Greenville to pay $4M for Falls Park office property
The effort to build a new, modern office building on a sliver of land in Falls Park along the Reedy River prompted a public uprising when the plans were first announced months ago— and now the city is prepared to pay $4 million to make sure the project doesn't happen, with some financial help from two private organizations.
The City Council on Monday night voted unanimously on a "non-binding letter of intent" with developer Centennial American Properties that pledges $4 million and help with infrastructure projects related to the company's development of The Greenville News site.
The city will receive a little more than $1 million combined from the Falls Park Endowment fund and Friends of Red Cross to help pay for the land, Mayor Knox White said.
The city and the developer began negotiations after the city halted the project amid stiff opposition. The two sides stalled on the price, as the city believed $3 million was a fair value, White said. The Carolina Foothills Garden Club, which manages the endowment fund, then pledged $900,000 and the Friends of the Red Cross $250,000, he said.
"They really stepped up," White said.
The plans to build the four-story, brick-and-glass office building steps away from the Reedy River and the historic Main Street bridge drew sharp criticism from the public.
The critics included the women of the garden club, who for years had been the caretakers of the land during the park's bleakest period before the current vision for it was fulfilled in 2004 with the construction of the Liberty Bridge.
The plans would have required the city to exercise a special exception in its river-protection laws.
The developer, Brody Glenn, requested that the city's administration allow the building to be constructed 25 feet from the river, so long as the overall buffer averages to 50 feet, which is the typical required distance.
Frank Holleman, a prominent environmental law attorney, represented the Garden Club in opposition to the plans and wrote to the city that the building would violate city environmental-protection laws.
The small piece of wooded land sits between the river, the Bowater parking garage and Japanese Dogwood Lane, the small roadway that leads to the Peace Center Amphitheater.
The 3-acre land's fair market value is listed at $9.5 million in government property records, though that figure is not a reflection of a private real estate appraisal.
The land, a small part of 55 E. Camperdown Way, is owned by Camperdown Falls Limited Partnership and was bought for $2.1 million in 1991 from Jural Limited Parternship, a group associated with the Wyche law firm that owns much of the land around that portion near the park.
The Wyche firm has announced plans to sell its offices to make way for the construction of an upscale Grand Bohemian hotel.
The city owns just a small strip of riverbank and had long assumed that the proposed site of the office building owned by Camperdown Falls was in the city's control — however, Glenn informed city officials that the area they believed to be public was private and not protected for public use.
The developer sought approval from the city Design Review Board, which expressed concerns about the building's impact on on the aesthetics of the park but ultimately approved the design 4-1.
The letter of intent also calls for the city to enter into a development agreement with Centennial to pay a portion of public improvements associated with the Greenville News site project, known as Camperdown.
The money used for improvements would come from the added property tax revenue created by the Camperdown development over a 25-year period.