3.3 SWOT Analysis

3.3a SWOT Overview

Summarizing what we learned about the Village of West Greenville during the research phase is the following SWOT analysis. This selection of the most important Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats highlights a community currently torn between the interests of its three primary stakeholders: residents, business-owners, and artists. We focused on the set of internal and external resources and challenges that either support or create the barriers for the desired vision of a vibrant arts district, based on the authentic historic context and legacy community members. These advantages and risks represent the opposite sites of the resources the Village possesses: its unique historic character, active community members, and strategic location both provide a strong foundation for further development and create the conflicts of interests which are considered in our recommendations.

With a built form conducive to walkability and storefront retail, as well as a strong presence of creatives, the Village holds the potential to truly become Greenville’s Arts District, but is held back by social and physical disconnectedness. Likewise, anti-development attitudes and the potential for change in the neighborhood’s character represent the major threats to the long-term health of the area. Fortunately, it is from these issues that the Village has the opportunity to grow, with the potential to address the largest drawbacks by establishing institutionalized stakeholder representation, adopting historic protections, and continuing to pursue connectivity and annexation goals. Recommendations based on the SWOT begin in the following section and follow a central strategy of historic preservation and neighborhood input safeguards.

Strengths

Built form follows the function

Weaknesses

Social group fragmentation, including low-income categories

Strong presence of creatives

Energized and eclectic stakeholders

Parts of the Village of West Greenville are outside city limits

Pendleton St under SCDOT control

More affordable than downtown

Opportunities

Connectivity between downtown and other nodes

The Village board representing community interests

Historic protection

Room for growth and infill development

Lack of visibility and wayfinding strategy

Threats

Displacement & affordability

Changing character

Anti-development attitude

Disinvestment of absentee property owners