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John Murphy
The Greenville City Council recently approved for the building of a much needed parking structure in Greenville’s fast growing West End. According to the article in the Greenville Journal, “the council approved $5.6 million for a mixed-use facility in Greenville’s West End — an area that has long been lacking in adequate parking, according to council members — that would include 560 parking spaces to be leased to the city over 30 years.”
Additional development will also take place at this location with 250 apartment units and 15,000 SF of retail space. The Post and Courier published a story about this development back in February and has a few more details. Apparently there are plans to have a roof top plaza on top of the parking garage. I can’t quite visualize how all of this will come together but Seamon Whiteside is the architect. They do amazing work so I’m sure this will also be quite remarkable.
The garage will be located next to the Eggs Up Grill on Augusta St.
It does appear that one of the most political government organizations in the state of South Carolina at least now has their ear to the ground and realizes that this would likely have not gone over well with the people if they tried to require the shot for kids to attend school.
If you’re reading this as an out-of-stater considering moving to the Greenville area, SC DHEC was absolutely Covid-crazy over the past couple of years. So it’s a relief to know we don’t have to fight this battle at this point for this current school year. No Covid-19 vaccine required for kids to attend school.
On the heels of the election results still being tabulated a couple of days past election day, we can safely say that South Carolina continues to be a deep red state and in fact may be more red than ever. I’ll see if I can get some more information on that. Florida has gotten all the attention in part because of how front and center they were during Covid and Gov. Ron DeSantis starlwart stance throughout. He deserves credit. But little South Carolina should not be overlooked.
My wife and I were one of those people who wanted to leave our deep blue state of Minnesota many years ago. We finally were able to make the leap and moved here the summer of 2019 and love it! We got out before George Floyd and ensuing riots and not the incredible rising crime there. This election seems to have solidified some states as remaining deeply blue while others particularly in the south remain red.
Here are the results for the 2022 midterms in South Carolina. You won’t find many elected Democrats and non in state level offices. In South Carolina we have 2 so-called Republican Senators – Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott. For Congressional House Representatives, South Carolina has 6 the 7 are Republican. In case you’re wondering why a big swatch across the center part of the state is blue – well that’s Rep Jim Clyburn’s district…no gerrymandering there! 🙂
But in all seriousness…if you need to get out and are searching or a place to land, consider the Greenville area otherwise known as the Upstate of South Carolina. We are 90 minutes to the mountains and 3.5 hours to the beach. The Upstate has a thriving and increasingly diverse business base. It is incredibly strong in manufacturing and distribution. Downtown Greenville is absolutely charming and may be one of the best small cities in America. Charleston is just a little over 3 hours away. There’s so much to do and see in South Carolina. It’s both business friendly and family friendly.
If you’d like a tour or are looking for an agent to help you find a home, I’d be happy to help. Just give me a call or send me an e-mail. John Murphy, eXp Realty, 864-276-1448, john.murphy@exprealty.com.
Five Forks is an community within Greenville County and will a Simpsonville address but it is not part of the city of Simpsonville or Greenville. My kids would say it’s bougie but we like it because it’s got great access to downtown Greenville or down to Simpsonville or to the airport. It’s very convenient to lots of shopping for every day life as well. We moved here about 3 1/2 years ago and have loved living here. We know the area has a tough reputation for the traffic coming through Five Forks and that has been a bit rough at times.
They have been doing road construction for the most part since we moved in July 2019. It’s been 3.5 years and they are nearly done with it – thank God! I’ll let you know if it makes much of a different at 5pm coming through Woodruff Road or not.
Opportunity Zones are designatured by the federal government as areas where they would like to see new investment to revitalize communities. The benefit is that if you make the investment and improve the property that meet their guidelines and hold the property for at least 10 years, then you won’t have to pay capital gains on the property when you go to sell it.
There are a number of areas here in the Upstate of South Carolina. You can zoom in on the HUD Opportunity Zone map and take a look.
For those of us who live here in the beautiful Upstate of South Carolina, we know it’s a fanstastic place to live. More and more people are discovering the charm, beauty and quality of life that is here in Greenville, SC.
Porch.com recently published results of the hottest housing markets in the U.S. and they say Greenville, SC came out on top.
Greenville, SC is getting so many accolades these days that it’s hard to keep up with them. I see new ones posted seemingly every week on LinkedIn and I keep thinking their duplicate posts but they aren’t. The most recent one was Conde Naste recognizing Greenville, SC as a top place to live.
Don’t believe the hype? Come for a visit. There’s plenty to do and see right here in the Upstate but remember, the mountains are a short 60-90 minute drive and the ocean is just 3.5 hours away if you’re looking to take in more the area.
What an exciting project that is set to start in downtown Greenville. The Peace Center, long the important center for the arts in Greenville has servced the needs of a more traditional arts and music scene…broadway shows, some music concerts, symphonies etc. But with the announcement of AMP – A Music Project powered by the Peace Center, they look to bring a bit of Nashville and perhaps Asheville to the music scene in Greenville. I think it will be a terrific addition to the entertainment options for everyone in the area. If there is something that is lacking in the Upstate, it’s the music scene. This is welcome news!
Be sure to check out the video in the LinkedIn post by the City of Greenville. I would have embedded it here but did not have the option so you’ll have to click the link.
Here’s the official City of Greenville site for AMP – A Music Project. The project’s architectual firm is Greenville-based Craig Gaulden Davis, Inc. They are known for some pretty spectacular projects and no doubt will be an amazing job with this one.
College football is just on a different level here in the South. The latest confirmation of that is Dabo Swinney’s 10 year extension with Clemson University for a cool $115 million. Wow!
Here’s Clemson’s football scheduled for 2022.
For those reading this blog and not familiar too much with Clemson, it’s located about 45 minutes southwest of Greenville. It is our big public university here in the Upstate. University of South Carolina – or Carolina as they go by for short, is based in Columbia, SC about 90 minutes to our south.
Greenville, SC continues to hit list after list of top places to live, work, open a business and visit. It was a top spot during Covid and the peak work from home movement. Now CNN is saying Greenville, SC is a top destination for those looking to places to visit this fall. Pretty incredible really. While I love Greenville, it’s hard to imagine it’s in the same class as those places mentioned in CNN’s article, but it’s still great for the area to receive such recognition.
Below is an eclectic group of photos from around Greenville.
