Downtown revitalization has all but become a cliche, but it’s often a lot harder for a small city to set about rejuvenating its inner core. Greenville, South Carolina, a former mill town, is one such success story.
Recently named by the Financial Times as the “Best Micro City in America,” and ranked 4th by Fortune Magazine on its “Best Places to Retire” list, its long-term efforts are finally paying off.
Firms who have come to this city of 70,000 and taken an active interest in developing it include BMW, Michelin, Fluor Enterprises, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Bowater Incorporated, Carolina First Bank, Proterra, and ScanSource. Their efforts show everywhere you look.
The city’s compact, pedestrian-friendly downtown has a tree-lined main street (called Main Street, of course), that’s lined with renovated three- and four-story buildings that offer ground floor retail, with residents living above.
The 4,500-seat Fluor Field, constructed in 2006, plays home to a Boston Red Sox minor league team. Located in the city’s restored West End Historic District, within walking distance of downtown, it’s a smaller version of Boston’s Fenway Park, complete with a “green monster” left field wall.
Several years ago, the city demolished an unsightl, downtown bridge, more clearly exposing the Reedy River, as well as a natural waterfalls flowing over sturdy granite boulders. Mayor White was criticized at first for taking away a central artery into the city, but after professional landscaping created Falls Park (www.fallspark.com), and a stunning, cantilevered pedestrian bridge, designed by Bostonian Miguel Rosales, was constructed above the waterfalls, the area became the centerpiece of downtown Greenville.
Downtown housing constructed in the past decade — either modern, glass-sheathed condo’s, or historic loft renovations crafted out of the city’s 19th-century textile factories — is reversing a trend of population decline. Greenville’s pedestrian-friendly city center provides an easy commute nearby Furman and Bob Jones Universities.
The development of Greenville’s textile mills started in the 1800s and peaked in the 1920s just before the Depression. Post Civil War reconstruction was difficult throughout the south, and Greenville was no exception, but new railroad lines, and the growth of cotton in the area, enabled the town to prosper more than most. In addition, deciding to recruit Europeans from Germany and Scandinavia to work the cotton fields and textile mills, after most of the town’s black population migrated north, fueled a somewhat sophisticated European-style community with a vibrant social, cultural, and business life, which in turn led to a continued influx of European workers, often highly skilled.
Today, with more international firms per capita than any other city in the country, large or small, a unique culinary scene has blossomed. Several talented South Carolina chefs have opened restaurants in the city, which has spurred a farm-to-table movement that makes good use of the region’s fertile farmland that surrounds the city.
photos courtesy of Greenville CVB
The city’s foodie scene has become so popular that the annual Euphoria Food, Wine, and Music Festival (www.EuphoriaGreenville.com) receives visitors from around the world.
A few blocks from Falls Park, a 1920’s-era hotel building, which stood empty for years, is now the deluxe Westin Poinsett hotel (www.westinpoinsettgreenville.com), and a brand new Marriott Courtyard (www.marriottcourtyardgreenville.com) now sits on a lush, green parcel of land that once was a drab, concrete parking garage.
The popular Swamp Rabbit Trail, a 13.5 mile rail-to-trail walking and bike path cuts through the middle of the city, and Greenville is the hometown of professional bicyclist George Hincapie, a Tour de France competitor, and always a favorite when the city’s hosts the annual USA Pro Cycling Championships each year (www.usacyclingchampionships.com).
According to Alan Ethridge, Executive Director of Greenville’s Metropolitan Arts Council (www.greenvillearts.com)., the city’s redevelopment “has been absolutely vital to the success we’ve had bringing in theatre groups, rock concerts, artists, and opening up performance spaces.” Arts venues here include the Peace Center for the Performing Arts, the Carolina Ballet Theatre, Centre Stage, Greenville Symphony Orchestra, and The Warehouse Theatre, as well as museums such as the Greenville County Museum of Art and the Children’s Museum of the Upstate.
Yes, it seems as if Greenville is on a roll — and the good times show no sign of coming to an end. Southwest Airlines recently announced that it will begin air service from several cities in early 2011, and the upscale supermarket chain Trader Joe’s has even opened its first Greenville location. What are you waiting for?
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