Greenwood OKs $50,000 to appraise properties eyed for downtown revitalization

Mayor Charles Henderson's vision to revitalize downtown Greenwood is coming into sharper focus.

The City Council this week approved using up to $50,000 from the city's rainy day fund to pay for appraisals of several properties along Main Street and Madison Avenue in Old Towne.
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Henderson sees the Main and Madison intersection as a crucial component in his plan to revive downtown.

The rainy day fund has a current balance of just more than $1.37 million.

Henderson's plan calls for a new city building and a City Court building, along with widening Main and Madison, at a cost of $11.72 million.

Whether a new city building, with an estimated cost of about $6.44 million, would be located at the busy intersection is yet to be determined.

Henderson's cost estimates include $500,000 to purchase five properties on Main, including the VanValer law office -- a cost that bothered Bruce Armstrong, who was the only council member to reject the request.

"I don't know where the money would come from to buy the VanValer law office," he said. "The problem there is that all the rest of (the properties) hinge on the VanValer property.

"Why do the appraisals when you don't have a good feeling you have enough money to take care of it first?"

Henderson's plan also calls for the purchase of two rights of way on Main Street and two on Madison Avenue.

In addition to Main and Madison, Henderson's vision includes redeveloping Old City Park with new restrooms, a splash park, new picnic shelter and a playground, with an estimated cost of just under $2 million.

After the appraisals are complete, "we can look at them and say, 'Are they or are they not reasonable?' " Henderson said at Monday's council meeting.

"If they're not reasonable, we can say scrap it and we can't do it."