Urban Economics
Urban EconomicsGreenville's Grid Can Probably Absorb the Data Center Boom, but Only If South Carolina's Unwritten Large-Load Tariff Has Teeth
The Upstate owns the nuclear and pumped storage a demand spike needs, but who funds building ahead of the data centers turns on a tariff South Carolina has not written yet.
Urban EconomicsUpstate Brief: Novant Health Records a $44.8M Carolina Point Campus Buy (July 20, 2026)
Novant Health's $44.8M Carolina Point campus purchase leads the week, alongside a 30-year rate at 6.55% and dueling city and county penny-tax votes headed for November.
Urban EconomicsA $2.8 Billion Data Center Is Landing on the Old Kohler Site in Spartanburg, and the Upstate Still Cannot Agree on What It Gets
NorthMark's $2.8B AI data center on Spartanburg's former Kohler plant would burn gas for 450-plus MW on site; the jobs and tax numbers in the public record do not match.
Urban EconomicsGreenville Bets $135 Million on a Falls Park Conference Center, and the County Walked Away
Greenville approved a $500M-plus Falls Park Conference District. The city puts in $135M from visitor taxes, but the demand figure comes from an interested party.
Urban EconomicsGreenville legalized "missing middle" housing in 2023. Almost none got built, so the city may become a developer.
Greenville rewrote its code in 2023 to allow duplexes and cottage courts, but few got built. Now the city wants to partner on pilot projects. Is zoning the barrier, or money?
Urban EconomicsGreenville County moves to ask voters a third time for a penny road tax
County Council advanced a 1 percent transportation sales tax for the November ballot, after voters rejected similar taxes in 2014 and 2024.
Urban EconomicsGreenville Approves Designs for $282 Million in Downtown Projects, Led by an Arena Overhaul
The Design Review Board approved three downtown projects on June 18, with an arena rebuild backed by up to $140 million in public bonds at the center of the debate.