I’ll be honest — five years ago, downtown Spartanburg wasn’t really on my radar. It felt like a lot of Carolina downtowns: some nice restaurants, a couple of empty storefronts, potential but not much momentum.
That’s changed. A lot.
Morgan Square has become a real gathering spot. The restaurants along Main Street are actually busy on weeknights, not just weekends. There’s new residential going in — apartments, townhomes, adaptive reuse of old mill buildings. When you start seeing rooftops come downtown, that’s when the commercial opportunity gets real. People living downtown need coffee, food, services. All of that means tenants for commercial space.
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Proximity to Active Redevelopment Corridors: Map where new projects are being built. Is your property on Main Street or immediately adjacent? Or peripheral downtown with less spillover? -
Walkability and Foot Traffic Potential: Tenants moving to downtown depend on proximity to other businesses and pedestrian activity. Properties isolated or on low-traffic blocks get less benefit. -
Tenant Type Opportunity: Restaurants, bars, professional services, retail, and entertainment tenants are what’s succeeding in downtown redevelopment. Tenant mix attractiveness varies by location within downtown. -
Building Age and Condition: Downtown Spartanburg has historic structures and renovated properties. Age isn’t disqualifying, but deferred maintenance is. Buyers evaluate renovation cost.
What’s actually happening
The city and the county have been coordinating on redevelopment in a way that’s working. They’re not just throwing tax breaks at random projects. There’s a focused push to fill in the gaps — more housing downtown, better streetscaping, connecting the trail system. It feels intentional. The kind of intentional that actually moves values over time.
Downtown Spartanburg Redevelopment Is Genuine But Geographically Concentrated
Downtown Spartanburg’s mixed-use projects are real — restaurants, new apartments, and professional space are locating downtown. But the activity is clustered on Main Street and immediately adjacent corridors. Peripheral downtown locations get less benefit. If your building is on or adjacent to Main Street with reasonable condition and walkability, you’re in the uplift zone. If you’re 2–3 blocks away, spillover is limited. Don’t assume all downtown location is created equal. Position relative to actual project clusters, not broad downtown designation.
The Morgan Square area has seen the most activity. But I’m also seeing deals pop up along Church Street and East Main. Some of the older buildings in these areas are getting second looks from investors who want to do ground-floor retail with apartments above. That’s a formula that works in a town with 6,000-plus healthcare workers at Spartanburg Regional who need somewhere to live close to the hospital. Medical professionals want walkable neighborhoods. Downtown is starting to deliver that.
The commercial angle
Here’s what I look at. Downtown retail and office in Spartanburg isn’t going to trade like Charlotte or even Greenville. The rents are lower. The tenant pool is different. But the basis — what you can buy a building for per square foot — is also way lower. And that’s where the opportunity sits.
A mixed-use building downtown that might cost $120/SF in Spartanburg would be $250-350/SF in downtown Greenville. If the rents are 40-50% of Greenville’s, but the cost is 35-45% of Greenville’s, the return math can actually work better. I run into this disconnect all the time — people compare Spartanburg rents to Greenville and get discouraged. But they forget to compare the purchase prices. When you look at both sides of the equation, Spartanburg makes a lot of sense.
| Factor | Downtown Spartanburg | Downtown Greenville |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. Acquisition $/SF | $100-150 | $250-400 |
| Retail Rent/SF NNN | $12-18 | $25-40 |
| Vacancy | Moderate | Low |
| Growth Trajectory | Accelerating | Established |
Who should be paying attention
If you own a commercial building downtown and you’re thinking about selling, this is a good window. Buyer interest in Spartanburg’s downtown is higher than it’s been in years. The investment numbers from the county — $3.5 billion in 2025 alone — have gotten people’s attention. That industrial money creates a halo effect. When BMW commits $1.7 billion, everybody starts paying attention to the broader market. Some of that attention is spilling over from the industrial side into downtown.
I buy retail property in Spartanburg and mixed-use buildings that have good bones. Older buildings that need work don’t scare me. I just price the renovation in and move forward. A building from the 1940s with good structure and a Main Street address has real value, even if the facade needs attention and the HVAC is from 1995.
On the flip side, if you own commercial land near downtown or in the surrounding neighborhoods, there’s more demand for infill development than there used to be. Parcels that sat untouched for a decade are suddenly getting inquiries. Worth having a conversation about what it’s worth today versus what it was worth three years ago. The answer might surprise you.
And for a broader look at what’s happening with employers in this market, check out my article on top employers in Spartanburg County.
Seller takeaway
Downtown Spartanburg’s mixed-use redevelopment is creating opportunity in specific corridors. If you own commercial property downtown and want to understand how location relative to active projects is affecting your building’s value, call Roth Capital at 704-600-3839.
Curious what your downtown property might be worth? Happy to take a look. 704-600-3839.
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