Construction crews, elected officials and project partners gathered in downtown Spartanburg to sign and lift the ceremonial final beam into place on the new Joint Government Center, marking the topping-out of a five-story building of more than 200,000 square feet that will bring city and county services together under one roof for the first time. The complex sits at the corner of South Church Street and Broad Street, where builders have already sunk 1,500 truckloads of concrete and 637 pieces of steel into the structure.
The milestone is more than symbolic. According to McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, the Joint Government Center will be the first combined city-county government administrative facility in South Carolina history, a notable break from the state's tradition of separate city hall and county administration buildings. The design itself is a partnership between Washington, D.C.-based David M. Schwarz Architects and the Spartanburg firm, according to David M. Schwarz Architects.
As reported by WSPA 7News, Spartanburg Mayor Jerome Rice said the center will make life easier for Spartanburg County citizens, with the building designed to act as a one-stop shop for residents of both the city and county. Construction began in 2025 and the station reports the building is expected to open in 2027, though a more detailed timeline has since emerged from other officials involved in the project.
Groundwork Moved Thousands of Truckloads of Dirt
General contractor Robins & Morton broke ground on the project in December 2025, and site preparation required moving 3,100 truckloads of dirt before steel erection could even begin, per the Post and Courier. While primary construction is scheduled to conclude in late 2027, municipal and county agency staff are not slated to officially move in and occupy the facility until spring 2028, according to Spartanburg County Administrator Cole Alverson, as cited in the same report.
The 145 West Broad Street site has its own history tied to the project. It was previously home to the former Spartanburg City Hall, which was demolished in 2024 after initial penny tax funds were collected, clearing the way for the new complex.
A $220 Million Penny Tax Behind the Build
The Joint Government Center is one piece of a much larger public investment. The 2017 Capital Improvement Penny Sales Tax was collected from May 1, 2018, through April 30, 2024, raising more than $220 million to fund the joint complex alongside a new county courthouse, a police headquarters and an emergency operations center, according to Spartanburg County. After that tax sunset, county voters passed a second 1-cent Roads Penny sales tax in November 2023, estimated to generate $478 million over six years for 577 road and bridge projects, the county's tax tracking site notes.
Spartanburg County Council Chairman Manning Lynch, who has served in that role since 2019, called the project the right building, at the right time, during the topping-out ceremony, the station's report and the Post and Courier account both reflect.
Private Apartments and Retail Wrap the Parking Garage
The government center will include a 1,000-space parking garage, and that garage will be wrapped by a separate mixed-use building valued at $71 million that includes 220 apartments and multiple retail spaces. That private development, named Wheelhouse at Wall Street, is being built by Indiana-based Barrett Realty Investments and will include 14,806 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space alongside its 220 market-rate apartments, according to the GSA Business Report.
A New Clock Tower Carries Old History
The building also features a clock tower, a design element tied to a legal settlement over downtown's historic Morgan Square clock tower. In October 2025, Spartanburg City Council approved an agreement to disassemble the Morgan Square tower and preserve its 1881 opera house clock mechanism and bell for future reconstruction, while incorporating a prominent clock tower into the government-center design, according to the City of Spartanburg.
City of Spartanburg and Spartanburg County officials, construction workers and project partners marked the occasion together, signing the final beam before it was lifted into place. With structural work still slated to wrap up in late 2027 and staff move-in projected for spring 2028, downtown Spartanburg residents have more than a year to watch the Joint Government Center — and the private development wrapped around its parking garage — take final shape.
