Downtown Simpsonville's Construction Is Building a Second Main Street on Curtis

"Removing this island represents the first visible step in a project that is the result of years of planning, design and coordination," Simpsonville Mayor Paul Shewmaker said at the August 4 groundbreaking, as quoted by the Greenville Journal. Those four concrete islands on Main Street are gone now. Most of the attention has gone to the dust and the detours, and less to what the plan does to the side streets.

The Downtown Simpsonville Project is rebuilding South Main as a street the city can close for events. To make that work, it sends everyday car traffic around a loop that runs along College Avenue and Curtis Street. Curtis is also where the public parking sits, where one of downtown's taprooms pours, and where the next new bar and restaurant are going. While Main Street is torn up this fall, Curtis is already doing much of the work an everyday downtown street does.

What the Loop Is For

WYFF reported the project at $22 million, with construction expected to take about two years. Thrift Development is the contractor, and the city approved the project in July 2022. In early 2022 it was described as a $14 million plan. The cost has grown along with the planning.

The core piece is a Festival Street on South Main, near Ice Cream Station. Who's On The Move described the design in February. South Main stays open to daily traffic, but the city will be able to close those blocks quickly and safely for big community events. The plan includes:

• Decorative archways at each end of the district, playing on the city's "Stage of the Upstate" brand
• Level curbs and new paving, with wider sidewalks and better lighting for vendors and crowds
• Utility lines moved underground, which makes up much of the early work

A street built to close needs somewhere else for cars to go. The plan switches a five-block area around Main Street to a counterclockwise pattern recommended by the South Carolina Department of Transportation. College Avenue and Curtis Street become one-way from North Maple Street through the Academy Street intersection. Drivers coming from I-385 turn left on College and right on Curtis, and a new signal will let Curtis Street traffic turn right onto Academy. City officials told Who's On The Move the loop will help cars stack and keep the business district easy to get around even when South Main is closed for a festival.

Put simply, when South Main closes for a crowd, the loop keeps moving, and Curtis is half of the loop.

Curtis Street Already Has the Evening

The newest business on Main Street opened in the middle of the construction. Hoodline reported that Scout's Doughnuts held its Simpsonville grand opening at 109 SE Main St. on October 3, after a soft opening in September. A block or so south, Ice Cream Station at 125 S. Main St. stays open year-round, Monday through Saturday. The Festival Street design is centered on that shop.

Evenings downtown, though, run more and more off Main. Burdette Central, the cluster off Curtis, is home to Sidewall Pizza Company, Mucho Gusto Tacos and 1885 Taproom, all named as existing businesses there in July 2026 coverage from Who's On The Move. 1885 Taproom lists its address as 104A E. Curtis St. and serves rotating taps alongside a food menu.

The next opening is on Curtis too. The Upstate Business Journal reported in May that NEAT Bourbon Bar and Indigo Kitchen plan to open at 123 E. Curtis St., targeting early 2027. That puts a bourbon bar and a restaurant on the same one-way street as the taproom, Burdette Central's kitchens, and one of the public lots the city points visitors to.

Getting Downtown While the Work Moves

Closures have moved block by block since August, and they will keep moving. Two September notices show how it goes. Who's On The Move reported that Poinsettia Drive was limited to local traffic between Eastview Drive and East Curtis Street for drainage work, with northbound through traffic sent around by Eastview and Oakland avenues. A week later, East College Street closed between Church and Hedge streets through the end of September for underground utility work. Detours ran on Academy, Church, Hedge and East Curtis, and Holy Cross Episcopal Church was reached from Jonesville Road. Next week's closures will probably be on different blocks, but the pattern of short, posted detours is likely to continue.

Guidance published when construction started still holds up well:

1. Park on the side streets. Downtown shops, restaurants and venues stay open, and visitors are pointed to the public lots along Trade Street and Curtis Street rather than the main strip.
2. Bypass if you're only passing through. Drivers who don't need downtown are encouraged to use NE Main Street/SC-14, West Georgia Road or I-385.
3. Expect daytime lane shifts. Work on Main Street has come with temporary single-lane closures, mostly outside peak hours, and crosswalks near equipment may move.
4. Check the city's plan page. The Downtown Master Plan page links the traffic maps, proposed street sections and streetscape concepts for Festival Street, East College Street and North Maple/College.

There are two timelines to keep in mind. In February, the city's goal was to finish most of the new corridors by the end of 2026. In August, coverage put the overall project at about two years. Some blocks may well open sooner than the full project finishes.

The Season Runs on Both Sides of Downtown

This year's biggest holiday gatherings take place at Gracely Park and the CCNB Amphitheatre, not on the Main Street blocks under construction. Gracely Park is the redesigned former Simpsonville City Park, dedicated June 26, 2025, when the second phase of the municipal complex work was finished, according to the Greenville Journal. The city lists it at 100 Park Drive, with a playground, courts, fields, disc golf, a dog park, a walking trail and an amphitheatre.

The Holiday Stroll runs December 3 through 12. The city's lineup includes a Christmas Fountain, Santa's Workshop and Christmas Stage, and Christmas Candy Land, and says full program details are still to come. The CCNB Amphitheatre show on November 6 is a live listing, so check the venue page before you go.

The Christmas Parade, hosted by the Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Simpsonville, is the one holiday event that brings the season onto the downtown streets. The Chamber has traditionally run the parade along Main Street. No 2026 route has been posted yet. Before you claim a curb, check the Chamber or the city for the route closer to December 6.

For a Sunday afternoon that week, park in the Curtis lot, watch the parade, and walk to Burdette Central or Scout's afterward. That keeps your car on the loop and you on foot downtown, which is how the finished design is meant to work.

What Fills In Next

Two more projects will shape how the rebuilt downtown feels. NEAT Bourbon Bar and Indigo Kitchen are the closest, with their early-2027 target on Curtis. The Community Hub Plaza at 136 S. Main St. is a private development by Community Hub LLC, founded by David Berger. It has been planned with a plaza and performance stage, an indoor duckpin bowling venue, and a two-story gastropub. The schedule has slipped before. Early reporting expected construction in spring 2025, and a February 2026 report still described a spring start as upcoming. No opening date has been announced. It is designed to feed straight into the new Festival Street.

The Festival Street is meant for crowds on South Main. The loop is meant for the rest of the week, and on Curtis Street, the businesses for that are already open or on the way.

If you're watching how the downtown project might affect a home you own near the loop, or one you're thinking about buying, I'm happy to go through the street plans with you block by block. Josue Scott is available in English or Spanish. Let's Connect.