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I still to this day don't know why in God's name that Greenville decide to build a Convention Center there on Gville Blvd. I mean it's literally across a st. from a Walmart, on an extremely busy stretch of rd. and the area around is less than desired.
Greenville has made a lot of progress over the past decade in terms of making growth, smart growth. However, there is still much cronyism. If you want a hotel/conference center/alumni center downtown, then ECU should work with their Business School to create a prospectus for investors and show the profit potential. If it works from an economic perspective, the city will not have to wait on a "hometown" reluctant investor who may not have the financing capability of other investors with ties that may not necessarily be to Greenville, but are looking for a smart investment.
I still to this day don't know why in God's name that Greenville decide to build a Convention Center there on Gville Blvd. I mean it's literally across a st. from a Walmart, on an extremely busy stretch of rd. and the area around is less than desired.
When the convention center was built in the late 90s, that was a desirable place to be and downtown was not. Downtown was deserted and not somewhere you felt safe. Best Buy, Target, etc had just opened up nearby. There was a vacant dilapidated department store building (Nichols) on the convention center lot next to the two most prestigious hotels in town. It was a perfect place to build. It was not without controversy but I don't remember any of that controversy ever being about building it downtown.
^ 100% spot on. Never thought Greenville downtown would take the direction that it is now, I use to avoid the area like a soiled diaper. Mayor Thomas helped changed all that. God bless him. Right person at the right time.
I think once you see some building progress and private/public partnerships announced for ECU's Millennial Campus, you'll see the hotel/alumni center.
At that point, you'll have too many business folks coming to the downtown corridor for work related activity to ignore. The city KNOWS the general public wants the hotel. They recognize the revenue potential for it. It's just about finding the right partner.
I agree with an earlier poster, perhaps having someone besides the current Hilton regime as a partner is for the best.
When the convention center was built in the late 90s, that was a desirable place to be and downtown was not. Downtown was deserted and not somewhere you felt safe. Best Buy, Target, etc had just opened up nearby. There was a vacant dilapidated department store building (Nichols) on the convention center lot next to the two most prestigious hotels in town. It was a perfect place to build. It was not without controversy but I don't remember any of that controversy ever being about building it downtown.
Greenville blvd was undoubtedly more attractive at the time but we're less than 20 years removed from that decision and its an illustration of vision (or lack there of). Even in the 90s, if Greenville had any clue it wanted to be a bustling small city, a developed city center should have been a consideration. If you look across ENC its the same mindset, no intentionality, just sprawl and growth for growths sake however they can get it. There's no moving the convention center now, however, we now have an entity that may be anti-development Uptown is some regards.
Back then we were happy with whatever we could get. That attitude has not completely changed though it’s nothing like it was. I’ll never forget someone telling me how excited they were when we got to 40k-50k (can’t remember the exact number) and it triggered the threshold where Red Lobster builds a store.
Greenville has stumbled into becoming a small bustling city and it has little to do with the actions of city government. ECU medical school is the reason we are where we are.
Speaking of theatres what’s the deal with the one downtown? It does not look like anything has been done in forever. There are metal studs up but you can still see through the building.
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