Miami design firm Plusurbia is seeing the I-385 gateway into downtown Greenville for what it could be instead of what it is.
Plusurbia rendered a vision of the area that includes East North Street, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville County Law Enforcement Center, Lavinia Street, East Park Avenue and Pettigru Historic District. The plan shows pedestrian-friendly walkways, green spaces, mixed-use developments, restaurants, and entertainment. The renderings reflect feedback from about 400 responses from a community survey taken early 2022.
The main goal, according to GreenvilleGateway.com, is to provide a forum to discuss the future of the district as it pertains to:
- Improving the quality of life for residents, workers and visitors.
- Revitalizing and improving the district in a manner that it creates a signature gateway into downtown.
- Fostering investment that provides housing and job opportunities closer to downtown.
- Assessing how new development should be integrated into the district, protecting the historic nature of the Pettigru Historic District and enhancing East North Street as well as the properties north of the street.
- Reconsider ingthe neighborhoods’ connectivity to downtown and nearby assets and proposing ways to improve safe and equitable mobility within the neighborhood.
- Revitalizing and engaging the Bon Secours Arena and the county’s civic land as part of a unified district vision.
Jennifer and Robert Donovan with DOM360, an automotive and digital marketing agency, have been helping lead the project. Jennifer Donovan says its an important gateway for Greenville and is an entry point as people enter downtown via I-385. “The first thing I saw was the jail,” she said. “This area has been an orphan, left out of the plans going into 2040.”
Robert Donovan said hundreds of people showed up to workshops created to solicit public and business input. Plusurbia will provide recommendations to the city by May to help guide decision-making for the Greenville Gateway’s future.
“We are not developers; we’ve spearheaded this entire project,” Jennifer said.
