Greer City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire Hogan Construction Group as contractor at risk for a new fire station planned at 701 Groce Meadow Road near Lake Robinson, north of the city. The project carries a guaranteed maximum cost of $9.7 million and is designed at 14,777 square feet, with work expected to start within weeks and wrap up by the end of 2027.
Council Signs Off on Georgia-Based Builder
The vote came during the council's Nov. 10 meeting, as reported by the Greenville Journal, which covers Greer city government. Hogan Construction Group, based in Georgia, will serve as contractor at risk, a role that typically involves managing construction costs and schedules while sharing financial responsibility for the guaranteed maximum price. The new station will be funded through the Corporation for Greer Fund, according to the same report.
Hogan’s portfolio includes other public-safety work in Georgia: the company lists the Gillem Public Safety project, a 13,000-square-foot facility combining a three-bay fire station with a mini police precinct. That project also used construction management at risk, the delivery method Greer selected for Groce Meadow. The Gillem facility offers a comparison for Hogan’s experience managing a fire station project under that arrangement.
The $9.7 million figure attached to this week's contractor approval is distinct from an earlier estimate tied to the same general location. Back in April 2024, the Greenville Journal reported that Greer's broader bond-funded capital plan listed $11 million for a fire station in the Groce Meadow Road area, part of a four-year project to build four city facilities and structures that council approved issuing bonds for. It is not clear from available records how the two figures relate to each other or whether they reflect the same project scope.
Why the Station Keeps Growing on Paper
Some council members questioned the need for a larger building during discussion of the project, according to the Greenville Journal's meeting notes. Deputy City Administrator Mike Sell responded that recent city buildings designed to meet needs projected over multiple decades had instead reached capacity within just 10 years, a consequence he attributed to the city's explosive growth. City staff designed the Groce Meadow project to address immediate needs while leaving room to grow alongside the surrounding area, per the same notes.
Sell also said the station's design drew from Greer's existing Suber Road fire station, with additional living space added on top of that blueprint. Greer Fire Chief Dorian Flowers said the added living quarters would let the station house more personnel for around-the-clock staffing. The Suber Road station itself, which replaced a location on Hood Road, was designed at 12,185 square feet and was expected to cost $7.9 million when the city broke ground, with construction originally targeted for completion in summer 2024, according to earlier Greenville Journal coverage.
A Response to Rising Call Volumes
The push for a new Groce Meadow station fits into Greer's broader effort to keep pace with rapid growth. The Greenville News reported in 2024 that the city identified a need to bolster its public safety presence as development accelerated. Flowers has said fire calls in Greer are increasing by around 500 each year, according to WYFF4, and he has said the Groce Meadow station could cut response times in that area roughly in half, from about eight minutes down to around four.
The Groce Meadow project would add capacity to a department that already serves a 25-square-mile area. The city says Greer Fire has more than 60 full-time members, operates four stations and responds to more than 5,000 calls annually; it also holds an ISO Class 1 rating. The department’s stated service profile underscores the scale of the operation the new station is intended to support as the city grows.
Greer’s population growth provides another measure of the demand facing city services. The city had 35,308 residents in the 2020 census; the Census Bureau estimated 50,007 residents by July 2025, a 41% increase from its 2020 estimate base. Census Bureau estimates show the city’s population rising by nearly 15,000 in five years, adding context to officials’ concerns about planning facilities for future needs.
Greer's capital spending on emergency services extends beyond this single station. WYFF4 reported that the city's broader $100 million project plan also includes a fire and police training facility off Hood Road valued at $17 million. The investment mirrors moves elsewhere in the Upstate; Greenville opened a new $10 million Fire Station 4 on East Park Avenue in late September, according to The Greenville News, underscoring how fast-growing communities across the area are racing to keep emergency response times down as populations climb.
Before construction can proceed, the Groce Meadow site itself required a zoning change. Greer News reported that council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to rezone 3.79 acres of city-owned property on Groce Meadow Road from Planned Development to Office Professional, specifically to allow for a municipal fire station. It remains unclear whether that ordinance has since received further readings or final approval.
A separate public solicitation shows the city had been seeking a construction manager at risk for the project well before this week's vote. According to a CivicIQ listing, the City of Greer sought pre-construction services such as cost estimating and permitting, with the possibility of amending the contract later to cover actual construction work — the same structure now moving forward with Hogan Construction Group at the helm.
