2016 a big year for Downtown Spartanburg redevelopment

Another winter is upon us, and as the year ends and the cold turns us all into reflective hermits, it's time for what has become something of a tradition on the City Podcast, our look back on the year that was. So what has 2016 been like for the City of Spartanburg? If we had to pick a word, we'd go with groundbreaking. For years, the bureaucrats roaming the corridors of City Hall had identified two historic buildings as the most important potential downtown historic redevelopment sites, the Montgomery Building and the Aug W. Smith building (former home to Bishop Furniture). If 2016 had brought an agreement to renovate either of those buildings, it would've been a huge win for us in city government, a huge win for downtown, and a huge win for the entire city. We got both. Add that to the future AC Hotel rising in our skyline and the other development projects and business openings that commanded so much of our attention this year, and it's tough to conclude that the "Downtown Jump" predicted a year ago in our "look ahead" podcast isn't well underway.