Greenville Planning Commission approves plans for upscale townhomes in the Gateway District

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Thursday, the Greenville City Planning Commission voted to move forward with a new upscale townhome project on East Park Ave. downtown. It’s called the Creekside Townes. Developers hope it’s just one of the many projects helping spark redevelopment in Greenville’s gateway area.

“We’re looking to revitalize that area with the existing office building being there, we want to tear that down,” said Rivers Cape, one of the project developers with Realty Link.

Their plan is 4-story townhomes, with 32 units, and a boardwalk above the creek. Even though under the new draft development code the land is listed as a potential spot for workforce housing development—as of now, developers are offering no affordable or workforce priced units. Only a two minute drive from the Wellness Arena, talk of Greenville’s Gateway revitalization plans pushed the idea.

“Recently with all the talk to revitalize that area, this project and this product made sense for this site,” said Cape.

While the front of the townhomes will have a nice view of the creek. The backdrop is the Law Enforcement Center, just yards up the hill. But developers say they’re not too worried about that.

“I think in the long term, that whole area’s going to be revitalized at some point, we’re kinda happy to be the first ones to get in there and kinda revamp that neighborhood,” he said.

Gateway Project developers have talked about relocating the law enforcement center. However, it’s owned by the county and county officials told us in October, it would cost millions to move and it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.

Planning commissioners had concern over the materials chosen for the boardwalk and also the safety and wall feature between the steep hill on Henrietta Street and the back of the townhomes. However, they agreed to move it forward with recommended tweaks.

Now that the Creekside Townes have been approved by the Planning Commission, it must be approved by the city council. The developer says if all things go as planned, they could have shovels in the dirt before the end of this year.

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