area’s mill village character, and the attraction of visitors to grow and sustain local art and retail activities. Overall, the Plan is designed to address the gaps between where the Village is today and the potential it has to become a stronger and more identifiable community.

ȑ Simultaneously, there are contradictions in the Village’s sense of place, messaging, and the reality on the ground. It has a strong built form along the Pendleton St corridor, but lacks clear connections to areas that help define it, such as Poe West and Brandon Mill. For instance, the Village is situated just a mile from Downtown Greenville, but a visiting pedestrian would never know. Considering branding, the arts community is strong, but lacks connective structure and collaboration. Despite the arts serving as a pull for tourism and retail shoppers, lack of organization keeps the village from reaching its potential as an “Arts District.” In spite of this, innovation has always been felt in the Village, dating back to the textile era. Over the past two decades, designers, culinary artists, and other creative minds have invested in this area, but these investments are not realizing a full return in a post-COVID world. This may be associated with the contributing factors of lack of density and local resistance to change, which hinder the area’s ability to redevelop and attract further adaptive reuse of vacant buildings. ȑ As such, we provide a strategic planning analysis to identify and address the Village’s greatest issues, but also its massive potential. The intention of this report is to go beyond the Micro Vision Plan produced by Wernick & Co in 2021, and to provide grounded policy recommendations that can be implemented in the short and long term, with goals of enhancing the Village’s Conservation, Collaboration, Connectivity, and Character. We use a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to identify areas and attributes of significance, and recommend actions to address weaknesses or opportunities in order to better the Village for those who live, visit, work, shop, or dine there. Each action is derived from the SWOT analysis, and includes a discussion of desired outcomes, benefits, and resources.