The Greenville County Council has moved forward on a roughly $40 million plan to relocate state offices from some expensive real estate downtown to a pair of office buildings near Haywood Mall.

The decision at Tuesday night's County Council meeting means the county is moving forward with the $1 billion commercial and residential redevelopment of County Square that council members first approved more than a year ago.

The purchase price for the buildings, formerly part of the Fluor Corp. campus off Halton Road behind the mall, will be $33.1 million, according to council members. The county will spend an additional $5 million to $8 million up-fitting the buildings for county and state services, according to a memo circulated to council members last March.

"We had to make a decision today because we are at a junction where we can't move forward and we can't move backward," Council Chairman Butch Kirven said, adding that he was excited to see the project move forward. "We're getting there."

The county will shoulder the cost through a combination of borrowing and tax revenue off the downtown redevelopment project.

The vote to approve the purchase was 9-2, with Willis Meadows and Michael Barnes opposed. Lynn Ballard was out of town.

Three council members who opposed the purchase last April on the grounds that the county did not first secure an appraisal of the Halton Road buildings — Rick Roberts, Ennis Fant and Xanthene Norris — supported the purchase Tuesday. The council secured an appraisal of the buildings in May.

The appraisal, conducted by Integra Realty Resources out of Columbia, came in at $33.56 million. Those same Halton Road buildings sold for $18,350,000 in January 2018, according to county property records, and city building permits show it has had just under $1 million in upgrades in the months since.

Meadows said Tuesday night that he supports the redevelopment of County Square in general but that he could not support the purchase price approved Tuesday for the buildings. Other office buildings referenced in the appraisal to establish their value were in Fort Lauderdale, Birmingham, Alabama, Durham, North Carolina, Charlotte and Charleston — cities more than 100 miles from Greenville.

"It has been vacant for 18 months," Meadows said. "It hasn't appreciated $15 million over that period of time. Wouldn't all of us like to buy a piece of property, keep it 18 months and reap an 80% profit?"

The purchase is a critical step in the $1 billion redevelopment of 37 acres of public land on University Ridge where the county government currently has its headquarters and houses several state facilities, including Family Court and the departments of health, social services and probation. As part of the project, the former Bells Tower Mall north of University Ridge will be razed as will all county-owned buildings south of University Ridge.

Also supporting the $33.1 million purchase were Kirven, Liz Seman, Dan Tripp, Joe Dill, Bob Taylor and Sid Cates.

"It's time to move on," Fant said. "I think this is what a deliberative body should do is discuss, get mad, fall out, walk away but at the end of the day get together, find common ground and move forward."

Roberts said before the meeting that he thought a majority of the council would support the purchase.

"At least we checked all the boxes," Roberts said, referring to the appraisal.

The state offices have for decades existed side-by-side with county offices, but they will have no room in the $70 million county office tower that is replacing County Square. The project's other 32 acres will consist of hotels, apartments, offices and stores, some proposed to rise as high as 20 stories, that an Atlanta developer has planned for the site.

Halton Road Marketing Flyer | Building Technology | Architectural Elements

County Administrator Joe Kernell has long favored the Halton Road buildings over a couple of other options — McAlister Square and the Greenville Convention Center — once considered for relocating the state offices.

Colliers International has been marketing the property as the Axis Office Park. The three-story buildings are located at 350 and 352 Halton Road in Greenville.

Colliers brokerage associate Taylor Allen was on hand Tuesday night to witness the vote. He said that having 250,000 square feet of office space filled up would help the local economy.

"It's good for the overall health of the market," Allen said.

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