CAFR 2017

In addition to the cycling loop on the City’s Greenway, plans are in place to increase the number of bike lanes on Greensboro streets as part of the larger street resurfacing program. In 2017, the City of Greensboro became the first of ten cities in the nation to contract with LimeBike, a bike-sharing service that rents their distinctive lime green-colored, eight-gear bicycles to the public using a mobile application for reservations and payment. UNC-Greensboro became the first location to use the service with students receiving a reduced rental rate. In the first three weeks of use, over 1,000 rides were recorded in the City, far exceeding ridership expectations. Other retail construction projects include Midtown Greensboro where a more than $2.5 million project has been ongoing with improvements to Red Cinemas (formerly Carousel) to create luxury theater rooms as an anchor for a planned $50 million development surrounding the theater. The proposed development will also connect to the City’s Greenway and include a multi-story retail building with restaurants and office space, a nine-story residential tower and multiple parking decks. Two rooftop terraces are planned with a view of downtown. North of downtown Greensboro, a $100 million redevelopment project on the historic 45-acre Revolution Mill campus continues into 2017 with the first phase of construction completed. Notable as the first flannel textile mill in the South and registered on the National Register of Historic Places, the mixed-use site includes 142 apartment units, 100 businesses with 240,000 square feet of office space, two restaurants and 40 artist studios. The planning concept is to create a live-work-play community that supports the culture of arts in Greensboro. Phase one includes the buildout of open outdoor spaces for live music and movies projected onto exterior walls. The massive historic restoration project will also connect the campus to Downtown Greensboro via the City’s Greenway trails. The project takes advantage of State historic preservation tax credits to aid in financing the investment.

Tenants in the Revolution Mill development now include Greensboro’s largest microbrewery, Natty Greene’s. The company invested $14 million to launch its new Kitchen + Market, with a brewery production facility and restaurant. This is expected to create 27 new jobs by the end of 2018. Other tenants include Urban Grinders coffee shop and Cugino Forno Pizzeria. LT Apparel Group, a New York based apparel designer and marketer, was the first major business tenant, occupying a 12,000 square-foot space with 30 employees. The company plans to make Greensboro its headquarters for the design and artwork for Adidas and Carharrt children’s lines.

Another nearby historic mill was purchased in 2017 with similar plans for conversion to a mixed use development on 18 acres of land just east of Revolution Mill. The former Proximity Printworks Mill , now on the National Register of Historic Places, served as the first textile printery in the South. A Wisconsin company specializing in urban redevelopment has plans to take advantage of federal historic tax credits and invest almost $60 million to convert the mill into a mixed use development with over 200 apartments, retail and restaurant spaces, and a climate-controlled storage business. Construction is expected to begin in late 2017 with completion in mid-2019. Planners hope that, together with Revolution Mill, this development will link to the City’s greenway and form a thriving mill community. On the east side of Greensboro, a $14 million, 300,000 square foot speculative industrial building was recently completed at the McConnell Center industrial park. The City of Greensboro extended a $600,000 loan as part of the City’s shovel-ready site program designed to encourage industrial and commercial development. Since it’s opening in 2016, the building has been occupied by two tenants – Wayfair and R.J. Schreiner Co – for a total of 77 employees on the site. Coca-Cola Bottling Company recently announced plans to occupy the remaining available space in the building, adding an additional 20 employees to the location. Increased demand has caused more speculative building in the City.

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