Greenville Board Approves the Shape of a $500 Million Conference District

GREENVILLE, S.C., Oct. 15. The city's Design Review Board on Thursday approved the size and shape of the Falls Park Conference District, a $500 million public and private project on downtown land now largely given to surface parking near the falls of the Reedy River. The Furman Company is master developer. Plans call for a conference center, a hotel tower of 11 stories, offices, apartments, shops, a garage of more than 1,200 spaces and nearly an acre added to Falls Park. The board deferred the design of the adjoining J.W. Marriott, which is to be extended, after members raised concerns about its rear walls.

The case for the project is lost business. City estimates say Greenville has given up nearly 70,000 hotel room nights over three years for want of meeting space downtown, and project that the center will bring more than 100 events and about 40,000 additional room nights a year, worth $35 million annually to the local economy. City Council set aside more than $10 million this month toward the project.

The cost is to be shared between the city and private developers; the split has not been published. Building materials, lighting and the public spaces must still come back to the board, and city officials say construction could begin early in 2027.