This SC city could sell City Hall in a booming downtown, move to new space with a view
City officials say there are so many things wrong with Greenville’s City Hall, not the least of which is almost $6 million in repairs needed over the next eight years and a lack of adequate security.
So city leaders are considering cashing in on the highly prized location on the southern end of Main Street and buying an existing building at the edge of the centerpiece Reedy River Falls and Falls Park.
The possible sale and move are early in the process and will be discussed at the June 7 meeting of Greenville City Council.
The building city leaders are eyeing is the former home of paper company Bowater, built in 1992 on 3 acres at the end of what is now Liberty Bridge, a one-of-a-kind pedestrian bridge over the Reedy River.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity,” Mayor Knox White said in a news release. “Not only does the move to the Bowater Building put city employees and operations next to Greenville’s greatest natural resource, but it will also allow us to provide better customer service to citizens and those seeking to do business with us.”
The news release cited as reasons for the move a ground-level City Council Chamber, as opposed to the one on the 10th floor of City Hall; better collaboration between departments; and a boost to employee morale.
City spokeswoman Beth Brotherton said the new site would allow one-stop shopping for planning and development business. Now, the departments are spread across multiple floors.
Brotherton said the city has received several proposals for redeveloping the 10-story City Hall, all of which involve keeping the existing building and retrofitting it for mixed uses such as residential, office and retail.
City Hall was built in the 1970s amid a contentious debate over demolishing the existing seat of city government at the time, a historic building built in 1909 by the U.S Department of the Treasury and once used as a federal courthouse. City government traded a piece of land for that building in 1938 and used it until the new City Hall was built next door.
The Bowater building was built in 1992. Brotherton said the two buildings are comparable in size.
Greenville City Council met in executive session Monday night and gave the city manager the OK to pursue the idea.
