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Greenville Business Magazine

#YeahTHATAgenda: Grand Bohemian Greenville Unveils New Interior Images, Topgolf's Opening Date, Vote on TR's Pinestone Delayed, Catawbas Want to Gamble, Plastic Polo Shirts

Apr 19, 2019 08:15AM ● By Chris Haire
Grand Bohemian Greenville Breaks Ground, Unveils Renderings of Restaurant and Lobby: On Wednesday, the Kessler Collection's Richard C. Kessler, Mayor Knox White, and other officials held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the Grand Bohemian Greenville overlooking the Reedy River. The Kessler Collection also released renderings of two interior focal points, the lobby and a two-floor bar and restaurant. 

Much like Charleston's Grand Bohemian, the 187-room, 30-suite Grand Bohemian Greenville boutique hotel will feature art work curated by Kessler himself, a man who helped found the successful Days Inn chain in 1970 back when he was only 23, according to his company bio. Since 2010, Kessler has kept himself busy with the Kessler Collection, a string of nine hotels operating in Orlando, Asheville, St. Augustine, and Savannah, with eyes on new Grand Bohemians in Charlotte and Atlanta.

“The location is uniquely dramatic, situated in the heart [of] a downtown reprieve, overlooking the Reedy River. There will be no other hotel in the state of South Carolina with such tranquil ambiance created by natural beauty," Kessler said in a statement.

The Grand Bohemian Greenville is inspired by mountain lodges and is expected to be completed in 2021. It will be located blocks away from the new Camperdown development, one of the signature projects in the East Gateway District. 

Camperdown will feature the 17-story Falls Tower, the new AC Hotel By Marriott, and the Greenville News. The development will bring with it a mix of residential, retail, and some 150,000 square feet of office space. Local business solutions firm Elliott Davis plans to move its headquarters to Camperdown, as does the GVL HQ of Bank of America.

Further down Broad, plans for a five-story 38-condo complex have been submitted to the Greenville Planning Commission. Located at 301 East Broad Street, at the corner of Broad and David Francis Street and across the street from McBee Station, the development would sit on 1.9 acres. Broad Street LLC is behind the complex while the Johnson Design Group is the architect. 

The development of the East Gateway District and Broad Street stands out from the other projects in downtown Greenville, which are largely concentrated in West End. The ongoing construction in the two areas are sign that the center of town is continuing to move away from the northern end of Main Street where downtown revitalization began nearly 40 years ago. 
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 Upstate SC Alliance Launches Major Campaign To Recruit Job Seekers: "Move Up" -- those are the words that Upstate SC Alliance and other business organizations want out-of-area job seekers to have in their heads when they start searching for new employment. It's a carefully crafted catchphrase that is not only the recruitment campaign's name, but a call for workers of all stripes to move up in their careers and move up to the Upstate where the Blue Ridge Mountains yawn their greatness, to borrow from a local alma mater.

The Move Up campaign was officially unveiled April 17 at Upstate SC Alliance's annual meeting, and what was revealed was an online effort spearheaded by a resource-heavy website, MoveUpstateSC.com, and the promise of a social media campaign that recalls VisitGreenvilleSC's successful #yeahTHATGreenville campaign, with the job-recruitment effort nudging current residents to share their stories about why they call the Upstate home using the hashtags #MoveUpSC and #AreYouUpForIt.

While the MoveUpstateSC site will allow users to explore the Upstate county by county -- whether it be by cost of living, housing availability, marquee employers, or amenities -- a key component of the site will involve promoting so-called Upstarters, the men and women who moved up to the Upstate to find better careers and a better quality of life, from former Washington, D.C. resident Chris Briddell, vice president and chief compliance officer for AnMed Health, to Indiana native and engineer Sadie Waycaster, an associate product manager at the Duncan fiber optic firm AFL. 

“Workforce has quickly become a top factor as companies consider whether to locate or expand in our region,” said John Lummus, Upstate SC Alliance President and CEO, in a statement. “Our region has the right ingredients not only to meet business needs, but also to provide fulfilling careers and a rich lifestyle. Move Up is here to help employers and our communities tell that story.”

With the unemployment rate remaining at a record lows and the labor force participation falling as Boomers and others leave the workforce, the Upstate area needs new workers to fill current job openings and to fulfill the area's promise as one of the nation's leading emerging job markets. Greenville alone is expected to add 3,734 new jobs by 2024, while Spartanburg is predicted to tack on 2,083, according to the S.C. Department Employment and Workforce. Coupled with that: a need to replace 6,268 positions in Greenville and 3,879 posts in Spartanburg.

Lummus also noted that the site is initially envisioned to be used by employers to assist in their recruitment efforts. "Employers and recruiters can place a brand badge and link on their websites to direct job-seekers to explore the community before they’ve even applied for a job by visiting MoveUpstateSC.com," he said. 
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Travelers Rest to develop new guide for growth development downtown (Greenville News)

Topgolf to open at the end of April (Upstate Business Journal)

Talk of Catawba Indians Kings Mountain casino heat up (GoUpstate)

Greenwood Center research involved in experimental CBD drug trial (Greenwood Index-Journal)

Update: Final vote on 40-acre Travelers Rest development Pinestone removed from agenda for 2nd month in a row (TR Tribune)

Major arts, humanities donor pledges $1.5M to Charleston’s African American Museum (Post and Courier)

Pay raises coming for SC school teachers, state employees (The State) 

Charleston airport board votes to name terminal after late US Sen. Fritz Hollings (Post and Courier)

Rethink that an emergency exit row seat: With great legroom comes great responsibility (Stars & Stripes)

GM board will become majority female (Automotive News)

Uber’s self-driving car unit just raised another $1 billion (Fast Company)

Uber’s Stock Offering Docs Provide Peek into Freight Business (Trucks.com)

Air Force to Begin Shifting Research Funds to These Kinds of Next-Gen Weapons (Defense One)

Opinion: How Green Politics Could Imperil Aviation (Aviation Week)

IBM to wind down Watson's work in AI drug discovery: report (Fierce Biotech)

Bacteria in healthcare workers' clothes jumps fourfold when worn more than one shift (Becker's Hospital Review)

Scientists Are Using CRISPR to Re-domesticate Fruits and Vegetables (Discover Mag)

McDonald’s Corp. is taking “signature crafted” hamburgers off its menu, after the sandwiches slowed operations at the chain’s restaurants (WSJ)

America’s Upper Middle Class Feeling the Pinch Too (Bloomberg)

Earth, Meet Polo: Ralph Lauren Unveils Plastic Bottle Shirt (Manufacturing.Net)

The Wire
Michelin Maintains Top-10 Ranking Among America's Best Large Employers (Cision)

Coldwell Banker Caine Hosts Official Launch Of Washington On Main

SCCADVASA Launches Healthy Relationships Campaign Statewide To Recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Kingdom Winds Launches Streaming Church Service Platform (Cision)

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Best & Brightest 35 and Under
Laura Jones
McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture | Architect
Age 34

I graduated from Clemson with a bachelor’s in architecture with a minor in speech and communications. During my senior year, my dad was diagnosed with cancer, changing my career path forever.

In 2011, I graduated with a master’s in architecture and earned a post-professional degree in architecture and health focusing on evidenced-based design of health care facilities. Working in the field of health care architecture, I have the privilege of designing spaces that support patients, family, and staff during some of the most vulnerable and stressful times in people’s lives and leading the team for McMillan Pazdan Smith that does the planning, design, and construction oversight for our Greenville Health System projects.

I served as a board member for the Medical Benevolence Foundation, helping to build and equipping locals to run hospitals and clinics around the world. Locally, I have served as the coordinator for Interfaith Hospitality Network at our church and now serve as the chairwoman of the Mission Committee, leading the committee in the planning and execution of mission work in our local community and around the world. I have been involved in eight United Way campaigns, serving as McMillan Pazdan Smith’s co-chair for seven of them, and have participated in the School Tools campaign, Hands on Greenville, and Live United Day.