By James T. Hammond

If there was any question that Greenville has what it takes to beat this recession, just take a look at the cover story about Josh Parker's determination to sink as much as $90 million into revival of the Woodside Mill neighborhood.

The Durham developer says he has "fallen in love with Greenville," and believes this major investment in one of Greenville's most economically disadvantaged communities could spark a renaissance for the entire textile crescent that was thrust into joblessness and despair by the industry's exodus to low-wage Asian nations.

Parker, who has worked on similar developments in North Carolina and Maine, said in a recent interview that the progressive leadership in the city of Greenville, the county, and local business leaders has positioned the region better than most to emerge quickly from the Great Recession and prosper.

But for the Woodside Mill community and others such as Brandon, Judson and Dunean, this spark of economic life could mean rebirth from more than a decade of decline.

Mayor Knox White believes the area, which is largely outside the city, has great potential to be uplifted in a new wave of economic, social and residential redevelopment.

“I think it’s foolish that more people aren’t looking at that side of town,” White said recently in a conversation about Parker’s plan to redevelop Woodside Mill. It would not be the first time Greenville has seen resistance among developers, banks and government officials to investing in a blighted urban landscape.

“We saw the same thing about the area around the ball park,” White said, referring to the increasingly vibrant entertainment, office and residential zone between Augusta and Pendleton streets.

Speaking of the still-depressed Westside areas, White said, “What that part of town needs is residential.”

Parker’s plan for Woodside Mill will create 260 rental apartments, and could lead the surrounding community of former mill worker residences into a renaissance as well.

Parker talks about the generations of history in the mills, the villages and people still living there whose families worked in the mills.

“It is a community in transition,” Parker said, indicating he hopes his development will generate new jobs for people who live there, and help raise their standard of living as well.

“We want to bring the best of the new urban South to Greenville, to enhance life for the people who live there.”

This vital new interest in the textile crescent is happening right on the edge of the city, in territory governed by Greenville County, and in part by the Parker District, which provides fire protection, and water and sewer services.

If Josh Parker’s vision is successful, some of the area will become part of the city. Such transitions in governance – in local political power – can sometimes stall as a result of changing authority. If taking credit becomes more important than improving people’s lives, then stalemate can be the consequence.

The county already is acting to improve the community’s housing along the crazy-quilt Westside city-county boundary. And the city and county have worked closely together to develop the Swamp Rabbit Trail, a ribbon of asphalt that has the potential to tie city, county and neighborhoods together, not to mention spawn new residential communities built around this new recreational opportunity.

Butch Kervin, chairman of the Greenville County Council, says it’s important to remember that residents of the city are also residents of the county, and that serving all the county’s residents is more important than political turf.

Managing and encouraging the renaissance of Greenville’s Westside along the historically contentious city limits could well be a test of how well the Upstate can manage a sprawling community of common interests that too often continues to be chopped up by rival local governments.

Large businesses, which provide the basis for more jobs, more homes and more service-sector businesses, look at markets, not cities or counties. They draw their work force from a large region that needs uniformly good schools, good roads and improved public transportation. A large manufacturer like BMW locating in Spartanburg County lifts boats in Greenville, Laurens, and other counties as well.

The Upstate already has several examples of efforts to bring competing factions to the table for the common good. The Appalachian Region Council of Governments, required to participate in federal government programs, has been an agent of regional change and cooperation for decades. More recently, business leaders saw the need for a regional approach to economic development, and established the Upstate Alliance, another agency seeking to break down walls of governmental rivalry.

The newest addition to this trend toward a larger regional perspective is Ten at the Top, a private, non-profit group that aims to shape an Upstate identity that transcends city, county and institutional boundaries. Ten at the Top is currently conducting a community survey to find out what Upstate residents want the region to become as it continues to grow.

Like the people migrating from other parts of the country, pioneers who see the economic opportunity in buying rundown homes or old storefronts in Brandon Mill village, it may take an outsider like Josh Parker to ignite the spark of new life in Greenville’s Westside.

But Greenville has the experience on Main Street to show how a renaissance on Woodside Avenue might create a new center of creativity and economic growth. We can only hope that this progressive Southern city’s creative class will get behind Parker’s vision and help him make it a reality.

Contact Hammond, the Editor of GSA Business, at jhammond@scbiznews.com.