Criminal Defense Attorney inGreenville, SC

An estimated 90,000 people are expected to fill the streets of downtown Greenville to celebrate craftsmanship ranging from ceramics to printmaking by some of the best artists and up-and-coming creatives in the Southeast.

Artisphere, presented by TD Bank, will take place May 12 to 14 for the 19th consecutive year. Organizers said the event will showcase 143 artists across 18 genres of craftsmanship.

This is a free event and will span from Court Street and Main to Wardlaw and Main during the three-day festival.

Last year, Artisphere returned to a full-capacity festival. In 2021, the three-day art celebration was socially distanced, and a virtual festival took place in 2020. This year will be Artisphere's first festival that integrates events and exhibitions that expand into Falls Park since 2019.

"The art is phenomenal but there's so much more," said Kerry Murphy, director of Artisphere. "There are a lot of things we reenvisioned for changes from last year. There's a real excitement. There's something magical about this year."

Artisphere will kick off with an opening night party at District 365 on May 11 with food, drinks and music by Steel Toe Stiletto.

Money generated by Artisphere impacts artists and Greenville

Since Artisphere's inception in 2005, the festival has contributed more than $700,000 to nonprofit organizations and local students and emerging professional and visual performing artists. Those dollars help facilitate workshops, paid performances, and awards to those involved, according to Murphy.

In 2022, each participating artist averaged $14,376 in sales, and since 2005, local artists' sales have amassed around $1.6 million, Murphy added.

In total, Artisphere has had an overall economic impact of $11.9 million on the city of Greenville since 2005, said City Council member Dorothy Dowe.

Artisphere does not take a commission on sales and charges between $475 and $650 for an artist's booth.

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What to know for Artisphere 2023: rules, regulations and frequently asked questions

Here is an interactive guide to parking for this year's art festival:

Embedded content: https://grvlsc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/media/index.html?appid=4efb28ee23dc449bb33fe5948be05c13

What to eat at Artisphere at the Culinary Arts Cafe

A selection of tacos, hot dogs, crepes, empanadas and more will be available as five Greenville-based restaurants will be on-hand at Artisphere's Culinary Arts Cafe.

Barberitos, Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club, Abanico, Bonjour Crépe, Latin Flavorz will provide food for purchase during the three-day arts festival. A full viewing of participating restaurant menus can be found here.

Hospitality passes are available for purchase, as well, as it provides VIP access to refuel after a big day in a tented lounge with free food, drinks and cooling fans.

Must See:Kenny Chesney, Artisphere and more highlight Greenville's entertainment scene April to June

What live music will play at Artisphere Performing Arts Schedule

12 acts are set to perform at the Main Stage, during Artisphere weekend including indie folk band The Pinkerton Raid, country combo The Kentucky Gentlemen, and Americana artists Run Katie Run.

Here is a link to the entire performing arts schedule for Artisphere 2023.

Pop Up Street Music Stages

Broad & Main Street

Falls Park Drive

River & Main Street

Exhibits and Demos

Throughout Artisphere 2023, an assortment of demonstrations, presentations and displays will take place during the weekend. Here is a list of events:

Located at Main Street and Wardlaw, the Fine Arts Center Exhibition will showcase young artists and teachers from the Fine Arts Center of Greenville. There will be an Artists on the Rise stage playing youth and student-based jazz, orchestra, voice and wind acts happening throughout the weekend.

The Donaldson Career Center Culinary Arts event will include pimento cheese sandwiches, Cajun boiled peanuts, strawberry cobbler and more.

The official Artipshere 2023 store will offer gifts, custom commemorative posters, T-shirts made by Dapper Ink, private-label Artisphere wine made by Kendall Jackson, and more festival-inspired memorabilia.

Artisphere Festival Store is open all hours of the festival and located on the festival site grounds.

Chris Carlson and his 3-dimensional animal art that appears to pop out of the sidewalk will be on display at the 3D Chalk Art demonstration.

A local art exhibition supported by a grant from the Metropolitan Arts Council that displays Upstate-based artists and the quality and diversity in the Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson art communities.

50 total local artists will be represented in this showcase, a list of participating visual artists can be found here.

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A handful of weekend-long workshops offer short courses on wheel throwing, installation art, and printmaking with a mini press on Friday evening. Saturday courses will offer a Japanese ceramics lesson, watercolor-resist techniques, and a rug hooking session.

On Sunday two separate earring-making classes will run, and a printmaking course will be offered.

Kidsphere music will take place at South Main Street, directly in front of City Hall. Activities include a Green Beats, swag station and DRUM street beats parades which involve an interactive music sculpture, crafts creation and a percussion studio.

Kidsphere Arts & Crafts take place on Friday from 3 to 7 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, masquerade masks, a textile town and handmade Mother's Day card making. This event will take place on South Main Street and Grill Marks at 209 S. Main Street.

The parade begins at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Two more parades will be held on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. and again at 5:15 p.m. and the last parade is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

– A.J. Jackson covers the food & dining scene, along with arts, entertainment and more for The Greenville News and Anderson Independent Mail. Contact him by email at ajackson@gannett.com, and follow him on Twitter @ajhappened.

It's been nearly two years since city officials publicly discussed a conference center downtown in-depth. Since then, the city has been largely quiet on specifics, while questions remain about the project's viability.

Plans call for the conference center to be built on seven acres near the banks of the Reedy River on land pledged to be donated by local developers Bo Aughtry and Phil Hughes.

The venue, as proposed in 2021, would include 43,000 square feet total of rentable space, 60,000 square feet of supporting space and 80,000 square feet for art galleries with collections from two museums: the Greenville County Art Museum and Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery.

But feedback gathered from hospitality industry stakeholders and Greenville residents indicated the ballroom space might not be large enough to attract events that would warrant the center's expense. In August 2021, City Council and consultants struggled to solidify a layout that would work on the proposed site.

Aside from a few public budget discussions on how to finance the project, city officials have not publicly discussed the project at length, saying only that they continue to work on plans for the site.

Downtown conference center would boost Greenville's economic development, officials say

Proponents are pitching the center as a way to bring in out-of-town events and visitors, specifically more business travel.

With an average 71% hotel occupancy on the weekends and 66% during the week, visitors have a significant impact on the city's revenue, according to Greenville's 2022 economic development strategic plan. And the conference center's output — direct, indirect and induced spending for 43,000 square feet of rentable space — could generate a $30 million footprint in the city, including $20 million in new total output, according to the project study.

While the city subsidizes the Greenville Convention Center off North Pleasantburg Drive and I-385, the convention center is far away from downtown attractions and isn't pedestrian-friendly. A conference center downtown would provide alternative space for economic development initiatives and would bolster surrounding small businesses, Mayor Knox White said.

But concerns over cost, the venue's size and parking have raised hurdles for the project in recent years. And if the city wants a larger space, they'll have to pay more for it, consultants said.

The conference center is expected to total more than $100 million. That includes the private land to be donated by Hughes and Aughtry, valued at $25 million; and $26 million each from the city, county and state.

But the local portion of that total is increasing. City Manager John McDonough and City Council are now considering contributing $30 to $35 million from the city's hospitality taxes — if the county contributes a similar amount, too. The goal is to bond the funds for an approximate $100 million once the bond that funded Falls Park matures, McDonough said in his statement.

City Council would have to vote on the funding for it to take effect.

Developers look to other downtown sites to little avail

The property that Hughes and Aughtry are donating is located around 301 Rivers Street. While the land is located downtown and occupies a premium location by the Reedy River, questions remain about parking and loading for the facility.

But this land isn't the only downtown location the development partners have considered.

About four acres off Calvin Street that once housed a postal service facility still sit vacant, located across the street from the Grand Bohemian Hotel and future United Community Bank headquarters. United Community Bank purchased 2.3 acres of that land in 2021 to be used temporarily for employee parking, the company said in a statement.

But moving the conference center to the Calvin Street location — combined with the yet-to-be-opened UCB building — would create "significant" traffic issues for Cleveland Street and the surrounding area, Aughtry said.

"Academy (Street) is a much-less used artery than Church (Street) and not in the same proximity to significant residential neighborhoods as the site to which you refer," Aughtry said in an email.

The Grand Bohemian Hotel's price structure is also not conducive to meeting planners, Aughtry said.

"The supplemental hotels in immediate proximity to this site do not work," he added.

City has cash in hand while plan remains vague

The city still has cash in hand for the project despite the lack of progress on site specifics.

The state allocated the rest of its $26 million in the fiscal year 2022 budget. For fiscal year 2024 to 2028, city officials are budgeting for a $35 million debt issuance for the conference center while assuming they will not continue to subsidize the Greenville Convention Center, according to budget workshop presentations.

The convention center has historically been a drain on city resources and required $1 million in 2020 to keep it afloat after COVID-19. The center's subsidy is lower this year at $650,000 due to new management, city budget director Karen Crawford said, but the city is attempting to sell the convention center to the county to save money and keep the space available for large-scale events.

In a written statement Wednesday, McDonough said the city remains committed to a public-private partnership on the conference center.

"We continue to explore sites, work with architects on space planning and look to the private sector for those with interest in investing in and operating the center," McDonough said.

Macon Atkinson is the city watchdog reporter for The Greenville News. She's powered by long runs and strong coffee. Follow her on Twitter@maconatkinson.

GREENVILLE — When Methodical Coffee’s owners relocated their roasting operation in 2019 to a back room at The Commons in downtown Greenville, they assumed it would be plenty of space.

Their original location was in a warehouse in the Monaghan Mill community but they decided to move into The Commons to be more transparent with their roasting process.

Then their business grew. And grew. And grew.

“We almost immediately outgrew that,” co-owner Marco Suarez said.

Their success led the three owners to search for a place to consolidate their roastery, landing on a 40,000-square-foot industrial warehouse in Travelers Rest. But they were left to wonder what to do with the extra space at The Commons?

While they initially considered relinquishing it back to the landlord, they recognized it was prime real estate. So they chose to reconfigure it.

Work is currently underway to transform the once roasting space into additional seating and an updated kitchen. The expansion should be done by Memorial Day, Suarez said.

“Things are moving very quickly now,” he said.

Reimagining a 2,000-square-foot spot

The Commons is a multi-tenant redevelopment project spearheaded by founder of Parker Group Drew Parker and his business partners. The group bought a strip of blighted industrial warehouse properties in what is now Unity Park and transformed them into a food hall, where Methodical is housed, along with other retail and office spaces. It is currently under construction on its next 18-tenant phase.

Methodical’s corner presently includes a cafe bar and ordering counter, a kitchen and a 2,000-square-foot space former roasting facility. The old roastery will be split in half, with part dedicated to growing the kitchen and the other to adding more seats — many of which are nook-like to provide a sense of privacy.

The updated kitchen will be more exposed because “people love to watch food being made,” Suarez said. It will include a counter where patrons can see pastries be produced.

“Basically, we took the transparency into the roasting operation out and replaced it with transparency into our baking and cooking operation,” he said.

The Commons Methodical makes all the baked goods for its cafes and is the only location that also serves made-to-order food like breakfast sandwiches. Its head chef is Perrin Gardner, and it also recently hired a bread lead and a pastry lead.

“We now have all engines firing,” he said. “We’re working on some new offerings.” New menu items have not been nailed down yet.

It is also stretching out its retail area. A few shelves currently line Methodical’s walls at The Commons but the owners want to provide more space for merchandise and add a grab-and-go refrigerator.

To Suarez, the coming expansion makes The Commons their “most fully-formed cafe.” Other locations can be found in downtown Greenville at 101 N. Main St. and on Wade Hampton Boulevard near The Community Tap.

“[At The Commons], we’re trying to nail all three of those things that we know really well — the coffee bar and coffee service, the food program and the retail program,” he said.

Methodical Manufactory in Travelers Rest

Within a few months of relocating the roasting operations to The Commons, the owners moved a portion of it back to the warehouse in the Monaghan Mill community. They roasted between the two facilities for over a year, which proved to be a logistical challenge.

Around 2021, the trio began to look for a facility to consolidate its roasting operations. They found an industrial space just north of Travelers Rest High School. Production began in the new facility, known as Methodical Manufactory, this February.

Methodical subleases parts of its 40,000-sqaure-foot space through a co-working concept for food-based product companies like Common Pops and Lumineaux Chocolate.

Suarez said they still have other spaces available in the commissary kitchen concept along with two parcels, a 4,000 and 6,000 square feet, available for rent.

It was originally advertised that GOAT, South Carolina’s only non-profit climbing center, would be housed in the facility but Suarez said that is no longer happening.

If the sprawling community known as Verdae is anything, it is a promise filled with potential and prospects of a bright future in need of a leader who can take the area from what it is now and bring all of that potential to life.

This is the role Verdae Development Inc. CEO Dan Klausner took over in 2022, and he has spent the past 10 months learning the community and settling into the responsibility he bears for guiding Verdae into the future.

Embracing the vision

Klausner has spent the past 20 years in real estate development and served as vice president of commercial real estate for the East Coast for San Diego-based Newland Real Estate Group.

He and his wife, along with their two children, thought they were living in their “forever home” in Raleigh, North Carolina, when he got a call about the top job at Verdae Development. Having been to Greenville numerous times, he knew the 1,100-acre planned development known as Verdae was a significant project, but he didn’t grasp the scope of the vision behind the project until interviewing for the job.

With his background at Newland in developing other planned communities, Klausner saw the promise and potential at Verdae and became excited by the prospect of steering the community through the next steps, which include finalizing plans for Legacy Square and the 90-acre Laurens Road corridor.

“Coming here to all of that, and the thought processes of all of that, was very exciting,” he says. “It’s what I have done previously with Newland communities.”

Klausner says Verdae and many of the planned communities he worked on with Newland reflect what a great many people want in today’s world — an urban environment in a suburban setting.

“We’re teed up perfectly to deliver on that with a strong partnership with the city,” he says.

As Klausner sees it, the vision for Verdae fits neatly into the city’s GVL2040 plan which focuses on developing nodes and corridors. This is significant, as that plan and the city’s new development code will guide the ultimate development of the Laurens Road corridor.

Executing the vision

In major projects like Verdae and its residential centerpiece, Hollingsworth Park, one of the most important aspects to consider is how each new aspect of the development enhances the brand, Klausner says.

And an integral part of that brand is creating a sense of place.

“What happens when you create great places incrementally, every deal you do creates more value,” he says. “That’s the promise of what we need to deliver on.”

The time taken in the past three years to develop a strategic plan while pausing most new development has created pent-up demand for Verdae projects, he says.

Going forward, Klausner believes the immediate priority is fine-tuning plans for Legacy Square and developing the Legacy Connector — the portion of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail running through the heart of Verdae.

Part of that process is contingent on working with the city to ensure the area has the right zoning designation to accommodate plans for Legacy Square. Currently, plans call for a mix of 156 multifamily housing units, 11 residential lots, 25,000 square feet of new office space, 19,000 square feet of new retail space and 10,000 square feet of new food and beverage space. Plans also call for more than 100,000 square feet of open space.

The city’s proposed zoning for the area under the new development code is RMX-C — residential mixed use — which would not allow some of the uses in current Legacy Square plans.

“Thankfully, we’ve got a great partnership with the city and their vision is aligned with ours,” Klausner says.

Verdae is a 1,100-acre community development formed from property holdings of the late J.D. Hollingsworth Jr. in an area bounded by Woodruff and Laurens roads and Interstate 85.

The development includes:

Connections and community involvement are at the core of this dynamic group

The Junior League of Greenville is actively recruiting local women who want to make a difference in their community. JLG’s membership has been doing exactly that for 94 years, supporting more than 300 agencies and contributing countless service hours. Now is the time to apply for provisional membership in this thriving group of more than 1,100 dynamic individuals.

Whether you’ve been in Greenville for a few months or a few decades, you can be part of the class of 2023. The window to apply will soon close, but there are still opportunities to attend information sessions on JLG’s history, mission and legacy of service. Currently, the group is engaging in initiatives that help women overcome barriers related to human trafficking and economic mobility. JLG has contributed more than $3 million in funding to local organizations, and this year, it will be awarding $177,500 in grants to three of its community partners: Pendleton Place, which JLG members founded; Jasmine Road; and United Ministries.

Although the women who join have many common interests and goals, Communications Vice President Adrienne Frain says she may never have crossed paths with some of her fellow members if it weren’t for JLG. Frain joined the Junior League in Charleston and transferred membership several times. As she moved to different areas, she was always thankful to have an established network of women to welcome her.

“It’s been so helpful in all the places I’ve lived to be able to get involved almost immediately,” Frain says.

Public Relations and Marketing Chairperson Shira Simon was new to Greenville when she first saw a JLG announcement. She wanted to be more active in the community but didn’t know where to start. “I was pursuing my MBA and working in tech sales, so obviously, my time was limited. JLG was a portal that helped me focus my efforts and maximize any impact I could have on the community,” she says.

Simon also notes that her leadership role with JLG has broadened her skills. “My daily work is all about spreadsheets and sales. Without a major career change, I would never have had the opportunity to delve into communications the way I have,” she says.

Frain has actually known members who have switched professions after volunteering with JLG. “I’ve seen them go into counseling and fundraising. … There are just so many things you learn like how to lead a committee or run a meeting effectively,” she says. JLG can be life changing as the organization develops its members, along with the agencies they support. If you would like to get involved and become part of the JLG heritage, visit jlgreenville.org/join.