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'South Carolina’s economy has nurtured bank growth and has attracted at least five large out-of-state banks since 2013. United Community Bank, Entegra Bank and JP Morgan Chase Bank have opened in Greenville and First Tennessee Bank and ServisFirst Bank have opened in the Charleston area.'
'Kirven, Greenville region market president, said the Upstate is “so business oriented” with a manufacturing base and is developing as a diversified economy. “We see Greenville becoming more of an urban center and having a lot of growth, and I think that is what is very attractive to bankers,” Kirven said. “We are in this environment where all banks are looking for loan growth. Those opportunities tend to be centered around the urban centers of the state, Greenville and Charleston in particular. Columbia is doing a lot better too.”'
I did not even know CU had an infectious disease research center until I saw a report, that seems like something you would expect to see at an university with a medical college. My interest is not so much on how much money they received but the possibility that this research activity and money could leads to a strong bioscience and biomedical industry in the Upstate. CU has one of the strongest bioengineering / biomedical engineering undergraduate and graduate programs in the country, and they also have a joint bioengineering program in Charleston with MUSC.
CU started the CU Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus (CUBEInC) in Greenville at the Gville Hospital System's Patewood Campus a few years ago. A director at this research campus thinks that Gville can become a biomedical / bioengineering hub.
'The technology management director at Clemson University’s Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus in Greenville said there is huge opportunity for the medical technology industry in the Upstate. Michael Gara compares it to the region’s experience with the auto industry.
Gara said state tax incentives, a business-friendly environment and Clemson’s half-century of bioengineering experience have the region primed for such growth.
"We just need a couple of successes to put us on the map,” Gara said. Much like how BMW Manufacturing Co. “came in and anchored the auto industry, we need that sort of thing for the medical technology industry.”
He said such an expansion would create jobs that “start at about $60,000 to $80,000 a year.”
Your statement may be more compelling if you disclose your profession and educational background and how much time have you lived in Greenville. Your screenname gives the impression that you are in a business related occupation and bioengineering and auto engineering are technical and scientific related fields.
Raleigh had its naysayers in 1950 when they started the Research Triangle Park. Raleigh was in one of the poorest states at the time, and there not much going on in Raleigh outside of the state government and tobacco fields. Greenville obviously has a lot more going for it then Raleigh did in 1950 and it also has a fantanstic downtown and proxmity to mountains to sell emmpoyers on the location. Once the new 85-385 interstate gateway is finished, our infrastructure will give us a huge competitive advantage over the rest of the state where there are many issues and more interstate congestion.
Greenville/ Upstate and Raleigh already have many similiaties, several of the best employers in Gville also have offices in Raleigh because of similar clients in both. NCSU was a big reason in the success of RTP and the university that is most identifical to NCSU in the country is CU. CU is now collaborating with state hospitals and MUSC much like NC State collorabated with the medical colelges at Duke and UNC.
Greenville is already an advanced material science hub which sprung forth from our textile history. Much of biomedical is focused on advanced materials research and there are also countless applications outside of medical for advanced material breakthroughs and startups. CU has a large advanced matrials research park in Pendleton.
I'm aware that I am an optimistic person but I can see Gville becoming a hybrid of Detroit and Raleigh, and the day may come when people say 'Research Triangle', some people may think of Greenville/ Upstate first, given the state of SC has an approximate triangular form. Charlesotn is likely to benfit from this as well due to CU's involvement down there at MUSC, and Greenwood hosts CU's Genetics Laboratory which works with a private genetics lab located there.
I also predict that the USC medical college branch located at the Greenville Hospital will become its own university at some point, possibly affiliated with CU or a private like Duke.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 05-14-2016 at 03:31 PM..
Here is a link the the business directory on VisitGreenvilleSC.com ...... it allows you to search different categories, i have filtered for downtown restaurants at the link. it gives you the option of mapping it out. I love this website, I even made it my homepage.
It has a short description of each restaurant, and it should be up to date.
Bi-Lo Holding, the new parent company of Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., is moving its headquarters to Jacksonville.
In a company press release announcing the moving this morning, company executives said the decision was made because Jacksonville is centrally located within the now 688-unit chain’s eight-state system.
The company plans to maintain a strong regional presence in Greenville, SC, Bi-Lo’s former headquarters both in regard to distribution and local store support needs.
Despite relocating its headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida, Bi-Lo Holdings, now operating as Southeastern Grocers, has continued to struggle. Bi-Lo stores in northern Georgia and Tennessee were divested to K-VA-T Food Stores, and became Food City. Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie stores in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina have closed this year. Additional Bi-Lo stores in North Carolina and South Carolina are in the process of closing.
Despite relocating its headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida, Bi-Lo Holdings, now operating as Southeastern Grocers, has continued to struggle. Bi-Lo stores in northern Georgia and Tennessee were divested to K-VA-T Food Stores, and became Food City. Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie stores in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina have closed this year. Additional Bi-Lo stores in North Carolina and South Carolina are in the process of closing.
That is true. I do think most of the Bi-Lo stores in Greenville do a good business especially the newer ones. The only one that I can envision closing on the Eastside is the one at North St and Haywood due to the age. But it is in a pretty good location, the closet one for many people.
If your premise is that Greenville is 'such a small downtown', it is even more surprising that you have never noticed the Wild Wing Cafe, Mellow Mushroom, or Jimmy John's, particularly because you had previously stated that downtown mostly has chain restaurants. In my mind, these 3 are the best national chains down there. You also managed to overlook all the local restaurants.
Developers are building a ton of new office space downtown. If the market downtown was terrible, developers would not be building new office spaces. Developers don't want to lose money.
Vacancies are the result of many factors. I suspect it is older office space that is vacant, due to the owners overpricing it because of the downtown location but it does not suit the needs of companies interested in locating downtown. The fact new office space is being built indicates that companies do want to locate down there if good office space is available. Some vacancies are due to companies recently leaving and there has not been enough time to lease it out again. Vacancy rates are a snapshot in time. It would make more sense to look at what percentage of buildings downtown stay vacant for for long periods of time. I suspect that is a low percentage.
I don't think there is a downtown in the south that has had as much new construction in office space, housing and other buildings as Gville has the past 15 years.
The majority of large companies that move here that have office jobs tend to want to locate near 85. Much of the reason for this is there are larger buildings available, and to cut down on employee's commute times, and not to have to help pay for employee's parking costs downtown.
I didn't want to comment on this thread. But your statement right there is far off. If we're going back 15 years then Columbia, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Austin, Dallas, Nashville all beat gville out by far.
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