By Lydia Dishman
SCBIZ Daily Contributing Writer

The rumble of heavy equipment provided the soundtrack for an announcement of a new mixed-use development on the corner of Main and Broad streets in downtown Greenville. Front loaders scooped excess dirt while other machinery pulverized the granite layer at the construction site on Tuesday, as a group of city officials, council members and business leaders gathered across the street outside the Peace Center for the Performing Arts to hear Paul “Bo” Aughtry, president of the Commercial Division of Windsor/Aughtry, and other partners in the project, present their plan.

“Here we go again,” said Greenville Mayor Knox White as he gestured to the scale model of what will be a multi-million-dollar, six-story development, officially named Main@Broad. While he joked about the blasting, which has taken place right next to City Hall almost daily since construction began, White said he was confident that the team responsible for this “prime piece of real estate” is going to devote a great deal of attention that would make it, “a landmark for the city for generations to come.”

As such, Benjamin T. Rook led a team of project architects at Design Strategies to design a distinctive building and greenspace for Main@Broad that will include at 135-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel, 65,000 square feet of retail and office space, a 250-space parking garage and an upscale restaurant, Nantucket Seafood Grill.

When he took the podium, Rick Erwin, a local restaurateur and owner of an eponymous high-end grill just a few blocks away, pointed to a poster with the Nantucket Seafood Grill logo and explained that his latest foray into the food world would be, “Very New England, very New York and very new Greenville.”

In an interview after the announcement, Erwin asserted that his company would be in charge of all the food and beverage for the Courtyard by Marriott including room service and catering of events in the hotel’s meeting rooms. Though he’s been in the restaurant business for over 30 years, Erwin admitted he has not previously worked within a hotel setting and was planning to hire an experienced team to provide high quality service.

Greenville’s City Manager Jim Bourey asserted that the combination of Erwin’s upscale restaurant with the hotel would make an already prominent site, “a major piece of downtown.” Bourey noted that the plan for additional greenspace to be located between Main@Broad and City Hall would be vital to the development and that plans would be made to schedule outdoor programming.

Rook agreed that the public outdoor space would enliven a location he saw as, “active 24/7.” Rook explained that one design objective to connect North Main (the original locus of downtown) with South Main (the up-and-comer) would be achieved by creating a village green surrounded by trees and bordered by a water feature. “You see this in New England. We hope it will become a center for the community,” he said.

Main@Broad presents other practical advantages. Megan Riegel, president of the Peace Center said, “We are thrilled to have them as neighbors. No doubt we’ll be using some of the meeting spaces.” She also noted that touring artists could stay at the hotel.

The development also represents a very significant source of revenue for the city according to Bourey, although he explained that property taxes for the site would remain in a TIF fund through 2021.

Main@Broad is scheduled to be completed in fall 2009.