When visiting the Hub City Farmers Market on a Saturday morning or dining at the Monarch Cafe, it’s not hard to miss the multiple new apartments being built.  

These new developments are from the Northside Development Group (NDG), a nonprofit property holding group that owns some of the apartments in the area; others are privately developed but built on land purchased from NDG. 

NDG’s mission statement is listed on their website as to “encourage and manage the redevelopment of the City of Spartanburg’s Northside community, honoring its past and expanding the opportunities for a mix of affordable and market rate housing, economic, educational, recreational, health and social opportunities for its residents.”

The NDG builds on its own and works with private development groups in order to realize this mission statement for all groups whether they be new renters or those looking for senior living

This is the group that is also credited with developing the Milliken house, which is a part of a larger NDG project at the corner of College St. and Howard St. The building has six apartments along with a classroom space for Wofford students.

Though the current plans for the NDG do not include creating more student housing, more developments could change the connection between Wofford and Spartanburg.

Interim Provost and history Professor Timothy Schmitz is on the board of NDG and spoke on the goals of the group for the area and Spartanburg as a whole, stating: “The Northside has been a blighted community for a while. There were many empty houses and vacant lots, which, with the combined interest of Northside residents and community partners, creates an opportunity for deliberate, smart redevelopment aimed at keeping existing residents in place while welcoming new residents and revitalizing both the Northside and the city center.”

Contrasting with the problems many cities have of people moving away, Schmitz is very excited about the opportunities that Spartanburg has as a community with a growing number of new residents. 

There is another hope for Schmitz that, even though all the new residential developments in Spartanburg aren’t at the heart of downtown, their proximity to downtown will help businesses in the area. 

“Maybe by having more people living in the Northside, new businesses will be attracted to the new population density there,” Schmitz said. “New businesses may appear in and near the Northside in the effort to serve greater numbers of residents.”

There is also a hope that the residential and business developments around downtown will help further connections with those right outside the area.

 Projects like the new apartments and the multipurpose development that will host the future Wofford bookstore seek to make the distance between downtown and Wofford more connected.

It’s expected that as more of these projects are completed, the “Wofford bubble” will slowly begin to dissolve, as students interact with the community more, a trend P Schmitz believes is already in motion.