Faith Jarvis & Jackson Parrish, GNP contributors
There’s 154,231 square feet of vacant commercial space in Greenville’s Uptown district, but the City Council wants to build a new space at the Town Common.
“For lease” signs are prominently attached to 93% of that vacant space. The rest is not being visibly advertised for lease.
There also are 21 restaurants in Uptown too. Some are standalone eateries, and some are part of pubs. But the City Council wants to add a 22nd in the new space it wants to build at the Town Common.
GNP spent four months looking into the questions of why Uptown has so many vacant storefronts that could be put to use as restaurants, cafes and other businesses that would attract people to the district.
It found high lease prices that make vacant spaces unattractive to prospective business-renters. It also found that the effects of COVID-19 have kept new businesses from leasing the vacant Uptown storefronts.
A leaseholders market
The Overton Group, a commercial real estate agency, has a hold on at least eight vacant Uptown properties that together encompass 26,046 square feet.
Those properties include 301 Evans St., 416 Evans St., 800 Clark St., and 807, 809 and 905 Dickinson Ave. The largest is office and retail space at the Self Help building on 301 Evans St. That property spans 8,940 square feet.
ECU business professor and residential Realtor Corey Pulido said The Overton Group can keep prices high as a way to ensure only “quality” businesses are leasing the properties.
The Overton Group “can afford to keep buildings vacant longer because they have that cushion and don’t have to worry about filling the spaces with just any eager businessman that comes along,” Pulido said.
While most properties in the Uptown district are leased out by The Overton Group, GNP also looked at those listed by other real estate agencies.
It contacted Eastern Trust Real Estate, the agent for the owners of the old Bissette’s drug store at 414 Evans St. Its CEO, Jeffrey Daniels, did not respond to requests for comment.
Neither did Kittrell & Armstrong, the agent for vacant commercial space on the first floor of The Boundary at West End student apartment complex at the edge of Uptown. Neither did Realty World: Lever and Russell, whose phone number is listed on a for-lease sign at the old Fire Tavern on Fifth Street.
Pandemic stalled business
Trent McGee, president and CEO of Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, said that Uptown commercial activities have started to increase after the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to shut down. He said that while the pandemic foot traffic in the district was minimal, “the number of visitors in the area is increasing, which should benefit businesses.”
The pandemic has not been good for business in the district, said Meredith Dzeko, executive director of the Uptown Greenville merchants association. Many of business owners “were unable to get financing from banks due to uncertainties caused by the pandemic,” she said.
According to Dzeko, people are gaining entrepreneurial passion from working remotely, and that includes researching open storefronts. If these people follow through and start businesses, Uptown should see a spike in foot traffic.
“Strengthening the retail component of Uptown will further increase foot traffic,” she said.
Commercializing the Common
Greenville’s master plan for the 21-acre Town Common envisions the city building a restaurant and event center in the public-owned park by the Tar River. In June the City Council cleared the way for that by rezoning 1.4 acres of Town Common land for commercial use.
Cities across the country have benefited from developing their waterfront areas, said McGee of the chamber of commerce. He said Greenville can benefit just the same by building out its Town Common.
Byron Aynes, vice president of The Overton Group, said that the Town Common has been underutilized. He acknowledged that there are other ways to define “underutilized” other than using land to make money. But he said other cities have done well by commercializing their riverside parks.
“Greenville, South Carolina, … comes to mind,” he said. “The town planners and area developers used their river as an amenity to draw people to the area by way of commercial projects, restaurants, recreational activities, civic events, private venues and festivals.”
Aynes said that rezoning part of the Town Common to build commercial space is a good idea, and he expects more foot traffic to occur throughout the Uptown district because of it. “If the city can get the right contractor [to build and operate the space], it could be good for the city,” he said.
Dzeko said that all areas surrounding the Town Common could be better utilized. Having more to offer at the city’s central park, be it retail or commercial space, could lead to more ways to better use the river.
“The river is such an untapped asset that provides an opportunity for minimal development,” she said.
Jarvis and Parrish produced this report for the Fall 2021 capstone course, In-depth News Reporting.
Comments