NEWS

Q&Amy: Enigmatic Poinsett Highway land

Amy Clarke Burns
aburns@greenvillenews.com

As you may suppose, answering your questions involves getting other people to answer mine. Sometimes that's a losing battle.

This question has been a popular one, but so far it's one without a satisfying answer. In an effort to shed some light on this mystery and offer a peek behind the Q&Amy scenes, here's what I've learned thus far.

Q: What's going on across from the Publix at University Square on Poinsett Highway? It was cleared and had a retaining wall and driveway installed but then activity stopped.

Amy: There are really two lots in the immediate vicinity of that partially developed area. The larger part, where the private road was installed, is about 4.6 acres under the control of local developer Centennial American Properties. (Incidentally, part of the same team that's redeveloping the current The Greenville News site.)

It was previously a 6.6-acre property, but a piece was sold off later (more on that in a moment).

The same owner controls about 53 more acres around the area, most of it zoned for commercial development.

Multiple calls and emails to Centennial American Properties were not answered.

A subdivision application was submitted to the county in October 2011 by the property owner. That application essentially gave the property owner permission to build the small private road.

No details or intent about the property's use was filed with the application, said county spokesman Bob Mihalic.

The next step in a development process would be submitting plans to the Planning Commission for approval, but it appears that step was never taken.

A 2-acre section of the property, adjacent to and just south of the private road, was sold in April 2012 to a corporation for $1.5 million, according to county property records.

South Carolina Secretary of State records show the registered agent for the corporation is Stewart Spinks, founder of The Spinx Company.

Rumors of a coming Spinx gas station swirled for a while. The Spinx Company, via director of marketing and advertising Sandy Gaughan, declined to comment on past or future plans.

Target, too, was a suspected tenant. A representative for that chain said only, "Target currently does not have plans for a new store in Greenville, S.C."

Until recently, a Collins Hammett Construction sign was posted at the site. A representative for the commercial builder said the sign was installed when a project was planned. Though the build never came to fruition, the sign remained for a few years.

No building or grading permits were ever issued for the property, Mihalic said.

And so it remains an official mystery. I'll keep trying to to get more answers.

Got a question? Send it to Q&Amy by emailing me at aburns@greenvillenews.com or calling 864-298-3822. You can find me on Twitter at @QandAmyNews.