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Hello everyone and Happy Wednesday to
all of my listeners here for the selling
Greenville podcast I am your host as
always Stan McCune realtor right here in
Greenville South Carolina we talk about
everything Greenville and real estate
related sometimes we talk about just
real estate in general but it's always
through a Greenville lens always through
the lens of the upstate of South
Carolina and the way I just said that
sounded very Jersey I am from Jersey
originally so apologize sometimes that
bleeds through but again thank you for
listening if you have never done this
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all these things help the show helps
to encourage me to keep going with this
as we get more and more feedback and
as well if you need to reach me for
any reason my contact information is in
the show notes I am a realtor so I
represent buyers and sellers investor
buyers and sellers normal owner occupant
buyers and sellers people looking for
land all that stuff everything in
between that is what I do and I can help
you with any of that or if you just
want to shoot the breeze about the Pod
just go ahead and look up my contact
information you can call text email I am
pretty much always accessible I have
worked I can't tell you how many days
straight it's a busy time right now this
is the way we are as Realtors right now
you got to work when you have work
and we have work right now and that's
why today I'm recording this on
Wednesday I'm going to release this
podcast today on Wednesday March the 3D
normally I try to record these a
little bit in advance but I've been so
busy I haven't even gotten to do that
yet but I'm excited about this
episode we are going to be talking about
po Mill all right which is a hilarious
name obviously it's named after
someone with the last name of and I
don't know the history of that I don't
think his first name was Edgar Allen
or maybe it was a her I don't know I
have no idea who PO is but po has a mill
named after him or her and it's located
in a very interesting part of Greenville
so if you split the difference
between where the North Main Community
is which is a very nice community in
Greenville very flourishing community
and where the Swamp Rabbit Trail is
which kind of hugs the REI River on the
west side of Greenville you've got po
Mill kind of in between there now you
do have 276 which kind of runs through
there as well pill is just to If you're
looking at it from like Google Maps
directly above pill is directly to the
left of
276 and and Google Maps and and other
map software they interestingly call
this Park Place which is which is
funny for me as as a real estate
investor because that reminds me of the
Monopoly game of course parkplaces
one of the more
desirable pieces of property on the
Monopoly board also one of the more
expensive ones but Parkplace nobody
really thinks of that area as Parkplace
everyone thinks of it as po Mill
because there is an Old Mill that is
positioned right there it's been out
of use for a very long time it was in
use from the late 1800s for
something like 80 years it it was in use
and of course Greenville used to be a
mill a miltown a m city and and this
is why you go to different areas
particularly areas near the REI River
you'll see a lot of a lot of Old
Mills that that used to
be and what's happening is we're seeing
these Mills start to be bought out by
big developers and now being converted
into condos so Mills Mill yes I know
another funny Mill name we we had we
kind of lacked creativity on the name of
the Mills around here but Mills Mill
that one has been completely
converted into really nice condos and
it seems to be doing well for for
what it is it's a unique type of of idea
I mean the Mills with the with the red
brick and everything if you look at
them up close they are beautiful and
it's a shame that they've gone
defunct as they have but that's just the
way it is our economy here changed we're
no longer a Mill City we still do a
lot of manufacturing but the but the
mill part of it is not something that
Greenville really does anymore and
that's not something that that's a part
of our history but that's not a part
of of really our future so repurposing
these Mills that have been empty for 30
40 years is something maybe even longer
in some cases 50 years is something
that is helpful for the most part for
everyone we'll we'll talk in a minute
about how some people might disagree
that it's helpful I want to make sure
that we reflect all the opinions on
here but pill really when most people
think about pill they think about that
there is the pill skate park it is
exactly what you think it is it's where
a bunch of kids go and they and they
skate and there's spray paint everywhere
and it's kind of cool it's kind of a
kind of a cool idea that you know it's
been a nice little Community place where
where kids can go and pull out their
skateboard or their their roller blades
and and things like that and you know
it kind of reminds me a little bit of
when I was a kid in the 90s that those
things were were really popular
there's little skate parks like that
we don't really have anything else like
that in Greenville unfortunately L
though it's probably about to go away
and that's because the the PO Mill Area
was just sold by Greenville by the
Greenville County Redevelopment
Authority they sold that site to a
developer known as Contour companies
and they're going to do it what it
appears to kind of follow the blueprint
of Mills Mill and also there are some
other Mills that are that are kind of
working on doing something similar to
create The Village at home Mill which is
going to be an 11 acre development
with 240 sorry 428 residential units
commercial space shopping dining options
and also a Spur extension of the Swamp
Rabbit Trail so we're not that far from
the Swamp Rabbit Trail they're going to
tie it all in and for those of you that
don't know that Swamp Rabbit Trail
it's where they repurposed an old for
the most part an old railroad track
area that that kind of went along the
REI River it's now a really nice
bicycle trail and if you go there on
any nice day it is packed with people
and so there are places like the
swamp rapit Cafe grocery that really
is just right there on the trail that
outside of of the fact that the that the
trail is there there wouldn't really be
any demand for a a you know outdoor
eating grocery type of place like that
and then additionally it's really
transformed other parts where the
trail goes as well like it goes all the
way up to downtown Travers rest I I
can say from firsthand experience I I
biked this Trail just
recently I'm I'm kind of ashamed to say
this but it was my first time ever that
I had biked it just a couple of
months ago and I went from downtown
Greenville to downtown TR and back it
was a little bit more than 20 m round
trip and yes I'm not in that type of
shape I was I was quite sore but I was
able to I was able to handle it
sometimes it's good to push
yourself and the long story short was
I thought okay I'm not really too
hungry today and usually when I do a lot
of
exercising I don't feel hungry so I'm
just going to push myself to just do the
whole 20 miles you know without
stopping to eat any at any point in
there well by the time I get up to
travel Rest by the way it's slightly
uphill going from downtown Greenville up
to traveler's rest I mean it's a very
flat Trail overall remember trains
used to to go there so it needs to be
relatively flat but it's slightly
uphill as you're going north towards
TR and once I got there I was like I
gotta eat I gotta I gotta get something
to eat here something to drink I
stopped at little restaurant there in
downtown Travelers Rest and hey they you
know made 20 bucks off of me that I
didn't plan to spend because of the
Swamp Rabbit Trail and and there are a
gazillion stories like this it's been a
really a big driver of economic
growth for that area and and it's
continuing to do so I I don't think that
we've even seen you know the full extent
to which that could be the case
there's a lot of as you do the trail
there are tons of commercial areas along
the way that you know are warehouses
and and things that if they were
converted into retail space and made
into something where people could could
stop there and stop and and get out
and get something to eat or get
something to drink I bet people would
and so pill is thinking let's do the
same thing here and so they're going to
have a a Spur extension of
of that Swamp Rabbit Trail is
going to go into allegedly the mill
site and then they're also going to be
the same developer is going to be
developing a massive space at 300
Hammond Street into what they believe
will be a a food Hall along with
some other things but it it'll be
that a food hul which if you're not
familiar with the food Hall concept it's
it's kind of a newer con concept it's
it's almost like you know back in in
the good old days I remember as a kid
going to malls and you know they'd have
a food court well the food court concept
typically is more of like fast food
and you know not necessarily the best
food in the world the idea with the food
Haul is that these are typically
nicer places but not super high-end
either think fast casual and maybe a
step above that so you know places
where you can get a nice meal but you're
in not in a specific restaurant you're
in a a Hall that's why hence they call
it a food Hall and then there's
also a ton of other mixed use types of
things that they're planning for that PO
Mill area now here's why this is
important you're probably wondering okay
what what's the big deal about this
poome Mill has been in that area has
been kind of Left Behind for a long time
we're all just kind of
wondering you know at what point and
by by us I mean any of us in real estate
what's it going to take for for that
area
to see the type of growth that we've
seen in areas like downtown Greenville
and areas like North Maine and areas
like just west of there where the Swamp
Rabbit Cafe and grocery is I mean it's
like every area around it has has
seen some incredible appreciation
incredible growth incredible improvement
improvement in crime Improvement in so
many different areas but this one little
area here poil and then if you want to
also lump right to the east of it brutin
Town despite being only two miles or
less from downtown Greenville these
areas you go into it and it's like wow
this this feels a lot further from
towntown Greenville than I would think
and the reason for that is it has a lot
of people that that have owned homes
that have been in their family for years
and years and years I mean we're talking
50 60 70 years and a lot of these
homes are in disrepair let's just be
honest a a lot of properties in the area
are landlord owned as well and and as we
typically see when you have a an area
where a large percentage of the
properties are owned by non-owner
occupants that's typically not good for
the area because landlords are not going
to take as good a care of a of a house
as an owner is typically typically
so the area honestly just needs some
outside help and that will help everyone
for the most part that'll help all of
us that are landlords and I own own a
one of my favorite properties
probably my favorite property that I
personally own I own a 5unit building
right there in the pill area and I
bought this several years ago for
what would now be Pennies on the dollar
compared to what it would be worth now
but it's one of those properties that
it'll be a long time before I even
entertain selling it I get a mail from
people all the time trying to you know
say that they're interested in buying it
listen I knew this was going to happen I
bought this property years ago I knew
that area had to improve at some point
we were going to at some point see
property values and whatnot lift up we
were going at some point to see all the
mill houses in that area and there are a
ton of Little Mill houses we were we
were at some point going to see them get
renovated and and so I've been
holding on to this property for several
years and it rents well it's it's not
you know unfortunately Greenville County
taxes the Daylights out of me on it
we're we're talking about like $5,000 a
year taxes on on that property
which to me property like that shouldn't
cost that that ends up just getting paid
by the renters and is a Big Driver of
rental costs being higher than what
they could be but it is what it is you
know that's what that's what
Greenville has chosen to do and they
kind of have a monopoly when it comes to
property taxes they can do whatever they
want but here we see finally some
outside help coming into the area this
will directly impact the area mostly for
good it will help those of us who are
landlords will help our properties in
theory to increase in value I mean
that food Hall that's going in I mean
that is literally just a couple of
blocks away from the property that I
own in that area and I know exactly
where it is that is a a really cool
idea you know that will bring people
from outside into the pill area and then
the housing as well will help
increase values around the area as well
in theory again there there is more
to it than just oh we've got nice condos
going up here now all the home values
are going to increase there's a little
bit more to it than that but but
but it does help now that will also help
a of the owner occupants there as I
mentioned people that their homes are in
are in disrepair you know they're
starting to get older they're starting
to need to to move somewhere else and
their home is probably their biggest
asset these people now they're going
to see their home values increase and by
the way this site they're saying it it
might break break ground this summer so
they're not Dilly ding around they're
not planning to now that they bought it
just sit on on that pill site for a long
time they're trying to break ground as
soon as possible but the but the owners
in that area will see their home values
go up and it will mean that they can
now have more money in retirement or
whatever the case is what whatever they
they need that money for that will help
a lot of the residents now it's been
pointed out that it will probably
gentrify the area significantly more
we know that that that's going to happen
regardless of whether this pill site
goes up or not but there are concerns
among the residents among the
residences in that area that it's going
to speed up the process of
gentrification and yes yes it will
that is there is a there are pros and
cons to this type of thing
happening and
unfortunately that is one of the
results but I like I said before what's
happening in po Mill isn't so much that
that people are
selling you know homes from one person
from one owner occupant to another at
low prices the the owner occupants that
are selling their homes are are by and
large selling them to investors and
so the gentrification is kind of already
baked into that anyway now what it does
impact is is it could impact rental
prices it could cause the cost of
rent to go up and again there's a lot
of factors there we we don't know for
sure exactly what that will mean but
yes that's very possible if if people
really start demanding to live in that
area and that becomes a more popular
area then yes absolutely the cost of
rent in that area will go up over
time now for what it's worth they're
supposed to be in that PO Mill site
development that they're doing here that
they're starting hopefully this summer
they are trying to reserve roughly I
don't think they've committed to this
but roughly half of the condos or
apartments whatever they're calling them
to be reserved for quote unquote
Workforce
housing that's meant to be affordable
I'm I'm reading this off the Greenville
News by the way it it says about half
the development's apartments will likely
be reserved for Workforce housing that
is meant to be affordable for residents
who earn at just below the County's
median income level that puts monthly
housing costs at roughly
1,291 to
1,613 all right so they they might have
some measures in place to have some
quote unquote affordable housing at
between roughly 1,00 to
$1,600 you know that's not
particularly affordable in my opinion I
mean you can get a you can get a pretty
nice house for for ,300 to to
$600 but this is the way rent is in
Greenville that that's what what they
are saying that they are doing going to
do to try to you know I guess ensure
that rents don't go crazy in that area
but you know what at the end of
the day there is if if there is a market
for this then they're going to end up
seeing people that that want that type
of housing that are willing to pay those
types of prices and it'll be interesting
to see if that is approximately what the
what the affordable housing is going
to be well what is their non-
affordable housing going to be I have
no idea it's going to be interesting
I'll also mention there is another
Warehouse in the pill area that's that's
also just a few blocks from the Swamp
Rabbit Trail that is also supposed to be
being developed here it's
something that I think has been kind
of a work in
progress but the long story short
is that there are other mixed use
developments and whatnot that are in
place so here's at the end of the day
here is what this means
that area of Greenville that we've
wondered for a while I saw someone
comment on a Facebook thread that he
as a landlord used to own Eight houses
up there and sold them all because he
got he quote unquote got tired of
waiting now you could perhaps argue that
well if you owned Eight houses you
know you could have started to help
make things better whatever that's
that's Downstream from here but he
got tired of of waiting for for the
area to improve and I I think that
all the signs are pointing to that
that if you're wanting to invest in that
area that now is a good time to that
there is going to be down the road
improvements to the area coming in a
variety of forms and and it's going
to it's going to change that area you're
it's not going to anymore be
considered just a skate park location
you know with a lot of M Little Mill
houses that are you know in in need of
repair it's going to be known
as this nice potentially this nice
Mill Village the what they're calling
the village at po Mill along with
these other this mixu space called
the chapel and this food Hall I mean
we're talking about this might
be in my opinion maybe the biggest
most aggressive type of Redevelopment of
an area that we've seen like concerted
with like multiple things happening
maybe since Falls Park I'm trying to
think you know some of the things that's
happened in in Mills Mill obviously
would compare to that what's happened
in in Denine and Denine Mill as well
Compares but but this feels like an an
allout attack so to speak hopefully
not in a bad way but an allout attack on
one area coming from multiple
developers in order to see you know
profit for obviously for those
developers but also what the Greenville
what Greenville County as they are
selling these sites off they're thinking
okay this is a way that we can extend
the the beauty and extend the
desirability of downtown Greenville and
continue to build that out even if
you're not directly downtown the great
thing is you you get you know a little
spur extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail
you're only two miles to downtown
that is a very easy bike ride from
that area to
downtown and yeah that that there are
going to be people in in a few years
that are going to be living in the
village at po Mill and they're going to
be riding their bike to work downtown I
I think that that is kind of the vision
for what people Envision so this is a
good time to buy in that area if
you're if you're looking to acquire
single family single family housing
there's not a whole lot of multif family
down there or up there whatever you
whatever you want to say it's mostly
single family mostly Mill houses
there are some mobile homes as
well but but that's about it and if
you want an area to be on your radar for
an area that that we're going to see
some big changes here in the upcoming
year in the upcoming years I guess I
should say plural po that is an area
that you should be looking at that you
should be considering it's going to be
an area that that is going to see some
big changes if you have any questions
about any of that let me know I'm happy
to discuss this again subscribe rate
review contact me with my contact
information in the show notes and I hope
you guys have a great rest of the week
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