department of economic development
Downtown Business
Greenville's downtown is the business hub and financial
center of the South Carolina Upstate region. A wide variety of prime business locations
are available downtown varying from existing high-rise Class A office space to renovated
historic warehouses and buildings which can be customized for almost any office
need.
Locational Advantage
- Greenville is the largest city in the region and the geographic center of both Greenville
County which had a 2010 population of 453,966 and the Metropolitan Statistical Area
(Greenville, Laurens and Pickens counties) which had a 2010 population exceeding
644,000.
- Easy Interstate highway access via I-385 and I-185, both of which connect downtown
with the I-85 corridor three miles east, strategically place the downtown market
midway between Atlanta and Charlotte. Dubbed the I-85 "boombelt," this is one of
the fastest growing areas of the country.
- Downtown Greenville is served by the Greenville Downtown Airport, a general aviation
facility that is the third busiest airport in South Carolina.
- Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport is an easy 12 miles from the Central
Business District.
- Among downtown’s five hotels and bed and breakfast is a total of 863 rooms. The
Hyatt Regency features 24,000 square feet of convention space and 327 guestrooms.
The Westin Poinsett Hotel provides an additional 208 luxury rooms to downtown in
a stunning renovation of this historic 1924 hotel. Downtown is also home to the
Holiday Inn Express with 80 rooms, the Courtyard by Marriott with 135 rooms, and
the 115-room Hampton Inn & Suites RiverPlace. The Pettigru Place Bed and Breakfast
features five luxurious guest rooms and is nestled in the Pettigru Historic District.
Corporate Center
- Virtually every major bank in the Southeast maintains a presence in downtown Greenville
with a number of banks having South Carolina headquarters in the Central Business
District.
- One of the country's largest financial firms, Ernst and Young, is located in downtown
Greenville along with a number of other national and regional headquarters such
as KPMG and Palmetto Bank.
- Downtown is the legal, financial, and governmental hub for the region.
- The federal government plans to build a new 204,000 square foot courthouse in the next few years.
- With over 3 million square feet of multi-tenant office space, downtown Greenville
accounts for over one-third of the total office space in the Greenville/Spartanburg
area.
- As of the third quarter of 2012, downtown’s office occupancy rate was 91.3%.
(Source: NAI Earle Furman)