Nearly vacant for 12 years, this key Greenville retail property gets new life. Here are the details

For decades, a Bi-Lo grocery store served the upscale North Main neighborhood in Greenville, providing both a place to buy goods and as a good place to run into neighbors.

It was known as the Baby Bi-Lo because it was much smaller than the chain’s traditional stores. More than a convenience store, less than a supermarket, just right for a corner on North Main Street at the entrance to downtown Greenville.

Then, as the chain lapsed into financial struggles, Baby Bi-Lo was no more. The entire strip mall has been mostly vacant for the last 12 years.

Now comes Greenville development firm Oxford Capital Partners with a plan for a project that could include a grocery, salon, restaurants, retail, possibly even a butcher.

The company paid the local investors who owned the property $6.75 million for the 3-acre site and introduced its plans to the community Tuesday night.

“For a decade, we’ve been looking at this empty lot spot that contributed nothing,” said City Councilman John DeWorken, who lives in the North Main neighborhood.

Two previous proposals by an Atlanta company met with opposition. Both were apartment complexes of 11 and 13 stories.

“It just didn’t fit,” DeWorken said.

The site needs to be a transition between the central business district and the North Main neighborhood and two smaller neighborhoods nearby, he said.

Located at 505 N. Main St. at the corner with Park and across the street from a city park, the building will remain two stories and be called N. Main.

Harrison Horowitz, owner of Oxford Capital Partners, could not be reached for comment, but he told Upstate Business Journal, “My vision for N. Main is an all-day, every day gathering place for our neighbors in North Main and an amenity for the city of Greenville.”

Oxford Capital Partners is working with Chicago real estate developer Northpond Partners on the project.

As presented Tuesday night, the plan is for 12 commercial spaces, but that could change as tenants are identified. Charlotte-based Collette is handling leasing.

The city’s Design Review Board is expected to review the plans at its October meeting. If all goes well, construction could start early next year and be completed by mid-to-late fall, Horowitz told Upstate Business Journal.