Greenville, S.C., still Owensboro leaders' model
Keith Lawrence Messenger-Inquirer
Published: June 7, 2009
Greenville, S.C., the largest city in the eight-county Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson metro of 1.2 million people, has fascinated Owensboro leaders for two generations. In May 1993, a delegation of 52 community leaders spent three days in the community, which was noted for adding "tens of thousands of jobs in the past decade."
"They've had explosive and dynamic economic development," Stuart Augenstein, chairman of what's now the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said when the group returned.
Last month, 26 community leaders made a similar trip to Greenville - population 58,754, according to a 2007 Census Bureau estimate - to study how that city has redeveloped its downtown.
Twenty-one of them sat down with the editorial board of the Messenger-Inquirer on May 27 to talk about what they found.
Wayne Foster, the current chairman, said he went on the trip to see what downtown development can mean for the entire county as well as surrounding counties.
What he found, Foster said, was that a revitalized downtown shows progress and innovation and helps businesses recruit top talent.
"They're trying to stop the brain drain just like we are," he said.
Roxi Witt, general manager of the RiverPark Center, said Greenville's major downtown progress "didn't take 25 to 30 years. Ten years made a huge difference."
Jared Bratcher, sports marketing director for the Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he met a man from Hanson who had moved to Greenville several years ago.
"He works for AT&T and could work anywhere," Bratcher said.
But the man "couldn't quit bragging on his home there," he said. "I thought, "What a shame he can't say that about Owensboro and live 30 miles from home.' "
Rose Bowlds, an employment specialist with the Green River Area Development District, said she talked with several young entrepreneurs in Greenville.
*** `So much pride' ***
"There was so much pride in where they lived," she said. "And there was so much diversity in their downtown."
Anne Baker Leazenby, owner of The Bakers Rack, said she found "camaraderie between businesses, the city and the staff" that "just blew me away."
"Sometimes, you feel like the Lone Ranger here when you try to do something downtown because there's no help," said Benny Clark, owner of Homes By Benny Clark. "Greenville did a great job with housing and friendliness. We saw developers working with the city and staff. We learned a lot."
"They kept saying that rules get in the way of reason," said Jan Kinsey, hospitality and sales director for the visitors bureau.
"Their building regulations are as stringent as or more stringent than ours," said Don Bryant, a former Daviess County engineer who is now in private business. "But they find a way to get it done. They think of requirements as guidelines."
City Commissioner John Kazlauskas said he found that Owensboro is "in better shape than Greenville was when it started."
"You've got to get people downtown and provide a place for people to gather," he said. "We have to encourage people to work and live downtown. It's reaffirmed the plan we're making."
Kinsey said downtown Greenville has several "really nice hotels, but there were less than 1,000 rooms downtown."
Madison Silvert, vice president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., said "a lot of people don't understand the impact" a city's downtown can have on recruitment of top talent for businesses and industries.
*** No. 1 `micro city' ***
"They (Greenville) put on their best suit," Silvert said. "They're not wearing overalls to the job interview. I'm going back in a couple of weeks because I enjoyed it so much."
"I really saw a community that proactively decided to make its downtown attractive," said Jody Wassmer, chamber president. "It wasn't always easy, but they kept their eye on the prize. They were just voted the top micro city in America."
The ranking in fDi Magazine's "micro cities of the future" was based on such things as economic potential, human resources, cost-effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure, business friendliness and promotion strategy.
The magazine said Greenville has the top economic potential of any North American city of its size and the second-best business climate, behind Wilmington, Del.
County Commissioner Mike Riney said the trip showed him the downtown master plan created by Fort Worth-based Gateway Planning will work.
"What Gateway drew on paper, we saw implemented in Greenville," said Paula Hedden of Homes By Benny Clark.
"There were very few negatives," Riney said.
Riney said there are several factors that make Greenville different.
"They're on an interstate between Atlanta and Charlotte," he said. "They have a food and beverage tax of 2 percent that they used to pay for this. They didn't have an insurance tax."
"Early on, they took significant risk," said Mike Beckwith, senior vice president and chief financial officer for First Security Bank, who recently moved to Owensboro.
"There will be challenges and obstacles" for Owensboro, he said. "They still have 10 to 15 percent opposition today" in Greenville.
"They made some mistakes and they admitted them," said Jim Ivy, a partner in the RBS Design Group.
But most of what Greenville did worked well, he said.
"They had a four-lane bridge over a downtown waterfall," Ivy said. "They replaced it with a pedestrian bridge."
Becky Ivy, who accompanied her husband on the trip, said: "Several of us are planning on going back to enjoy Greenville. In a few years, people could be coming to Owensboro to study us."
Cheryl King, president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, said Greenville officials' "ability to communicate clearly how the tax dollars made a difference" was essential to the program's success.
*** `Wanted to be outside' ***
"You just wanted to be outside all the time" in downtown Greenville, she said.
Stacy Edds-Ellis, director of Owensboro Community & Technical College's Discover College, said she visited the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities in Greenville.
"There was a lot of pride in that academy," Edds-Ellis said. "The encouraging part for us was our partnership of high schools, colleges and the RiverPark Center. We're ahead of where they were a few years ago."
She said Owensboroans have to educate and share information with other counties about what a revitalized downtown will do for the region.
"I live in Calhoun and work in Owensboro," Edds-Ellis said. "A lot of people in other counties spend money here. We have to build excitement among those who don't live here."
Shirley Cecil, Republic Banks' chief operating officer for the Owensboro market, said Greenville schedules a large number of activities downtown during the week. "It wasn't limited to weekends," she said.
"It's amazing how many people were downtown on a Tuesday night with nothing special going on," Foster said. "There were at least 10,000, if not 20,000, there at 10 p.m.
"They started with much more dire circumstances than we have," said Fred Reeves, Owensboro's downtown development director. "They had pure dilapidation. They were facing a crisis."
"Public dollars had to start so private dollars could follow," Kazlauskas said. "Property downtown is more expensive; construction costs are higher. They draw from a much larger population base, but that doesn't mean we can't progress."
"It can't be average," developer Malcolm Bryant said of Owensboro's plans. "If it's just going to be average, don't waste the money."
"This has become a difficult topic because of the tax increase," Wassmer said.
But he said the good that will come of the downtown development outweighs the "small tax increase."
"We are by no means guaranteed success," Wassmer said. But he said plans for both the RiverPark Center and the David C. Adkisson Greenbelt Park were initially criticized and both are now well respected.
"I see downtown like that," Wassmer said.
"Success breeds success," Kazlauskas said. "The status quo is not going to get it in Owensboro anymore. We're off and running. I'm interested to see what will happen in the next year."
Keith Lawrence, 691-7301,klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
Copyright, 2009, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer
