The long-stalled vision of locating a new convention center in the heart of downtown Greenville has been revived as lawmakers are asking for $5 million in state tax money to help fund the project.

The new convention center would be located along the banks of the Reedy River on vacant land next to the Embassy Suites in RiverPlace, Mayor Knox White told The Greenville Newson Wednesday.

The total cost of building the center would likely be between $50 million to $60 million, not including the price of the land owned by prominent developers Bo Aughtry and Phil Hughes, White said.

The facility would also serve as an art museum, potentially housing collections from the Greenville County Art Museum and the the Museum & Gallery art collection associated with Bob Jones University, said state Rep. Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville, who co-sponsored the budget request with fellow Greenville Republican state Rep. Dwight Loftis.

The money would be allocated through the "earmark" budgetary process, where House members can set aside money for projects outside of requests made by state agencies during budget talks.

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The city and county would each contribute $26 million, with significant participation from the private sector, Bannister said. The overall economic investment once built out with associated mixed-use development would exceed $300 million, he said.

However, County Council Chairman Butch Kirven told The News on Thursday that the county hasn't committed to funding the project.

"We haven't put the question up yet," Kirven said. "It's premature for the council to make a commitment on it. The idea was they would get the state funding and if they were successful the county and the city would see what they would do. I think money all around will be a challenge for the project."

In a letter this past January to legislators asking for support for $26 million in state funding, Kirven referred to the project as an opportunity to "attract the highest echelons of economic attention to South Carolina directly influencing future investments, jobs, and opportunities for our citizens."

If the state provided $26 million, along with the same amount from the city, Kirven wrote, "I am confident the rest will be found at the local level."

County Councilman Ennis Fant, who provided a copy of the letter to The News, said that the letter was premature and not approved by the full council.

Fant said the convention center project, along with other major initiatives like the redevelopment of County Square, are in jeopardy because of deep political divisions on the council.

"On the surface, I like the idea," Fant said. "We'd have to have some very difficult discussions about funding. But the necessity and the need for it I applaud 100 percent.”

The House passed its budget on Wednesday, and it awaits consideration by the Senate.

The earmark request, which would pass through the state's Arts Commission, is listed on the House Ways and Means Committee website under the project name "Greenville Cultural & Arts Center."

The project is described on the list as a "convention center with meeting space, large group seating, and space to host the extensive Bob Jones Christian art collection."

The $5 million is the second-highest amount requested among eight earmark requests, with $41.4 million at the top for 2 percent pay increase for state employees.

In consultation with civic leaders, Bannister said he was convinced that the presence of a center specifically downtown would spur tourism and job growth.

The state contributed money for prominent convention centers in Horry and Charleston counties, he said.

"We have a legitimate need for a convention center," Bannister told The News. "We said, 'Why shouldn't the state participate in Greenvile like it participates in other counties the same way?"

The effort is in its early stages and requires multiple levels of participation, White said.

"We do have a row ahead of us to see how it will work out," he said.

Future of current Greenville Convention Center?

Three years ago, a consultant hired by the city to determine the feasibility of a downtown convention center had sharp words about what should happen to the 340,000-square-foot Greenville Convention Center - most recently known as the TD Center and before that the Palmetto Expo Center.

The consultant said it should be "mothballed."

Does Greenville need a downtown convention center?

The center was built in 1964 as a textile hall during Greenville's texitle heyday.

The city bailed the center out in 2001, taking over ownership for $6.75 million, and spent $22 million to renovate it in 2008.

The center still loses money but is subsidized by the city, though leaders have said the center has its value as a large-scale space to host traditional conventions such as car shows and home and garden shows.

“The (TD Center) is a product of another generation that needed a massive facility to showcase one particular industry,” the consulting firm wrote in its March 2016 study. “While it has been updated enough to host various event types, it is still a physical oddity relative to the marketplace.”

The coming of a downtown convention center wouldn't impact operation of the Greenville Convention Center "for the next several years" because the two aren't trying to attract the same clientele, White said.

There is still a market for the traditional shows, he said.

The downtown center would host a higher-end, business-related market that is looking for interesting locales to across the country, which Greenville offers with its downtown landscape.

The problem with the large center off Pleasantburg has been its unwieldy size but more so the isolation from downtown Greenville where business conventions aren't interested in taking a shuttle a few miles away, White said.

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