Greenwood Civic Center, Greenwood, SC (Anderson: sales, 2014, lease)

[Carolina Knight]

Greenwood Civic Center, located at 1610 Highway 72 221 East, Greenwood, SC 29649-2929, is a 4,800 square feet multi-purpose arena primarily used for sports and entertainment purposes. Greenwood County Council voted to close it in December 2009. The venue has remained vacant.

Councilman Chuck Moates, Greenwood County Council District 4, intends to make a motion Tuesday, 15 July, in favor of demolishing the Civic Center.

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"Greenwood Civic Center." Wikipedia. Updated 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2014-07-02. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood_Civic_Center>

Trainor, Chris. "Civic Center Demolition Possible." Greenwood Index-Journal. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-02. <http://www.indexjournal.com/Content/News/News/Article/Civic-center-demolition-possible/4/40/26302>

[Carolina Knight]

I do not know what plans the City of Greenwood or Greenwood County have toward having an arena. It is advantageous to have one for events inclusive of sports, small scale circuses and concerts. If investments were made toward renovating and improving Greenwood Civic Center years ago, I doubt it would be in the current situation.

[Tinabean]

I'm happy to see it go. Everyone has an opinion ....and many have strong opinions about the property going forward. For what it's worth, I'd like to see a multipurpose outdoor concert/performance pavilion that could be leased for use for private events as well.

[Eric_96SC]

I see it's been closed closed since 2009, but when was the last time it was actually used?

[Tinabean]

Eric - I believe that they held bull-riding events, quarterly indoor rummage sales and family reunions until it closed. If I remember correctly, the air units, which were problematic from the beginning almost, could not be patched enough any longer. The building design was criticized from early on as well. It is what it is. From my limited understanding, I believe it would be much more costly to renovate than to demolish and start from scratch with a better designed concept that will be driven by function and purpose based on a business plan that will at least be financially self-sustaining, if not profitable, for the community. The city seems to have a good process for development in place (example:the Uptown Farmer's Market). Hopefully the county will do an even better job with this opportunity.

[Carolina Knight]

Does the City of Greenwood and/or Greenwood County have a plan for a new arena in the future for larger scale events like bull riding, rodeos, circuses, concerts, sporting events, etc.?

Without a new major facility, the Lakelands will lose events to Anderson and Greenvillle.

[greenvillebuckeye]

Ninety - Six High School use to use it to host the Lakeland Duals Wrestling Tournament every January. After 09 they moved the event to 96 high school and the event has never been the same and may have even vanished at this point. Use to attract 24 different high school teams for two days of great high school wrestling and now nothing.

[Carolina Knight]

Greenwood County Council voted in July in favor of a resolution to demolish Greenwood Civic Center.

Suggested reading:
King, Brian. "Council votes to demolish civic center." GwdToday.com. 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2014-11-15. <http://gwdtoday.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=27&ArticleID=307 46>

[Eric_96SC]

I'm curious if the new Walmart will have any influence on what -- if anything -- is built in that area.

[Carolina Knight]

I do not think a Walmart Supercenter would have any influence on the Greenwood Civic Center site. I would see more parking and recreational fields for the Greenwood County Recreation Complex.