Malls · South Carolina

McAlister Square

Imported, unreviewedReinhabitedOperatingGreenville, SC

McAlister Square opened 1968, lost anchors 1990s, today Greenville Tech Foundation‑run mixed‑use hub for education, civic, health, retail and entertainment. · summary, model-written

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Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from. documented = a quoted excerpt (click to read it) · reported = a source named, no excerpt yet · no source.

McAlister Square. Photo: Mike Kalasnik from Charlotte, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile18 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors

Belk-Simpson

This site: Belk-Simpson wikipedia · all sites with this

Dillard's

This site: Dillard's wikipedia · all sites with this

Finance and pipeline

On Facebook

This site: …https://www.facebook.com/180590535334497 overture · all sites with this

Website alive

This site: …http://www.gvltec.edu overture / http check · all sites with this

Place

100k+ jobs within 45 min by transit

This site: 107,732 epa-walkability · all sites with this

15-minute neighbourhood (5+ of 6 daily needs within 800 m)

This site: 5/6 openstreetmap · all sites with this

200+ tax-credit housing units within 1 km

This site: 450 units in 7 properties hud-lihtc · all sites with this

30,000+ vehicles a day on an adjacent road

This site: 39,700 on S PLEASANTBURG DR fhwa-hpms · all sites with this

Grocery within 800 m

This site: 4 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this

Low social vulnerability tract (SVI ≤ 0.25)

This site: 0.06 cdc-svi · all sites with this

Tract house prices doubled in 10 years

This site: +146% fhfa · all sites with this

Tract income up 60%+ since 2013

This site: +98% census-acs · all sites with this

Walkable block group (EPA ≥ 12)

This site: …index 14.7 epa-walkability · all sites with this

Strategy

Reinhabited

This site: The mall is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation and houses a variety of non-profit and educational businesses, with the largest tenant being the University… extraction · all sites with this

New use

Civic and government

This site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this

Education

This site: …d educational businesses, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville. extraction · all sites with this

Entertainment and sports

This site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this

Retail (continued)

This site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

Status	Operatingextracted, unreviewed documented The mall is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation and houses a variety of non-profit and educational businesses. en.wikipedia.org
Strategy	Reinhabitedextracted, unreviewed documented It is now a hybrid property, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville. en.wikipedia.org
New uses	education, civic, healthcare, retail, entertainmentextracted, unreviewed reported
What is there now	The mall is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation and houses a variety of non-profit and educational businesses, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville.extracted, unreviewed documented The mall is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation and houses a variety of non-profit and educational businesses, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville. en.wikipedia.org

Securitised debt and public filers

Filings (2001 to date) that name “McAlister Square” and “Greenville” (13 hits, first 13 sampled). No commercial-mortgage trust names this mall in the sample, which does not rule out a securitised loan. Text matches, not a title search. Open the search · all trusts.

Kind	Filer	Filings	Dates	Forms
Public owner (weak)	DDR CORP (SITC, SITC-PA)	12	2015-02-26 to 2019-02-20	8-K 8, 10-K 4
Public owner (weak)	American Realty Capital Properties, Inc.	1	2014-03-13 to 2014-03-13	8-K 1

Site context

FEMA flood zone	X · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m	17: BARUCH GREENVILLE LP %CBRE; BOSTIK SOUTH - CLOSED; CAROLINA FOREST INDUSTRIES; FIBRE PROCESSING-CLOSED; GREENVILLE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTEPA FRS
Census tract 45045001302	1,388 people, 2,096 per sq mi; median household income $86,161; median gross rent $1,508; 13% renters; 13.6% vacant units; 0.0% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Walkability (EPA, block group)	index 14.7 of 20; 68 intersections per sq mi; nearest transit stop 762 m; land-use mix 0.84; 63,937 jobs within 45 min by car, 107,732 by transit; 3% of households without a carEPA Smart Location
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)	5 of 6 daily needs: 4 grocers, 1 schools, 0 parks or playgrounds, 11 health, 3 civic, 28 food and drink; 7 cycleway segments, 166 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity Zone	noHUD
Housing permits, Greenville County (SC), 2024	566 units in 5+ unit buildings, 16 in 2–4, 4,993 single-family; 2023: 408 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)	overall percentile 0.06; socioeconomic 0.06; housing and transport 0.05; 7% below 150% of poverty; 2% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby	1 within 10 km, 1 within 25 km: Greenville Mall (5.0 km)computed
Overture Maps	place McAlister Square (community_center, confidence 0.99, from Overture, Overture-signals, meta); building footprint 29,762 m², 14.9 mOverture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Website and social	www.gvltec.edu (alive); archived 1996–2026 (Wayback) · social: facebookOverture / Internet Archive
Attention: Wikipedia page views	24,359 since 2015; 2,254 in the last 12 months (-20% vs the prior 12); peak 2024-10 with 379Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023	population -7% (1,489 → 1,388); median income +98% ($43,607 → $86,161); renters 30% → 13%; median home value +122% ($135,100 → $299,200)Census ACS 5-year
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)	very low overall (score 3.6); expected annual loss $466,028; community resilience relatively moderateFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 km	7 LIHTC properties, 450 units: Clark St Commons (96 units); Nichol Town Green (96 units); Forest View @ Heritage (72 units)HUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW)	31,743 jobs in 2,006 establishments; average annual pay $41,710; employment location quotient 1.06; employment +1.7% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private
Jobs located in the tract, 2022	1,739 jobs; 564 in retail trade, 294 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 45045001302)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022
Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract)	children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 36th income percentile as adults; 4.7% incarcerated at the 2010 count (127 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)	not a low-access tract at 1 mile; 5% of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket; poverty rate 4.2%; median family income $59,412; 56 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
Schools	Greenville County School District (PK-12); 1 public school within 1 mile: Sterling SchoolNCES EDGE
Elevation	964 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Storm events in the county, 2016-2025	220 county-logged events: 121 thunderstorm wind, 69 hail, 11 flash flood, 10 tornado; $10,840,500 property damage reported; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events
Homes for sale in ZIP 29607, 2026-09	median list price $413,750 (-2.0% on the year); 189 active listings; median 59 days on market; 18% with a price cutRealtor.com Research
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023	1,907 establishments (+8%); 30,103 jobs (+20%)Census CBP
Housing market in the county	typical home value $336,744 (+2% 1 yr, +27% 5 yr); typical rent $1,602/mo (+3% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
House price index, tract, 2025	556 (2000 = 100); +10.7% 1 yr, +63% 5 yr, +146% 10 yrFHFA
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)	39,700 vehicles a day on S PLEASANTBURG DR (principal arterial, 6 lanes); 1,393 trucks; 38 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Opened in 1968 as South Carolina’s first enclosed mall, McAlister Square added anchors like Belk‑Simpson in 1974 and later saw Dillard’s and Uptons close in the 1990s. Today it is operating under the Greenville Tech Foundation, hosting educational, civic, healthcare, retail and entertainment uses with the University Center of Greenville as its largest tenant.

Why. Anchor losses are visible in the record: Dillard’s relocated/store closed in 1995, Belk‑Simpson announced closure in 1998 and closed in 1999, and the Uptons anchor closed in 1999. No explicit mention of competition, debt or demolition in the record.

Where it stands. The mall is currently operating and is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation.

For a planner

Precedent: first enclosed shopping center in South Carolina and the state’s largest at opening.
Policy tools used: reinhabit strategy and conversion to a mixed‑use mix of education, civic, healthcare, retail and entertainment.
Open questions: how to maintain and expand the educational/civic tenant base and what further adaptive reuse opportunities exist.

For a developer

Site size: not stated in the record.
Control: owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation.
Entitlement stage: not stated in the record.
Constraints from context layers (flood, transit, environment): not stated in the record.
Market signals from tract data: not stated in the record.

What we do not know yet

Key missing facts: site parcel size and boundaries, current lease roll‑up, detailed tenant mix beyond the University Center.
Missing context data: flood‑plain status, transit access, environmental conditions, and any entitlement or zoning approvals.
Model‑extracted fields (origins, strategy, new_use) are marked as extraction and have not been reviewed.
The record is marked as “draft” verification, indicating possible incomplete validation.
Opportunity score is 0.0 with reasons noting the retrofit is already built and county growth, suggesting limited upside per the model.

Generated by nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b on NVIDIA API via Hermes CT from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

Dedham Mall, Dedham, MA · Malls · opened 1965; same strategy: reinhabit
Escondido Village Mall, Escondido, CA · Malls · opened 1964; same strategy: reinhabit
Fashion Center, Paramus, NJ · Malls · opened 1967; same strategy: reinhabit
Fulton Mall, Fresno, CA · Malls · opened 1964; same strategy: reinhabit

Elsewhere on the web

Retail history: McAlister Square Mall on DeadMalls.com photos, field notes and visitor memories since 2000; matched by name and city; nothing copied here

Pages with photos

McAlister Square - Greenville, SC | Greenville's first mall,… flickr.com
McAlister Square Mall Greenville, SC (15590134026) commons.wikimedia.org
Shopping Mall «McAlister Square», reviews and photos… stores-goods.com
Sky City: Retail History: McAlister Square Mall: Gre… skycity2.blogspot.com
MALL HALL OF FAME mall-hall-of-fame.blogspot.com
McAlister Square In Greenville, SC: What's Left Of This Lost Mall ... bestattractions.org
What's happening at the back of McAlister Square in Greenville? greenvilleonline.com
McAlister Square Greenville | Japanese-City.com japanese-city.com

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

retrofit already built
county grew 7.9% 2018–23

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Opened	1968Wikidata
Anchors	Dillard's, Meyers-Arnold, Ivey's, Belk-Simpson, Uptons, S. H. Kress & Co., Walgreens Drug
County	Greenville County
Census division	5 · South Atlantic
Notes	Wikipedia categories: Defunct shopping malls in the United States

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, original developer, retrofit year. Know it? Tell us.

Background

McAlister Square is an American repositioned shopping mall in Greenville, South Carolina. It is notable for being the first enclosed shopping center in South Carolina, and the largest shopping center in the state at the time it was built. It is now a hybrid property, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

1965 Mall first announced
1967 Construction began
1968 Opened (Wikidata)
1968 Mall opened
1974 Belk-Simpson added
1990 Ivey's converted to Dillard's
1995 Dillard's relocated/store closed
1998 Belk-Simpson announced closure
1999 Belk-Simpson closed
1999 Uptons anchor closed

Sources

Wikipedia: McAlister Square · supports: after notes, status, strategy
12 quoted sentences
The mall is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation and houses a variety of non-profit and educational businesses, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville.
The mall is owned by the Greenville Tech Foundation and houses a variety of non-profit and educational businesses.
It is now a hybrid property, with the largest tenant being the University Center of Greenville.
The mall was first announced in December 1965.

Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "McAlister Square, Greenville, SC." Record m-9fb765b353, imported, unreviewed. Built on the public Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed. https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/sc/greenville-mcalister-square/ (accessed 2026-10-20).

BibTeX

@misc{retrofitatlas_greenvillemcalistersquare,
  title = {McAlister Square, Greenville, SC},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/sc/greenville-mcalister-square/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record m-9fb765b353, release 2026-10-20, tier: draft. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-20}
}

How to cite, versioning