Affordable housing project breaks ground in Greenville

An affordable housing project on Laurens Road in Greenville is underway officially after a ceremony that drew residents, city leaders and developers.

A groundbreaking at the corner of Ackley Road and Laurens Road drew a crowd as efforts to expand housing affordability in Greenville took another step.

The Alliance is a $38 million, fully affordable housing project consisting of two four‑story buildings on 3.8 acres at 1200 Laurens Road. The project will deliver 100 rental units reserved for households earning 70% of the Area Median Income or below, according to a city news release.

“This is going to allow our children to go away to school and come back and still be in the home area that they were raised in and have opportunities not only for a decent and affordable place to stay, but to also work in the community that loves and cares for them,” Yvonne Reeder, a former neighborhood president, said in the release.

The Alliance will include:

• 10 units at 20% AMI (for those earning approximately $15,300 a year)
• 11 units at 30% AMI (for those earning approximately $23,000 a year)
• 68 units at 60% AMI (for those earning approximately $46,000 a year)
• 11 units at 70% AMI (for those earning approximately $53,600 a year)

Mayor Knox White said The Alliance fits into a broader, deliberate strategy the city has pursued to preserve affordability.

“We can buy land and we’re buying key strategic sites, whether it’s around Unity Park, Haynie Sirrine, Greenline-Spartanburg. We can provide these enclaves where affordability is possible,” White said in the release.

The project is a partnership between NHE Inc., HF Housing Inc. (the nonprofit housing arm of Hollingsworth Funds), Jordon Development, and SCG Development. The development features 4,200 square feet of commercial space and approximately 5,000 square feet of amenities.

“We understand that it takes partnerships to make sure that we keep the diversity in Nicholtown that we need — not just racial diversity, but diversity of wealth, life circumstances and backgrounds,” District 3 City Councilmember Ken Gibson said in the release. “That’s what we believe makes a community great and makes a city great.”

While NHE began formal planning five years ago, residents say the need for such a project stretches back decades. Nicholtown — a historically Black neighborhood — has seen major changes over the past 10 years as Greenville has grown. Older homes have been flipped or converted into investment properties, and longtime residents have faced increasing housing pressures.

“The significance of the project is straightforward: it helps residents stay in the neighborhood they’ve long called home,” the Rev. Calvin Hailstock, president of the Nicholtown Neighborhood Association, said in the release. “We’re always trying to keep people in the neighborhood. With the drastic rise in housing costs, anything we can do to keep people in Nicholtown who’ve been in Nicholtown is amazing.”

The Alliance is expected to be complete in the summer of 2027.