Home Care In Pacolet Mills, SC

PACOLET — Residents living in rural areas of eastern Spartanburg County will have more accessibility to programs to improve their quality of life once the new Benjamin E. Mays Family Center opens in September.

Spartanburg School District 3 donated the former Middle School of Pacolet building on Sunny Acres Road for the new center. The school closed in June 2021 after the school district consolidated Cowpens Middle School and Middle School of Pacolet.

Pacolet, a town of about 2,500 residents, has struggled economically in recent years. It once relied on the textile industry to support jobs. With little industry and few jobs, the town’s poverty rate is 21.2 percent, above the national average of 13.6 percent. The new center aims to help reverse these trends and offer renewed hope by providing access to services and programs offered through local non-profits.

“We are trying to build a resource center with programming and bring them to Pacolet so they don’t have to travel to Spartanburg,” said Jerry Rice, executive director of the Benjamin E. Mays Family Center. “I have been here the last four months working on getting to know people and develop relationships.”

Rice said the center will open Sept. 7 with Favor Upstate providing support services for individuals and families affected by substance abuse disorders. Over the next several months, SC Works will begin providing job search and training opportunities at the center. ReGenesis Health Center, Hope Center for Children and First Steps Spartanburg will also partner with the center to offer services.

“We have some agreements already in place,” Rice said. “There will be other programs run out of the center. People who live in small rural communities have to drive to Spartanburg for everything. We are working to find an easier way for them to get resources so they can can become self sufficient.”

Spartanburg School District 3 donated 25 computers for the center, which will include conference space for meetings. The 50,000-square-foot building has two hallways connected to a space formerly used as a media center. Rice said the building remains in good shape and is scheduled to be cleaned in September. The former cafeteria space could be used to host meetings as well. Rice is also working with local churches to make people aware the center will be opening.

The redevelopment of Drayton Mills and the surrounding neighborhood continues to take shape and points to how developers are reimagining this historic Spartanburg community.

The prospect of bringing new life and vitality to an area that has played such an important role in Spartanburg’s cultural and economic history is exciting, according to Jennifer Calabria, director of land development for Pacolet Milliken.

The company manages a portfolio of land holdings across the region totaling more than 26,000 acres. Among those holdings are properties centered on Drayton, and the company is working with CBRE senior associate Brian Scurlock to develop projects that will further develop and redefine Drayton and Spartanburg’s east side.

So far, the mill and the 16 acres on which it sits have been redeveloped into luxury loft apartments and a thriving community of retail shops, offices and restaurants. The redeveloped mill, according to Calabria and Scurlock, is envisioned to be the central hub of a new, modern Drayton community with its own distinct identity, rather like Atlanta’s Buckhead.

As part of that strategic vision, Pacolet Milliken donated property near Mary Black Hospital to Spartanburg School District Seven, which subsequently built a new Drayton Mills Elementary School there. Dan Ryan Builders is developing the Trailside at Drayton Mills neighborhood centered on Dalmatian Drive behind the school, and Calabria says this is an important part of bringing new life and identity back to Drayton.

“We knew it was a special community … and we wanted to do something to help it, revitalize the area and figure out who it wants to be and what it wants to be,” Calabria says.

So far those efforts amount to between $150 million and $200 million in investments by Pacolet Milliken and others to bring new life to Drayton. The next phases will involve bringing more retail options to a 6-acre parcel across Drayton Road from the mill and developing more housing options along Floyd Street behind the mill where Pacolet Milliken owns about 170 acres of undeveloped land.

“We’re trying to create a critical mass,” Scurlock says. “We want Drayton to become less of a pass-through and more of a community destination.”

Drayton Mill historic facts

For decades, abandoned textile mills have stood as proud but derelict reminders of South Carolina’s manufacturing history; however, recent redevelopment trends are bringing new life to communities whose vitality had waned with the closing of those mills.

What’s happening in two such communities – Drayton in Spartanburg County and Piedmont in Greenville County – demonstrates how, increasingly, such communities are being reimagined, reinvigorated and renewed.

History as prelude

Drayton Mills contributed significant horsepower to the engine that powered Spartanburg’s economic health for decades and served as the beating heart of a thriving textile community scarcely a stone’s throw from downtown.

Like many textile plants across the state, the mill and its surrounding community suffered a long decline through the latter half of the 20th century. And like many other plants, Drayton Mill sat vacant for years before redevelopment took place.

Unlike many other such sites, the mill was owned by a company, Pacolet Milliken, that served as a caretaker with the goal of bringing new life and purpose to the property. The family-owned investment company was spun out of Milliken and Co. in 2007 and inherited a portfolio of assets and more than 30,000 acres of property across the region.

That connection to the Milliken family’s textile history and vested interest in the economic health and wellbeing of the community help drive Pacolet Milliken’s investment priorities, according to Jennifer Calabria, director of land development for the firm.

Calabria explains the vision behind the various aspects of Drayton’s redevelopment is equal parts honoring the rich heritage of the community and providing a welcoming, attractive home for the new residents and businesses flocking to the region in record numbers.

The early phase of Drayton’s revival saw the mill, which was built in 1905, converted into luxury loft apartments. The 16-acre site has also welcomed the Drayton Mills Marketplace, home to restaurants, shops and offices. Across Drayton Road from the mill complex is a project developed by Orange Capital, an apartment complex called The Lively Drayton Mills.

Calabria says one of the ongoing goals for the project is to develop more single-family housing options to the area. That effort is being spearheaded by Dan Ryan Builders, whose Trailside at Drayton Mills project is mid-way to completion of phase one involving construction of 51 townhomes, more than 30 of which have already been sold.

The project adjoins the new Drayton Mills Elementary School and is traversed by Spartanburg’s popular Daniel Morgan Trail. Those two amenities are key elements attracting new residents to the area, according to Marv McDaris, division president for Dan Ryan Builders.

“Our vision is to create a great-looking community that’s a great place to live,” McDaris says.

The townhomes average about 1,500-1,600 square feet and are priced under $250,000. This type of home with its proximity to trails, schools and retail options are increasingly popular with young professionals starting families and empty nesters who embrace what McDaris describes as a “lock-and-leave” lifestyle. This attitude sees home as a place where you “keep your stuff” but where people spend much of their time enjoying nearby amenities.

Location, location, location

Understanding such generational shifts in where people want to live and how they want to spend their time led Larry Webb to have a eureka moment while looking at a building in Piedmont in Greenville County.

Webb is a senior advisor for investments and development at KDS Commercial Properties and was looking at the old Piedmont Mercantile Building in the community’s downtown in 2019 when a car full of young people helped him see the building’s potential. The group told Webb that they’d been eyeing the area as a place to set down roots, given its lower cost of living compared to downtown Greenville, but they wanted amenities like coffee shops, restaurants, cafes and so on.

That encounter prompted Webb to buy the building and embark on a years-long project to restore the building that is expected to get underway in the coming months.

Undaunted by the delays brought on by the pandemic or the time-consuming procedural delays in getting the building listed as a historic structure or in obtaining state and federal tax credits for the project, Webb is confident that his efforts will pay dividends for the community.

Slated to return the building to its original 1905 condition, the project is already serving as something of a springboard for others to bring their own development projects to Piedmont.

The adjacent 12-acre site of the historic mill Piedmont Number One, which sat vacant until it burned down in 1982, will be the site of up to 60 new townhomes planned by Brad Skelton of Red Oak Developers.

Skelton says the site’s picturesque setting beside the Saluda River and location just a 15-minute drive from downtown Greenville make it an attractive prospect for the thousands of new residents flocking to the Upstate.

“Piedmont is a hidden gem,” Skeleton says. “Piedmont in five or six years will be a destination for people to live.”

He says work on the site is expected to begin by the fourth quarter of this year and expects demand to be strong.

Webb says his project is 70% pre-leased with offices, a tap house and coffee shop among the future tenants.

Skelton says between his project and the mercantile building and another project across the river on the Anderson County side, which will eventually be connected by a planned pedestrian bridge, Piedmont is poised to experience a renaissance.

“We’ve got a lot of runway in front of us,” he says.

Some pros and cons of textile projects

Pros

Cons

OneSpartanburg, Inc. announced a private-public partnership on Monday with Greenville developer, M Peters Group, to redevelop the former site of Clifton Mill Number Two, another indication of development interest progressing to the east side of Spartanburg.

Spartanburg County, which acquired the site in 2013 for $226,000, will transfer 30 acres to the developer for public improvements and private redevelopment. Once the project is complete, M Peters Group will transfer 19 acres of public space back to the county as a public park. The development is a $60 million investment from M Peters Group.

Residential and commercial development, as well as park and recreational improvements, are all elements of the project.

“There's 30 acres out there right now and we don't need 30 acres to develop our development. There's no reason for us to take more than we need. So, what we're going do is make public improvements,” said Mark Peters, president of M Peters Group, about the partnership. “Rather than pay the county money, we're going to do an exchange. The county is working with us to give us an economic development agreement. That way we can charge rents that can be supported by this community.”

County council approved the development project unanimously Monday evening.

M Peters Group plans to construct a 239-unit multi-family residential development with studios, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments, all with views of the Pacolet River. Apartments will be priced at market rates. The architects for the project are Perkins & Will and SGA Narmour Wright Design.

“All these buildings are placed in a way to maximize the views of the river as opposed to them just running straight along the bank like they might typically be, “ said Jennifer Gosnell, executive vice president at M Peters Group about the residential design. “These are tilted and shifted around, trying to get around each other to allow anybody that lives here to have some view of the river.”

The redevelopment will also include 7,000 square feet of commercial space with intention to incorporate a riverfront restaurant and a place for kayak rentals. M Peters Group plans to enhance the existing informal kayak put-in on the river and transform it into a formal livery with a take-out 3 hours downstream in Pacolet.

Clifton Park, including the Clifton Beach area, will undergo improvements. M Peters Group will build bath houses and picnic shelters for beachgoers and improve a small playground area at the park.

Play. Advocate. Live Well!, or PAL, is also participating in recreational advancements of the redevelopment by expanding the Daniel Morgan Trail System with an additional 4.1 mile connector between Glendale and Clifton. The county and M Peters Group will partner to provide a pedestrian bridge across the river to connect to the trail.

Laura Ringo, PAL’s executive director, said the collaboration with M Peters Group aides in the overall progress of The Daniel Morgan Trail System, or The Dan, a 50-mile urban trial system of a collection of future and existing trails in Spartanburg. Ringo says one of the long-term goals of The Dan project is to develop a trail system that connects Middle Tyger River with the Pacolet River.

“Partnering with the M Peters Group on this project has given us an opportunity to reach a milestone in that progress,” Ringo said. “It's going to be an opportunity to connect two of our really beautiful natural amenities, the Lawson Fork Creek and the Pacolet River, so we're thrilled to be part of this.”

Another transformation for one of Spartanburg’s historic textile mills

The redevelopment of Clifton Mill represents a new dawn for another of Spartanburg’s historic textile sites. Over the past decade several other mill renovation projects kicked off across the county, including the Drayton Mill redevelopment, Inman Mill and the upcoming Converse Mill project, to name a few.

Clifton Mill No. 2 was built in 1888 as a part of Clifton Manufacturing Company, founded by Dexter Edgar Converse in 1880.

The mill was damaged in 1903 after the flooding of Pacolet River, but was rebuilt and expanded in the 1950s. The decades after brought various ownership and a number of financial hardships to site No. 2, but the mill operated in some capacity into the 1990s. After 124 years, the historic mill was ultimately demolished in 2012.

After the county purchased the property in 2013, it utilized the popularity of Clifton Beach to pursue the development of Clifton Park. The area has undergone some recreational improvements since the purchase. However, the beach was tentatively closed earlier this year after two separate drowning incidents over the summer.

County councilman, David Britt, said the M Peters Group redevelopment of Clifton Mill will improve the overall safety of the beach and park.

“We'll still include our Parks and Recreation folks out there, keeping the area clean, but it will just be different,” Britt said. “It won't be a river that you go jump in, it'll be a nice park. I think it'll be an improvement and I don't think we'll have these problems down the road.”

Britt described M Peters Group vision for the development as transformative for the Clifton area.

“They will reimagine the Clifton, Cowpens, Glendale area,” Britt said. “It will impact that whole area for not even just the rest of our lives but for generations to come.”

Kathryn Casteel covers growth and development for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Contact Kathryn at [email protected] or on Twitter @kathryncasteel.

PACOLET MILLS - R.S. Burns had a good idea 35 years ago, and this week it finally became a reality. Burns' idea can be seen as you cross the Pacolet River on S.C. Highway 150 outside Pacolet Mills in southeastern Spartanburg County. A 10-foot-high statue of a rearing white horse stands on an abandoned bridge support 35 feet above the river. Some passers-by slow down, some even stop. Some look and don't watch where they are going and add tire marks to the curb running along both sides of the bridge. Others just blow their horns warning those standing on the bridge. They're all looking at Burns' idea-come-true - a tribute to the white and black Pacolet Mills Trojan baseball teams that played in the Textile League in the 1940s and '50s. It was 35 years ago that Burns, co-chairman of the Pacolet Mills Amphitheater Organization that sponsored the Trojan tribute, first thought about erecting a local monument on the bridge support left behind when the old bridge was torn down in favor of a new bridge nearby. He initially thought of a Pacolet High Indian mascot. The school ceased to exists, so he changed his goal to honoring the successful Trojan teams. "I tried to get some people interested in it then, but nobody seemed to want to do it; but I still thought over the years it would be a good idea," Burns said Friday as he stood on the bridge looking at the Trojan horse. Burns, a retired textile worker, credits Fred "Worry" Kirby with helping bring his idea to reality and with getting most of the funds needed to purchase the $2,800 horse statue. Kirby spotted the horse in Greenville about two years ago and his group has been working on the project since, along with a large number of volunteers. "He (Kirby) can go out with a bucket and get it filled with donations before you realize he's gone," Burns said of his friend Kirby's ability to raise money for the amphitheater. "He is the champion fund-raiser." Kirby not only helped raise the funds, but he and three other volunteers spent most of July 4th high above the river painting the base of the support and getting it ready for the statue. Burns and Kirby say raising the money to buy the fiberglass horse has not been a problem, although their group did have to borrow $600 to have enough to pay for it. "Getting it out there, that was the problem," Kirby said, pointing across the gap between the bridge and the support. Kirby went into the river from a ladder lowered from the bridge. He then attached a rope to the base of the ladder and it was "walked" across the 34 feet separating the bridge and the support. Kirby, Pacolet Mills Mayor Jimmy Hinson, Larry Morris and Reggie Ellison then climbed the ladder and began painting the top of the support. "We had our July 4th lunch on top of that thing. They rigged up ropes and sent our lunch and paint supplies across to us on it," Kirby said. Although it was his idea, Burns said there was no way he was going to go over to the old bridge support. "I've never been over there and I never will," he said. The horse, which is mounted on a metal base, was placed on the bridge support Thursday with Kirby. This time, however, a bucket truck was used to deposit the workers atop the support along with the 600-pound horse, which is tethered to a black mesh screen. The wire is intended to prevent objects from being thrown at the horse. Burns and Kirby are proud of two horseshoes that are attached to the wire screen. "Those horseshoes came from a horse owned by Loree Morgan, the country music singer. They were given to us by a man who stabled her horse," Burns said. Burns said there were skeptics among the crowd of onlookers on the bridge July 4th and again Thursday. "First they said we couldn't do it, and when they saw we could they then tried to tell us how to do it. That didn't work so well, so they then decided to help us," he said with a tongue-in-cheek grin. Burns said placing the horse over the river did have a down side. "I kept the horse lying down at my house while we were getting everything ready, and I've got a little ol' dog who is about as crazy as I am and he took up with the horse," he said. "I would go out there every morning and he would be curled up asleep under the horse's head. When we took the horse away that little dog was right pitiful." TROJAN.2