Vacant building in downtown Greer to become entertainment hub

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Developers are under contract to purchase an abandoned building in downtown Greer to turn it into an entertainment hub.

Developers Bryan Beal, CEO of Crafted Community Concepts, and Nate Tomforde are bringing Trade Street Social to 315 Trade Street, next to the Greer Citizen building, a few blocks down from the Greer Chamber of Commerce building.

Trade Street Social will focus on entertainment, featuring arcade games, virtual golf and racing simulators, bowling, with a full bar and food menu, patio seating, and roll up doors at the front of the building.

“The city of Greer has done such a great job with their downtown and this hub would add to what they have downtown currently,” said Beal. “This is a great opportunity for us to focus on bringing the entertainment aspect to downtown Greer.”

Beal said they expect to close on the purchase of the building within the next month — a building that has been abandoned for more than 10 years, he said. The building has been used for storage, sitting idle. And when they saw it hit the market, Beal said, they saw it as a good opportunity to bring a unique concept to downtown Greer.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The goal for renovations to begin is this fall, targeting a spring 2024 completion date, said Beal.

“One thing that was missing (in downtown Greer) was the entertainment piece,” said Beal. “We are hoping to have this hub for staying power to Greer, so people can jump around downtown and start to activate that space and nightlife there.”

Greer Mayor Rick Danner said one of the things the city works hard on is the authenticity of the Trade Street downtown area.

“Certainly, the restaurants and shops that are there now help embrace that,” he added. “We are a community that is growing, that is serving a lot of people, and an entertainment venue would be welcomed, especially with all the families we have, it would fit a real need for one.”

Architects on record is Project Plus Architects, Marsh Bell Construction Co. as the general contractors, as well as the project being an investment opportunity for Vicinity Capital.

“Overall, we are really excited to enter a new market to be a part of the city of Greer as they have done such a great job with their downtown,” said Beal. “We look at every town, city, municipality to see if we could do something unique in that community, and every place has a unique need and caters to the concept of each community. “Nothing we do is cookie cutter.”

Other projects in the works by Crafted Community Concepts are the revitalization project —The Mill at Fountain Inn — which officially broke ground at the corner of Ellison and Wall streets in Fountain Inn in March; The Pardo Café in Inman, which is set to open on June 15, is a coffee shop and café with chef-driven food items for breakfast and lunch, as well as early evening appetizers and light bites; and a barbecue restaurant in downtown Spartanburg, Smoking Butt Heads, which is set to open this summer in the historic Greenewald’s building on Main Street.