Reimagined Pepsi-Cola facility in Greenville designated National Historic Site

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Crescent Startup Community, a redevelopment project on Poinsett Highway aimed at attracting startups and entrepreneurs, has been designated a historic site by the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service.

The former home of a Pepsi-Cola bottling facility will be added to the National Register of Historic Places, according to a news release from the developer, Hartness Development, which describes Crescent Startup Community as a large-scale mixed-use innovation district that will provide a dedicated space for startups, entrepreneurs, and the development of innovative ideas and projects.

Hartness Development is best known for the Hartness neighborhood development on the east side of Greenville, where the Hartness family home has been turned into neighborhoods, restaurants, Hotel Hartness and more. That was the family home; Crescent was the site of the family business.  

Crescent will sit on seven acres of land on Poinsett Highway and open in late spring 2024 with the completion of the first phase, according to the news release.

Following a review and approval by the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Parks Service, Crescent will be named to the National Register of Historic Places, which is the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation and part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect America's historic and archeological resources, the release said.

The renovation and historic designation of the bottling facility is Phase One of the project and the restored building, named Crescent One, will be an anchor of the innovation district, the release said.

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Led by Thomas S. Hartness, Greenville’s Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. was an innovator in the bottling industry and played a role in the overall economic growth of mid-20th century Greenville, the release stated. Hartness was a leader in the Pepsi company, purchasing the Pepsi-Cola bottling rights in Greenville in 1940, and in technological innovations within the soft drink and bottling industry. He developed and sold his own bottling equipment, with that part of the business growing into a total packaging solutions company with more than 100 patents.

The site was also home to The Piedmont Shirt Factory, which was a hub of the textile industry when Greenville was known as the textile capital of the world. The location of the factory was within the city’s “Textile Crescent.” The Piedmont Shirt Factory is also where Max Heller, an entrepreneur who would later be the mayor of Greenville, first worked as an immigrant from war-torn Austria during World War II.

In addition to supporting and retaining the area’s entrepreneurs, Crescent is the start of Hartness Development’s strategy to rekindle and continue the location’s innovation history, attract companies and institutions who can bring opportunities that further build the community, and continue the revitalization 0f Greenville’s Poinsett Corridor.

Through Hartness Development’s partnerships with Flywheel, Furman University’s Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and other institutional partners, entrepreneur support organizations, and accelerator programs, Crescent was created to operate as an innovation district offering the Upstate’s entrepreneur community opportunities to live, work, play and innovate in one central space that provides access to all the resources necessary to successfully launch and grow a business venture.

Crescent will also feature a mix of amenities including a fitness studio and an outdoor gathering space and covered entertainment venue.

Crescent Startup Community is at 701 Poinsett Highway.