By: Lasley Cash, Staff Writer
The Greenville News, which has been located in downtown Greenville since 1937, announced this past year that it would be moving to a new location. As a landmark of downtown Greenville for nearly half a century, the four-acre property needed to find another strong presence to occupy its space. With an effort to incorporate energy and dynamism into Greenville’s downtown, a dine-in movie theatre has been chosen as part of the new developments.
Although the plans for the developments have not been set in stone, this high-profile site has already had several companies express an interest in building such a theatre. With the remaining space available, developers have also envisioned building a hotel with 120 to 150 rooms, a large office building with up to nine floors, and over 200 apartments. Additionally, 100,000 square feet will be reserved for the construction of restaurants and shopping including an upscale fitness center. Local merchants as well as national chains will be included in the list of retailers.
“We want this to be the best-looking development in Greenville,” said Brody Glenn, former chairman of the Greenville Planning Commission and president of Centennial American Glenn.
David and Brody Glenn are a father-and-son team that run Centennial American Properties. They have joined forces with Dallas developer, Trammell Crow Company, to make this vision a reality in the near future.
Included in the Glenn’s plans were the development of a public plaza at the corner of Main and Broad streets, similar to the one directly across at the Peace Center, but much bigger. Peace Center president, Megan Riegel, has been consulted on the plans and believes the two plazas would be able to be used simultaneously for events. In addition to the public plazas, a parking garage and pedestrian walkway would be included in the developments.
One of the most anticipated new developments is the dine-in movie theatre. The theatre plans to have six to eight screens, very comfortable seating for viewers, and a space much larger than an ordinary theatre.
“You have the opportunity to go in and sit down and actually have a meal and you can have a glass of wine or a drink during the movie,” Glenn said.
As dine-in theatres can also typically be found in larger markets, the developers believe it could encourage people to visit Greenville’s downtown on a nightly basis.
Although developers have not yet set a specific date for the construction, they hope to break ground sometime in the second or third quarter of the next year. The time frame of the entire project has been estimated to take 18 months to two years to build. Developers are eager and ready to push forward with their plans once granted permission by the city of Greenville.