Look, I’ll say the thing nobody wants to say. The WestGate Mall corridor in Spartanburg has been through it. The mall itself has struggled. Anchor tenants left. Traffic dropped. And a lot of property owners along that stretch of West Blackstock Road and Hearon Circle watched their values slide.
But here’s what’s interesting. The corridor isn’t dead. It’s different. And different can actually work in your favor if you understand what’s happening.
-
**Proximity to WestGate**: Distance from the mall directly impacts your property’s value. Properties within 0.5 miles capture spillover traffic. Properties beyond 1 mile are on their own. -
**Tenant Profile**: Can you attract national retailers who benefit from WestGate traffic? Or are you settling for local users and discounted rents? -
**Future Retail Trends**: Retail is consolidating nationally. If you own secondary Spartanburg retail away from WestGate, understand the long-term headwinds.
What the WestGate corridor looks like now
The mall has transitioned. Some sections have been repurposed for non-traditional retail — churches, medical offices, call centers. The parking lot stays busier than you’d expect because of those uses plus the remaining retail tenants. It’s not the mall it was in 2005. But the traffic patterns are still there, and that matters for the strip centers and outparcels nearby.
WestGate Proximity Affects Your Value
Three distance bands define Spartanburg retail pricing:
- 0-0.5 miles from WestGate: Strong traffic spillover, command premium rents, attract national tenants easily
- 0.5-1 mile from WestGate: Moderate spillover effect, competitive with other secondary locations, mixed tenant strength
- 1+ miles from WestGate: Limited spillover, competing on price and concessions, harder to attract strong tenants
The strip centers and outparcels along the corridor are a mixed bag. Some are doing well — the ones with service tenants, fast casual restaurants, cell phone stores, medical clinics. Others are struggling with vacancy. The pattern I see: buildings with the right size and configuration for service retailers are fine. Buildings that were designed for big-box or department store overflow are having a harder time. The market has shifted, and the properties that shifted with it are performing. The ones that didn’t are sitting.
| WestGate Corridor Tenants | Status |
|---|---|
| Service retail (salons, clinics, insurance) | Stable, low vacancy |
| Fast casual restaurants | Moderate demand |
| Big-box / large format | Challenged, redevelopment potential |
| Medical / office conversion | Growing |
Beyond WestGate
The retail story in Spartanburg isn’t just about one corridor. There’s activity along East Main Street near the hospitals. Spartanburg Regional is a massive employer — 6,000-plus people — and the retail around it benefits from that daily traffic. Medical office and retail strips near the hospital complex have been consistently occupied. When you’ve got that many employees coming and going five days a week, the sandwich shops, pharmacies, and coffee places around the campus do well. Simple as that.
Highway 29 heading south toward Boiling Springs is another pocket. Growing residential out that way is pulling retail development with it. The usual suspects — Dollar General, some fast food, a couple of strip centers with local tenants. Nothing flashy. But the occupancy is strong because there’s a captive residential audience. People living in Boiling Springs need places to eat, get their hair cut, and buy groceries. Those needs don’t go away in a recession.
And then there’s downtown, which I covered in my Spartanburg commercial property overview. Downtown retail is a totally different product — smaller spaces, walkable, restaurant and coffee shop oriented. It’s gotten a lot better in the last few years. Morgan Square on a Saturday night looks nothing like it did a decade ago.
Related: Growth Drivers of Greenville-Spartanburg
What I buy
I’m selective on retail in Spartanburg. I want buildings with service-oriented tenants in locations with good traffic counts. I don’t need the prettiest building on the block. I need one that’s going to stay leased because the tenants’ customers drive by every day.
Strip centers with five to ten units, 800-2,000 SF each, leased to local service businesses? That’s my sweet spot. These tenants don’t get displaced by Amazon. Nobody’s ordering a dental cleaning online. Nobody’s getting their nails done on their phone. Service retail is the most recession-proof, e-commerce-proof product type in commercial real estate. And Spartanburg has plenty of it.
Single-tenant retail with a drive-through is also interesting. A freestanding building on a decent pad with a drive-through lane has more reuse potential than almost any other retail format. Even if the current tenant leaves, the next one in line — whether it’s a bank, a coffee shop, or a quick-service restaurant — wants that drive-through. Good luck finding an available drive-through pad in most markets right now.
For context on the economic forces behind Spartanburg’s commercial development, my broader market coverage has the data.
Seller takeaway
If you own Spartanburg retail and haven’t evaluated your actual proximity advantage or disadvantage to WestGate, it’s worth an honest conversation. Call Roth Capital at 704-600-3839. Understanding your location’s real value is the first step to making the right move.
If you own retail property in Spartanburg, even along the WestGate corridor, it’s worth a conversation. I might surprise you with what I’d pay. 704-600-3839.
Ready to explore your options?
Tell us about your property. We will follow up within one business day.
Recent Comments