Spartanburg city leaders unveiled updated plans this week for a larger, greener Morgan Square, with dozens of new trees, expanded event space, water features and public restrooms aimed at transforming the city's central gathering spot. The $18.2 million proposal would also realign Dunbar Street to expand the square's overall footprint by 30%, giving downtown Spartanburg a bigger stage for everything from quiet weekday lunches to major festivals.
The updated concept, first detailed by WSPA 7News, calls for 25 additional trees, bringing the square's total tree count to 79.
What Residents Asked For
After that pause, residents told the city they wanted more green space and shade, live music and event space, outdoor dining areas, and water features with public restrooms, per the station's report. The new design folds nearly all of those requests into a single concept, with landscape architect Thomas Baker of Michael Vergason Landscape Architects saying the goal is a world-class public gathering space. Baker said the square should feel welcoming on both ordinary mornings and large-event days, the station reported.
The proposal also focuses on Morgan Square as a public gathering place.
Funding Without New Taxes
City Manager Chris Story said the project would be funded through a hospitality tax bond, drawing on hospitality and dining growth in the area rather than requiring a tax increase or cuts to existing city programs, per the same account. Downtown's dining boom isn't theoretical: May 2021 brought a record high in food and beverage sales downtown, with pedestrian traffic outside the square itself climbing 17% above 2019 levels, according to data compiled by OneSpartanburg, Inc. A 2021 city survey found 55% of respondents wanted the street closure made permanent, per the City of Spartanburg.
City officials have also been careful about timing. Story said last year that construction on the square was deliberately delayed to avoid piling onto downtown disruption while nearby private developments were already eliminating roughly 275 surface parking spaces on Broad and West Main streets, according to the Post and Courier.
A Clock Tower's Long Goodbye
The square's redesign is tangled up with a separate, more contentious fight over its 1980s clock tower. Spartanburg City Council approved a legal settlement in October 2025, agreeing to take the clock tower apart while preserving its historic 1881 opera house clock mechanism and 1,200-pound bell for reinstallation elsewhere, the Post and Courier reported. That mechanism and bell are now slated for a new home in a clock tower atop Spartanburg's Joint City-County Government Center, a five-story facility that topped out structurally in September and is on track for completion in spring 2028.
The city council presentation on the new Morgan Square design was informational only, with no vote taken. Spartanburg City Council is expected to take its first vote on the redesign on October 26, and the proposal needs two readings before it becomes final. If approved, construction is expected to begin in 2027, with a targeted completion date of 2028.
Part of a Bigger Downtown Push
In August, The Johnson Group unveiled plans for The Morgan Hotel, a 152-room Curio Collection by Hilton property overlooking Morgan Square, according to Spartan Weekly News.
Housing growth is adding to that momentum, too. Capstone Building Corp. broke ground in September on a $70 million, 275-unit residential complex at the historic Beaumont Mill site, part of a wave of workforce housing near downtown. Spartanburg City Council granted the project 15 years of property tax breaks in exchange for workforce housing set-asides.
