February 2025 Haynie-Sirrine Newsletter

Upcoming Haynie-Sirrine Neighborhood Association Meeting

🗓️ Tuesday, February 25th

🕚 6 - 7pm

📍The Preserve at Logan Park (70 Thruston St)

The Haynie-Sirrine Neighborhood Association is holding a public meeting for neighborhood residents. We apologize for the late notice, but we have had a change in the meeting agenda. This meeting is informational, with representatives from the City reviewing issues of interest to the neighborhood.

Agenda items:

• Introduction & neighborhood news from the Neighborhood Association
• City of Greenville Police and Fire Department - neighborhood report
• Shannon Lavrin, City Manager, City of Greenville - an update on the City's purchase of 6.3 acres of land in the Haynie-Sirrine neighborhood
• Bob Barreto, Haynie Howe Venture, LLC - update on the Haynie Street townhouse development
• Open discussion & future meetings

Residents who cannot attend the meeting in person can join via Zoom.

Update on City of Greenville Purchase of Vacant Land in Haynie-Sirrine

As communicated last month, the City of Greenville has closed on its purchase of 6.27 acres of land in the Haynie-Sirrine neighborhood. The purchase of the 36 parcels of land will allow the City to better manage the future development of the neighborhood, and address several of the priorities outlined in the City's GVL 2040 comprehensive plan. GVL 2040 calls for the preservation of 35% of the City's vacant land as open space, and for at least 10% of new housing to be affordable.

The property is part of one of the largest tracks of land available near downtown and the County Square Redevelopment Project. The land is located adjacent to Church Street, and extends along both sides of Haynie Street to Howe Street. City planners spent much of last year working with neighborhood residents, businesses, and property owners on the update of the Haynie-Sirrine neighborhood master plan. This year, the City will work with an urban planner and neighborhood stakeholders to implement the zoning designations from the new Development Code and to design mixed-use development options, which will include single-family housing, duplexes, multi-family residential, and even light retail. The planning effort will focus on the development of affordable housing options, green space preservation, and the development of multi-purpose walking paths and infrastructure. The City will also work with the neighborhood and private developers to plan and develop the best possible outcomes for the purchased land. 

At the February 25th neighborhood association meeting, City Manager Shannon Lavrin will provide an update on the City's land purchase. This discussion will include a review of the City's intent and goals in purchasing the land, the City's concept for development, including the role of private developers, the current status of the development planning process, and what to expect over the next 12–18 months.  

The map below shows the parcels of land purchased by the City.

Site Work Begins on Biltmore Walk Townhouse Development

The Biltmore Walk townhouse development on the vacant land at Biltmore Drive and Pearl Avenue is progressing. The project, which will include 44 luxury townhouse units, is being developed by the Keene Development Group, which is also building The McDaniel, a luxury townhouse development located on E. McBee Street near downtown. Keene's site permit application for Biltmore Walk has been approved by the City of Greenville, and site preparation and development work will begin the week of February 17th. During that week, the site preparation team will erect silt fencing in select areas of the site for erosion and sediment control. The week of February 24th will see more extensive site work with the clearing of the property, including removing trees, brush, kudzu, etc.  

As communicated last month, the Biltmore Walk development will include a linear park along Biltmore Drive that will be open to the public. The park landscaping plan is extensive and patterned after European gardens. The Keene Development Group consulted with an arborist in the development of the landscape plan, with the goal to save as many of the existing trees as possible. They viewed the old growth canopy as an integral part of the project. However, as the site and landscape plans were being developed, it became clear that the only possibilities for tree preservation were in the planned linear park along Biltmore Drive. Once these plans were finalized, it was determined that only four old growth trees in this area could be saved.

The Keene Group was disappointed with this determination, and recently met with the arborist and the company who will perform the site preparation work to determine what protection would be needed to preserve the four previously identified trees, and if any additional trees could be saved. Upon final review of the site grading plan, it was determined that no additional trees could be saved. Furthermore, the arborist determined that the four trees not impacted by the grading plan were already dead. As a consequence, Keene Development will, regrettably, not be able to save a single tree in the Biltmore Walk development.

Keene Development plans to mitigate this impact by allocating additional funding to plant larger and more mature oak trees as part of the landscape plan. They will also be planting more trees than originally planned. Keene Development has stated that they remain committed to the highest standards of landscape design, and wants to emphasize that the Biltmore Walk development, with its linear park, will be an asset to be enjoyed by the neighborhood. The Keene Group has been very focused on providing information on the Biltmore Walk development to the Haynie-Sirrine community, and will provide more information about the project as construction progresses.

Two New Proposed Townhouse Developments

The City of Greenville hosts monthly drop-in Project Preview meetings for the community to learn more about upcoming planning and development projects. The next Project Preview meeting, which will take place right before our neighborhood meeting on February 25th, will include presentations on two new townhouse developments in the Haynie-Sirrine neighborhood. The first is a 40 unit townhouse development at the intersection of Church Street and Pearl Avenue. The second is a 6 unit townhouse development at Haynie Street and Fred Garrett Street (formally Howe Street). Interested residents are encouraged to attend.

The maps below show the location of the two proposed townhouse developments.