Plans to revitalize historic SC military/textile site with shops & homes on hold. Here’s why
A planned mixed-used development on a piece of what was once the World War I training base Camp Sevier in Greenville County is on hold.
The 50-acre Heddle Hill has become home to a number of artisans and craftsmen since textile manufacturer Steel Heddle closed in 2001.
University Capital Partners, which bought the property in 2021, envisioned much more — workspaces, shops, entertainment, and hundreds of homes.
The Greenville County Planning Commission thought otherwise. Commissioners voted 5-4 to deny the application, essentially because of the number of homes proposed.
In turn, UCP pulled the application before it got to Greenville County Council for consideration, saying they would take the feedback into consideration and submit a new plan.
A UCP representative could not be reached for comment Friday, but partner Douglas Kirkman said in an email to the Charleston Post and Courier, “We’re sensitive to everyone’s comments, criticisms, and perspectives, and we do not want to push against the issues that validly concern everyone.”
Camp Sevier was created in 1917 on 1,900 acres north of Greenville to train federalized National Guard soldiers. Some 100,000 troops from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee learned infantry skills and what were then new warfare techniques, such as gas defense and using machine guns, according to the South Carolina Encyclopedia. It closed in 1919.
In the 1920s, Philadelphia-based Steel Heddle moved south closer to textile mills to make heddles, drop wires and reeds for looms. A factory was built in downtown Greenville in 1923.
In 1942, Steel Heddle needed more space and opened a new facility on the 50-acre property on Rutherford Road. At one time, some 1,000 people were employed there.
Local investors bought the property in 2014.
“In December 2021, UCP Heddle Greenville, LLC stepped in with a broader vision,” the company said on its website. “Committing to significant improvements — renovating infrastructure, restoring facades, and modernizing the campus — they began laying the groundwork for something more ambitious than a business park.”
The property contains 11 buildings with 430,000 square feet.