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GREENVILLE, S.C. —

The renovation and expansion plans for the Bon Secours Wellness Arena were revealed Thursday morning.

Check out this slideshow or the video above to see what it will look like.

"We've done such a great job for 25 years, and we just want to ensure that we remain competitive, and so I think it's essential to the future success of the arena," General Manager Beth Paul said.

The master plan, unveiled by the Greenville Arena District (GAD), owner and operator of Bon Secours Wellness Arena, includes the following:

The project is expected to create 545 permanent jobs, generating $15 million annually in compensation and an estimated $63 million each year in economic impact.

"There are times, certainly, where we missed out on a show because an artist is playing outdoors, and right now, the market doesn't have that 6,500 seat boutique, which is doing very well in many other markets. They're just skipping Greenville altogether," Paul said.

The planning process included extensive community engagement, including focus groups with former residents of Little Texas, shadowing sessions with members of the disability community, surveys of thousands of guests and premium seat holders, and meetings with neighborhood representatives, city and county officials, and business leaders.

Tony Mims is a former resident of Little Texas.

"I want them to remember that this was sacred ground," he said. "This was one of the first Black communities that people were actually owning their homes."

The Greenville Arena District said the plan, developed by the architecture firms LS3P, LMN, and Gensler, emphasizes its commitment to being the Upstate’s premier hub for live events and concerts.

Paul explained why the arena decided to add another entrance to the western side of the building.

"One was to create lobby space. We don't have sufficient or lobby space at all now," she said. "Also to try to make it an easier entry and egress from the building and out of the building, and then, to reposition it away from the East North Street, I-385 intersection."

The proposed renovation also aims to generate economic activity that significantly benefits local businesses, supports infrastructure development, and enhances the region’s cultural vibrancy and quality of life.

Six core principles guided the master plan: enhancing connectivity to downtown, creating a welcoming environment, strengthening community partnerships, improving the guest experience, ensuring safety and wellness, and practicing financial stewardship while honoring the site’s history.

The rapidly evolving entertainment industry also influenced the vision. This involved addressing new artist needs for staging and production, adapting to shifting audience expectations, and responding to increased competition from venues in the Southeast and across the nation.

The next phase of the master planning process will involve further development of the designs, refinement of cost estimates, exploration of funding strategies, and ongoing engagement with stakeholders. GAD aims to finalize the plan by the end of the year, intending to begin the most critical arena improvements in 2026 or early 2027.

Meanwhile, the Greenville Gateway Project, located across the street from the arena, plans to break ground on the tallest skyscraper in South Carolina this summer.

"I think what this does is it ignites a spark because it's visible to the general population," said Bobby Donovan, a custodian of the Greenville Gateway Fund. "You're going to start to see critical mass build behind this, and it's going to be contagious."

Top Picks

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Greenville leaders are looking at ways to fix the county’s road problem, but staff say they know which roads should be a priority for paving this year.

During Tuesday’s committee meeting, county engineers said in 2024—they paved 37 miles of two-lane roads. but data shows each year many roads are deteriorating, so they have a system of prioritizing which roads to tackle first.

The 2025 paving list includes dozens of county-owned road projects mainly on neighborhood and residential streets. They use the pavement condition index—or PCI—to rate roads 0 to 100. 0 being the worst.

“At 13% of the counties, roads are considered to be backlogged, which means they have a PCI of 40 or below,” said County Paving Engineer Seth Kiser.

The average road in the county has a PCI of 61—a drop from 65 in 2020.

“You’re just not randomly picking roads, and clearly there’s a whole step by step process to get us to the point of where we are,” said Councilwoman Liz Seman during the meeting.

Picking the roads is one thing, paying to pave them is another. Labor and supply costs have soared, making it even more difficult to tackle the county’s road challenges.

The cost of paving per mile increased from around $502,200 in 2023 to $741,900 in 2024. But once it’s paved—it’ll last.

“We’re creating a road that will last significantly longer than if we were to just overlay it and have it look good for five years. These roads will look good 25 years from now,” Kiser said.

This list isn’t final; some things may change and council leaders are allowed to suggest other roads in their districts. View the full list here.

Along with the new paving list, Greenville County also launched a new interactive map where you can check the status of paving projects near you.

Copyright 2025 WHNS. All rights reserved.

The Peace Center, Greenville's premier performing arts theater, has announced its 2025-2026 Broadway series lineup. The series will begin in September and run through next August and include 10 popular primetime shows over 11 months.

Sponsored by Gibbs Cancer Center, the upcoming season lineup in downtown Greenville will feature the longest-running Broadway musical, "Les Misérables," and seven new tours, such as Tony Award-winning Best Musical "The Outsiders" and "Hell's Kitchen," a musical by R&B singer Alicia Keys.

"The social, cultural, and economic enrichment (Broadway Season) has brought to our community has been astounding, and the titles we have lined up for next season are sure on this mission-driven growth," said Megan Riegel, CEO and president of the Peace Center.

From one of the most recognized and beloved Broadway productions in history –– ‘Les Mis’ –– to seven first-ever tours, every show this season is a "must-see’ hit,” according to the Peace Center.

Ten show season subscriptions, starting at $59 per month on an interest-free payment plan, are now available to new and subscribed Peacekeeper members.

Here is more on the upcoming shows slated for The Peace Center's 2025-2026 Broadway Season:

Peace Center Broadway series schedule

Beginning in September 2025 through August 2026, The Peace Center will host 10 Broadway season performances.

Here are the confirmed show dates for their upcoming season:

More about Peace Center and where to purchase tickets for 2025-2026 Broadway Season

The Peace Center is a performing arts center located at 300 S. Main St. in downtown Greenville. Its six-acre campus hosts Broadway shows, comedians, musical performers, and more in a concert hall, theater, outdoor amphitheater, and surrounding buildings.

The non-profit organization opened in 1990 and will soon see a major expansion with the addition of two music venues. By 2030, the Peace Center campus will become a 10-venue arts and entertainment destination.

Ticket packages at the Peace Center are offered to all, but are first made available to Peacekeepers — or subscribers.

Tickets may be purchased online at peacecenter.org, by calling the box office at 864-467-3000, or by visiting the Peace Center's ticket office between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

– A.J. Jackson covers business, the food & dining scene and downtown culture for The Greenville News. Contact him by email at [email protected], and follow him on X (formally Twitter) @ajhappened. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.Sign up today for a digital subscription.

After collaborating with “golf royalty” to create courses globally, Scott Ferrell is teaming up with longtime Greenville resident and businessman Barton Tuck to kick off a golf club close to home.

“There isn’t a golf project like this in Greenville,” Ferrell says. “There hasn’t been a private golf club developed here in 30 years. I think the market is ready.”

Ferrell and Tuck are developing Kawonu Golf Club, a private, golf-only club on 300 acres, 17 miles south of Downtown Greenville.

While other clubs in the Upstate feature amenities for swimming, tennis and pickleball, Kawonu will be designed specifically for local and out-of-town golfers.

“That golf-only concept is appealing to people who are passionate about golf,” Ferrell says. “You don't find that within 25 minutes of Greenville. We're creating a place where you can get away without having to get away.”

Kawonu will be located at Fork Shoals Road and Hwy. 418 in Simpsonville. The closest similar courses are in Aiken or Beaufort, he says.

“We believe that our plans, our site, our architects, our team … We can raise the bar for golf in the Upstate,” Ferrell says. “I love Greenville. I've been here 17 years. It's a phenomenal place. I think having a world-class, golf-only destination project is going to make Greenville even better than it is.”

Ferrell has not always worked close to home. His career has taken him from coast to coast and around the world with the PGA and legendary golfer and course designer Gary Player.

Golf is a constant in his life.

“I grew up in a small town in Virginia, and we had a little club. I was 7 when I started playing. I fell in love with the game. My whole family played. We played, we watched, we worked at the golf course. I had a passion,” he says.

Relationships are another constant. “I'm still close to the people I’ve met along the way, even the 7-year-old I started with. We remain best of friends,” Ferrell says. “As Gary Player always said, ‘Golf is a friend-making machine.’”

Two decades after Ferrell first swung a club, he took a job with the PGA Tour and later with Player.

Originally from South Africa, Player won the Masters Tournament three times, the British Open three times, the PGA Championship twice, and the U.S. Open once. He received the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

“I traveled the world with him for 15 years. Most of what we did was international,” Ferrell says. “I saw places I never thought I might see. And I did it with golf royalty.”

As President of Gary Player Design, Ferrell helped establish golf courses in China, the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Morocco, France, Honduras, Mexico, Canada, India and other locations.

“My role was to identify new projects. I located the developers who had the property, funding and permits,” Ferrell says. “We had talented architects who worked with Gary on the golf concepts and strategy. We would design the golf course and help market it through Gary Player.”

The organization worked in and out of China for about a decade. “There was a time (in the mid-2000s) that golf was soft in the United States and starting to grow in China. The whole industry flocked to China. I would run into my competitors at the airport in Shanghai.”

Ferrell worked on approximately 10 golf courses in China. However, later, 80 courses were bulldozed in Beijing as part of an anti-corruption movement. “They felt that golf was tied to the corruption,” he says.

“We never did another project there. It went from the hottest place in the world to nothing in a very short period.”

Before Ferrell left the Player organization in 2016, he and his family relocated to Greenville from Florida to work on the golf course at The Cliffs at Mountain Park. Then he took a break and served on the board of a company that created and later sold a software program for golf course superintendents.

And he met Barton Tuck.

“Barton has probably developed 30 golf courses. He and I kept trying to figure out things to do together. We'd have lunch often to stay in touch. Now he’s my partner in this project,” Ferrell says.

Ferrell says his research convinced him that Greenville would support a private, golf-only club. Then, he and Tuck found the undeveloped 300-acre tract along the Reedy River.

“The buzz was starting in Greenville about what we were doing,” Ferrell says. “A buzz has to turn into memberships for this to work. But I felt strongly that the buzz was real. When we officially went out to invite members, our bullishness was affirmed, and people were ready to commit. We've had a lot of success.”

Tuck and Ferrell engaged architect Andrew Green to design the course. “He was on the rise, and since then has been even more on the rise,” Ferrell says. They selected Joel Newman to design the clubhouse and as many as 20 four-bedroom cottages.

A ceremony celebrating the upcoming groundbreaking is scheduled this week. The opening is projected for spring or early summer 2027.

Ferrell says Kawonu Golf Club has been welcomed by those who worry about the pace of development in southern Greenville County.

“We're taking 300 acres out of play. Up to 800 homes could have been built there. That's not going to happen anymore. People love the open space,” Ferrell says.

Green’s design does not disturb 60 acres in the Reedy River floodplain. Ferrell says he is working with conservationists to safeguard that property.

“The site is perfect for a golf course. It's got five existing lakes. We're not going to move a lot of dirt,” he says. “Andrew Green wants to use what we have. That's very environmentally friendly and sustainable.”

The cottages will be designed to accommodate a four-person golf outing, not for seclusion, Ferrell says.

“We will have a clubhouse with a full food and beverage operation. So, we would prefer to see people come to the clubhouse for meals and social activities,” he says.

“They’ll see everybody else on the property. A social environment. That's what golf is all about.”

Novant Health Inc. has confirmed filing with South Carolina health regulators plans to open a 20-bed hospital in the Greenville, S.C., market that would be focused on outpatient procedures.

Novant has filed a certificate-of-need application with the S.C. Department of Public Health to build the hospital with an estimated $132 million capital investment.

A CON is required before a health care system or provider can build a facility, buy equipment or offer a surgical procedure, among other things. The primary goal is to prevent unnecessary duplication of services within a community or region.

The CON application confirmation comes after Novant paid $17 million in August to purchase 11.5 acres near Greenville off Interstate 385 at 221 Patewood Drive between the Haywood Road and Roper Mountain Road exits.

Novant said in a news release Wednesday the hospital, if approved, would open in early 2027 and feature operating rooms and diagnostic imaging and services — “all tailored to meet the growing demand for outpatient and specialty care in Greenville and surrounding communities.”

“This hospital will be the first step in a broader expansion plan to create a healthier future in the Upstate, rooted in Novant Health’s community-based, innovative healthcare model.”

If approved for the Greenville hospital, Novant would be competing with Prisma Health and Bon Secours, a Catholic system based in Marriottsville, Md.

Prisma is South Carolina’s largest healthcare system with 18 acute and specialty hospitals. That includes three traditional, one children’s and one rehabilitation hospital in Greenville and North Greenville among 11 in the Upstate region.

Novant also said in the news release it has named Ryan Lee as president of its Greenville region

Lee currently serves as president of Novant’s Coastal Carolina Medical Center in Hardeeville, S.C.

“This opportunity is especially meaningful to me, as it brings us closer to family and lifelong friends in the region,” Lee said. Both he and his wife are Clemson University graduates.

Novant re-entered the South Carolina marketplace in August 2023 when it spent $75 million to acquire a 30% ownership stake in Conway Medical Center.

That represented a crossing-the-border extension of Novant’s operational hub in southeastern North Carolina into the Grand Strand region, Georgetown and Horry counties, and as far as Florence, S.C.

In February, Novant completed its $2.4 billion purchase of Hilton Head Hospital, Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville, and East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Novant Health also has served South Carolinians with imaging care in the Upstate, Midlands, Pee Dee and Lowcountry areas through MedQuest Associates.

Not just South Carolina

Novant’s executive leadership is not bashful about touting the growth potential — from $10 billion in annual revenue currently to $30 billion — through hospital acquisitions and new facilities.

Novant operates 19 hospitals systemwide, including Forsyth, Clemmons, Kernersville and Thomasville medical centers and Medical Park Hospital in Winston-Salem. Novant has nearly 40,000 employees, of which 8,145 are in Forsyth County as one of the Triad’s largest employers.

For the second consecutive year, Novant chief executive Carl Armato and his management team presented their vision to a JPMorgan Health investor conference on Jan. 22.

Novant offered several PowerPoint pages touting its “remarkable” branding in terms of patient care, along with its artificial intelligence advances.

Yet, the essence of the presentation is demonstrating Novant’s financial strengths compared with current and potential future competitors.

Besides tripling annual revenue to $30 billion by an unspecified target date, Novant wants to become the “Southeast’s leading regional health system” beyond the Carolinas to include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Novant claims in its investor presentation already being “the leading health system in the Carolinas ... driving diversified growth with the largest, high-value network in the region.”

“We can acquire other hospitals, implement our strategy and continue to post strong financial results,” Novant chief financial officer Alice Pope told investors.

Armato said in a statement post-presentation that “we are intentionally building a health system focused on providing remarkable care in every possible patient setting.”

“Along with North and South Carolina, the entire southeastern United States is projected to experience rapid population growth in the years ahead, and we are working to anticipate what our patients and communities need.”