Back in 2019, when the city of Simpsonville was in the early stages of putting together a new downtown master plan, Mayor Paul Shewmaker would sit in his office, reviewing all the proposals.
“They’re all keying in on that word, ‘revitalization,’ and how they’re going to ‘revitalize’ our downtown,” he said. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Um, have you been to downtown Simpsonville lately?’ This place already is vibrant.”
But in his own search to find the perfect word to describe what was — and is — happening in downtown Simpsonville, Shewmaker said it was like seeing a familiar face and yet, not remembering the name.
“I kept racking my brain, trying come up with that one right word,” he said.
Simpsonville has seen its fair share of growth in recent years, from the Warehouse at Vaughn’s and Burdette Central, to the packed crowds in the CCNB Amphitheater in Heritage Park. On sunny days, steady foot traffic ambles along Simpsonville’s stretch of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail, while young professionals dine and drink at the bevy of new restaurants. It’s hardly the place of vacant lots and dusty, empty streets.
But if “revitalize” wasn’t the right word, what was?
“Finally, we found it, the word that matched everything we wanted to do,” Shewmaker said. “That word is ‘amplification.’ We’re going to turn it up. That’s what our downtown projects are going to do.”
Greenville-based urban design firm MKSK released the downtown master plan in February 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down.
Now that a sense of normalcy has returned, the city is ready to hit the gas on the plan — and they’ve got the money to do it.
“It’s just been a crazy time,” said City Administrator Dianna Gracely. “The COVID year slowed everything down, and so now we’re basically cramming 24 months of work into 12 months.”
Simpsonville has just netted $14.1 million from hospitality and accommodation tax revenue bonds and $12.8 million in installment purchase revenue bonds, plus an additional $2 million from the county’s portion of the gas tax revenue, bringing the total project budget to $28.9 million.
“I feel it’s really important to note that, yes, we’re borrowing money to do this, but with our excellent bond rating, we’re in a great position to borrow that money,” Shewmaker said. “We haven’t had to raise taxes at all for this.”
The reality is that the downtown ‘amplification’ project is three projects — one to address downtown infrastructure, one addressing Simpsonville Park landscaping and one covering a Swamp Rabbit Trail extension — bundled into one.
That’s not even mentioning the new municipal buildings planned on the far east side of the downtown park, with the city hall, police and fire department buildings set to be torn down to completely open up the park to Main Street.
And all the work will happen concurrently, with a starting date set for the first of January 2022 and a completion date slated for two years later at the start of 2024.
Here’s a deeper look at each phase.
Downtown infrastructure
Key takeaways:
- Traffic flow
- New infrastructure
- South Main enhancements
“We’re tearing everything out,” Gracely said of the downtown infrastructure project. “Storm water, curbs, gutters, sidewalk resurfacing, landscape, architecture features, streetscape improvements, hardscape, conduit and street lights. All of that will be redone. Everything will be new.”
Civic design firm CoTransCo will be handling infrastructure, one of three entities tackling the different aspects of the project.
“Doing it under one firm probably wasn’t the cleanest way to do it,” Shewmaker said. “It seems like it would be, but each of these firms have different areas of expertise. A civic engineering firm might be great at putting in crosswalks but maybe is not the best choice for a park, for example.”
Contrary to what was initially suggested in the downtown master plan, the city has no plans to take Curtis Street and reroute it through the park. Gracely, for her part, described the master plan as more of a conceptual guidepost rather than a strict map to be followed.
But the project does call for enhancing South Main to make it more fitting for street festivals, while also making three blocks of Curtis Street a one-way going east and three blocks of College Street one-way going west.
“Top of the list is making sure we manage traffic,” Gracely said. “When I look at improving traffic flow and the potential of one-way streets, I really believe it will make a big difference.”
She admits that some residents are dubious, but a recent simulation run by the state (most roads downtown, including Curtis, Main and other main drags, are state roads) concluded that one-way streets would have the desired effect to minimize congestion.
Gracley said all through the planing process, the goal has been to ensure Simpsonville keeps it small town charm, while taking into account the need to balance all modes of travel, from cars to bicycles to foot traffic.
“It’s an incredibly tough balance to strike,” she said. “That’s been something we’re particularly focused on.”
Simpsonville Park landscaping
Key takeaways:
- Newer, fresher urban designs
- More green space
- A more welcoming entrance
The new landscape design for the park, spearheaded by Syntera with landscaping firm ColeJenest & Stone, will coincide with the new civic buildings being designed by architecture firm DP3. The new buildings, it should be noted, are not directly related to the downtown master plan project, although Shewmaker said the firms will work together to ensure the buildings blend well with the landscape of the park.
From the moment it was proposed for buildings to be constructed on the far east side of the park set, city staff met with a wave of public input from concerned residents, who worried that the park would be encroached by development.
Shewmaker said the moment the new buildings are completed, the old ones will be torn down and replaced with more green space and a more welcoming entrance to the park.
“We don’t lose acreage in the park at all,” he said. “On top of that, it gives us a really wonderful opportunity to have something that’s very special from the street, and when you drive down Curtis Street, Simpsonville Park is really a showcase.”
Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail extension
Key takeaways:
- will end at Heritage Park
- will grow from less than one to about three miles
The work on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, spearheaded by South Carolina-based landscape architecture planning and design firm Studio Main, will extend the trail from just under a mile to three miles.
“I have to tell you, I think everybody has been super-pleased and also surprised at how popular the trail already has been,” Shewmaker said. “I walk along that section in the morning often and say good morning to people, and it’s really pleasant. But with three miles, now that’s really become something.”
The trail would continue onward past where it currently ends at Fairview Road and instead stretch all the way to Heritage Park.
“That’s significantly longer, and allowing people to go right there to the park will be a huge boon for people.” Shewmaker said.
