This Block? It’s Schwarz turf

 

January 28, 2005
News & Record
By Nate Degraff

Two brothers will soon own an entire city block downtown, and they have big plans for it. Greensboro – Brothers Mark and Todd Schwarz aren’t just the biggest kids on their block; they’re pretty much the only kids. The development duo, along with partner Rex Tuggle, will soon be the sole owners of an entire city block; a nearly 1 –acre tract bordered by Smothers Place and Elm, McGee and Greene streets.

“It’s unique,” said Mark Schwarz, who founded Mid-Atlantic Development Group with his brother in 2000. “We kind of view this as a gateway to South Elm.”

During the next several years, the developers will work with a block that’s a hodgepodge of new condominiums, historic buildings, low-rise retail shops and a parking lot. They envision the space holding more than 60 living spaces and about a dozen retailers.

There are probably five or six blocks near the city center that have one owner, said Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro. But those tracts were assembled years ago. These days, it’s much harder to buy an entire block because so many property owners are involved, he said.

Gibbs said he likes the developers’ plans to offer more space for shops. “We need some more commercial spaces,” he said. “There’s not much out there to offer folks.”

One of the most visible structures on the block is Smothers Place, the developer’s condominium project on South Elm Street. Crews are building the 33-unit first phase, which has sold out. A retail space will occupy part of the ground floor. The second phase, which will include 18 condos and another retail space, is planned for the west edge of the property. The group expects to buy that tract, now a city-owned parking lot, within the next 30 days.

On McGee Street, the developers have gutted the old Carolina Hotel. The plan to transform the space into four live/work units, in which the occupant has an office or retail shop on the first floor and lives on the second and third floors. Work on the project is expected to wrap up early this summer.

The block really came together when the developers bought Blumenthal’s, a long time South Elm Street clothier, and the adjacent property formerly owned by Bob Williams of Summerfield. Both deals closed earlier this month.

Blumenthal’s, which now rents the space from the developers, will likely leave space by next January. That leaves a few retailers – including a children’s clothing store and a tailor – in the smaller buildings along Elm and McGee.

The Schwarzes said they’d like to keep the main Blumenthal’s building, which has several apartments on its second and third floors. The remaining buildings will get a short-term face-lift as the developers try to attract more retailers, but they could eventually be torn down and replaced.