LYMAN — A “Coming Soon” sign on the edge of downtown near a vacant lot had given hope that a new $6 million mixed-use development would spur growth in a town that has struggled since its textile mill closed.
The lot at the corner of Groce and Spartanburg roads had been cleared. Stormwater drainage was installed. With town plans to redevelop the former Pacific Mills site only a few blocks away, the proposed mixed-use project closer to downtown was expected to have already started construction.
Work on the property, which developer Rodney Godfrey bought in August 2021, faced delays. Then, rising interest rates would have doubled the project’s interest payments from $20,000 a month to $40,000, pushing the project out of reach.
On March 11, the property was listed for sale.
Godfrey said there’s a slim chance the project could move forward with the right investor, but it’s most likely dead in the water.
The plan was to build an 18,500-square-foot, two-story building at 45 Groce Road. It would have eight shops and a restaurant on the first floor and eight apartments on the second floor. Godfrey added 12 new townhomes at 181 Elliott Road to that plan. Each townhome would have included three bedrooms and measure 1,600 square feet.
A four-month delay working with the state Department of Transportation didn’t help. Since the 2-acre property was listed for sale, there’s been two interested buyers, but no sale has been finalized.
“We waited a little bit in deciding whether to sell the property,” Godfrey said. “When the new year started, there were hopes there would be some better news on interest rates, but that did not happen. You know how inflation works — when the ball gets rolling, it’s almost impossible to get that back.”
Godfrey said he feels like he’s let the town down.
He lives in Lyman. The market conditions just turned unfavorable to move forward, he said. There were discussions to scale back the project to reduce costs, but there was still a desire to have enough units to generate revenue to cover costs.
“You learn in time things don’t always work out,” Godfrey said. “Things can be perfect on the front end, but they can turn on you on the back end.”
An interest-only loan of about $600,000 had been secured for the project, of which $233,000 was spent. The cost included completing the site’s engineering work. Once interest rates reached 6 percent, Godfrey said the project’s future was in jeopardy.
“At 6 percent, it was a break-even point,” he said. “We knew that we were in trouble.”
