Hotel Hartness, onsite dining options open … Updated Greenville Gateway plans unveiled for former auditorium property … and New initiative works to help small, minority business development in Spartanburg County. These are just a few headlines in the past month you might have missed from Upstate Business Journal.

Hotel Hartness, onsite dining options open

After over two years of construction, Hotel Hartness, a 73-suite hotel in Greenville, opened its doors March 15.

The hotel at 120 Halston Ave. features a spa and two on-site dining venues, The Captain and Patterson Kitchen + Bar.

The Captain, a reclaimed barnwood-clad bar, also opened March 15 and offers a variety of wines and light bites.

Hotel Hartness’s dining options expanded when Patterson Kitchen + Bar opened on March 22.

Situated in the hotel’s courtyard, the restaurant serves food influenced by Southern and international flavors.

Whole Foods to become anchor of $1B County Square redevelopment

Whole Foods Market will become an anchor tenant in the $1 billion redevelopment of County Square, project developer RocaPoint Partners announced March 20.

The high-end natural and organic food market will occupy a standalone, state-of-the-art building being designed by MVA Architects and will serve the 3.5-million-square-foot mixed-use development.

The project will reshape nearly 40 acres of University Ridge, which for decades has been home to Greenville County’s administrative complex. The county is set to move into its new $65 million administrative buildings at the corner of University Ridge and North Church Street in the coming weeks.

Updated Greenville Gateway plans unveiled for former auditorium property

Miami-based NR Investments revealed plans for the site of the former Greenville Memorial Auditorium, a forlorn triangle of land near the Bon Secours Wellness Arena and sitting at the gateway to the heart of Greenville’s downtown.

Dubbed Gracie Plaza at the Arena District, the project will feature two interconnected towers — one at 16 stories and the other at seven stories — and offer 294 apartments and 8,000 square feet of retail space. The towers will be anchored by a central public plaza accessible from North Church Street and Beattie Place and will be designed to be a community hub that will feature frequent events aimed at energizing the Gateway District.

New initiative works to help small, minority business development in Spartanburg County

OneSpartanburg Inc. announced March 22 it has launched Power Up Spartanburg, a five-year, $6 million small- and minority-business-development initiative in Spartanburg County.

The initiative is funded by Spartanburg County Council and was launched in response to data compiled for the OneSpartanburg Vision Plan 2.0 that showed countywide small-business ownership was below the national average and Spartanburg County was 40% below the national average in the number of Black-owned, nonemployee businesses.

TIME Bicycles announces $6.5M investment to establish Spartanburg County operations

TIME Bicycles, a carbon fiber bicycle manufacturer, will invest $6.5 million to establish its first South Carolina operations in Landrum, the company announced March 23.

The investment is expected to create 105 jobs at 19810 Asheville Highway.

TIME Bicycles will begin renovating a 140,000-square-foot factory on 30 acres in April. The facility is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2023.