As the end of 2020 approaches, progress continues on Unity Park, Greenville's 60-acre, $61 million project that is steadily taking shape west of downtown.
Unity Park officials say construction on the bridge foundation will begin in February 2021.
COVID 19 brought budget-cuts, but had not stopped construction.
Through the years, the area on the western edge of Greenville was an all but forgotten zone, but now the tract is being transformed into a 60-acre, $61 million recreation area, the newest of a string of parks along the Reedy River envisioned by planners more than 100 years ago.
At the entrance, the park will feature a statue of Lila Mae Brock, a Greenville hero.
The idea of a thriving park with promising business opportunities attracted many contractors to transform warehouses into a hubs for small business owners to set up shop.
Construction of Greenville’s 60-acre, $61 million Unity Park is underway.
While most of Greenville was quarantined, the downtown area was undergoing some changes.
A critical component of the Unity Park Master Plan is the Tree Management Plan, which addresses how the river restoration project and construction of the park will impact the trees located on the site and outlines the City’s plan to mitigate that impact.
Greenville City Council members expect the city’s investment in the 60-acre Unity Park and mixed-use development Project Unity Gateway to pay off as the local economy reclaims lost territory after the pandemic.
High on the list is the construction of Unity Park west of downtown and three bridges that will connect a four-mile extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail along Laurens Road from Cleveland Park
Council members approved the Unity Park budget and sale of hospitality tax bonds for the 60-acre project on Greenville’s West Side. The bond transaction must be closed by April 16 to capitalize on extraordinarily good interest rates, twenty-year fixed at 1.71 percent. The bonds have no pre-payment penalty, allowing the City a measure of flexibility to terminate the project if conditions require such an action.
Greenville City Council has given initial approval to a $38.2 million construction budget for Unity Park.
The city of Greenville is taking another big step in the development of Unity Park along the Reedy River in downtown. The Unity Park Neighborhood District has grown a whole lot bigger.
Plans for the first phase of the $40 million, 60-acre public-private park project are complete.
Greenville's vision for Unity Park is progressing with dirt moving, businesses opening and millions of dollars raised to transform 65 acres of a flood-prone former dumping ground into a civic crown jewel. As the year comes to a close that saw public works finally demolished to clear the way for the park, the city has provided a comprehensive update on what has been accomplished so far and what to expect in the coming weeks and months. (The Greenville News)
The city of Greenville has raised $6 million in cash contributions from private entities for the first phase of Unity Park, with another $4 million in contributions pending. (The Greenville Journal)
Project will provide a healthier habitat, greater access and educational opportunities for the community
On July 9, the Greenville Drive introduced Mary Duckett as the 2019 Green Day honoree in recognition of her decades of work in the community, including being a champion for Unity Park.
On July 9, the Greenville Drive introduced Mary Duckett as the 2019 Green Day honoree in recognition of her decades of work in the community, including being a champion for Unity Park.
Each summer, the Greenville Drive baseball organization selects a pioneer in the community to honor for its annual "Green Day" celebration, and this year will be one of the city's ground-level leaders. Mary Duckett, longtime community activist in the traditionally underprivileged Southernside neighborhood, will be honored, joining the likes of former Mayor Max Heller, former S.C. Gov. Dick Riley and environmentalist Tommy Wyche. (The Greenville News)
Greenville Drive owner Craig Brown and wife, Vicki, recently announced a contribution to Greenville’s Unity Park. The gift will help restore and preserve the Mayberry Park, which was built in 1927 for the African-American residents of the Southernside neighborhood. (Greenville Journal)
What makes Unity Park truly unique, however, is another amenity that’s not usually associated with parks: affordable housing. It’s all part of the vision for Unity Park as a space that is truly and intentionally inclusive—a park that really is for everyone. To pull that off, the city is innovating a brand-new approach to the public-private partnership, and establishing new ways of engineering inclusivity into public projects. (Greenville Business Magazine)
The Michelin Corporate Foundation today announced a $1 million donation to protect and restore a span of the Reedy River that runs through Greenville’s Unity Park, the largest contribution to the park project to date. As a global company committed to improving mobility for all, this investment supports Michelin’s purpose to provide a better way forward for the communities and employees where it operates.
The expansive lawn that will be a centerpiece of the new Unity Park west of downtown will have a prominent name after the largest donation to the project to date. The Michelin Corporate Foundation has donated $1 million that will help in restoration of the Reedy River through the park. (The Greenville News)
Greenville’s new Unity Park recently received $1 million from the Michelin Corporate Foundation to help protect and restore part of the Reedy River. (Greenville Journal)
City officials and invited guests partook in a groundbreaking celebration for the Unity Park near downtown Greenville on Thursday. (FoxCarolina)
(FoxCarolina)
It’s demolition day at Unity Park for the 40 million dollar project in downtown Greenville. (WYFF)
Greenville broke ground Thursday on the 60-acre Unity Park, poised to be a landmark on the west flank of the city's increasingly popular — and valuable — downtown. (The Greenville News)
Rev. Stacey D. Mills of Mountain View Baptist Church speaks about the impact of Unity Park during demo day. (Greenville Journal)
A new park is finally about to be under construction in downtown Greenville (WSPA)
The idea of there being anything resembling "beachfront property" in the area west of downtown Greenville where Unity Park will emerge would have been unthinkable even half a decade ago. (The Greenville News)
Wayne Trotter's land between Meadow and Oscar streets had long been in his father's hands, where the late William Trotter dutifully maintained a duplex that was priced affordably and kept the tenants housed for 50 years. (The Greenville News)
Auro Hotels will contribute $500,000 for the pedestrian bridge in Greenville’s new Unity Park, the largest private contribution to the park to date. (Greenville Journal)
The vision for a pedestrian bridge that would span the Reedy River in the newly created Unity Park west of downtown Greenville has a big-money donor that marks the largest private contribution to the park to date. (The Greenville News)
A $50,000 grant from the TD Charitable Foundation will help the Greenville Housing Fund formulate an affordable-housing plan for the neighborhoods surrounding Greenville’s planned Unity Park. (Greenville Journal)
Not only will Unity Park in Greenville, South Carolina, unite two formerly segregated parks; confronting and educating visitors about its history, including a segregated baseball stadium, is part of the design. (CityLab)
New reconciliation parks in the South — like the Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Red Mountain Park in Birmingham, Alabama — are explicitly designed to bring together previously-segregated communities. But the new Unity Park in Greenville, South Carolina, goes a step further: it will not only bridge communities but also actually merge two once-segregated parks. (The Dirt)
Plans to develop a $40 million park in an abandoned and once segregated part of the city are bringing this history to light. But the story behind Unity Park—planned to open in 2020—is also the story of how Greenville has undergone a radical transformation, all while becoming a national model for intelligent and inclusive urban planning. (Forbes)
Arguably the city owns some of the most valuable and developable land in Greenville — 25 acres just a couple of blocks away from the new Unity Park. (Greenville Journal)
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