Johnson Group’s Twin Office Towers Mark Spartanburg’s Biggest Downtown Office Push in a Decade

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Two office buildings rising in downtown Spartanburg as part of the Johnson Group’s $542 million Project Core development represent the most significant office construction the city’s central business district has seen in more than 10 years, according to a second-quarter 2026 market report released this month by Colliers | South Carolina.

The two buildings are part of Project Core, the sprawling mixed-use development anchored by Fifth Third Park, the minor league ballpark that opened earlier this year as home to the Hub City Spartanburgers. One office building is planned near a hotel and ballroom on the site of the former Spartanburg Herald-Journal building, while the second sits closer to the ballpark along West Main Street, next to a nearly completed parking garage that will also serve stadium events.

“We are beyond excited about the transformational impact Project Core will have on downtown Spartanburg,” said Geordy Johnson, CEO of the Johnson Group. “The hotel, apartments, and offices will bring daily activity, support local businesses, and create momentum for future development.”

Colliers’ report shows why the timing matters for brokers and investors. Vacancy across the broader Greenville-Spartanburg office market fell to 9.9%, down 30 basis points from the first quarter and 200 basis points year over year, while availability held at 16.2%, below year-ago levels. Asking rents are climbing alongside the tightening supply: a proposed building at 101 East Court St. is asking $59.50 per square foot, a level Colliers said is significantly higher than anything the market has previously seen.

Spartanburg’s downtown office pipeline has been thin for years, with much of the district’s roughly 500,000 square feet of office and retail space controlled by longtime local owners who converted existing buildings rather than building new. The two Project Core towers break that pattern, adding ground-up office product to a submarket where large blocks of modern space have been difficult to find.

The office component fits into a downtown transformation that includes a joint city-county government complex, a redesign of Morgan Square, and a new planetarium at the county library headquarters, together representing more than $600 million in public and private investment within a few blocks of each other. Allen Smith, president and CEO of OneSpartanburg Inc., the county’s chamber of commerce, has said the area will look “incredibly different” within two to three years as the projects come online.

For commercial real estate professionals, the office buildings add to a broader story of suburban and urban office demand holding up across the Upstate even as some markets nationally struggle with post-pandemic vacancy. Fluor Federal Services, Clayco Enterprises and Mauldin & Jenkins were among tenants signing leases in the Greenville central business district and suburban submarkets this past quarter, according to Colliers, while Piedmont Arthritis Clinic and other tenants drove absorption along the I-385/I-85 corridor.

Johnson said the group expects to break ground on the hotel, apartment complex and both office buildings on an accelerated timeline tied to the ballpark’s opening, with construction activity now visible on multiple fronts around Fifth Third Park. Leasing terms for the two office buildings have not yet been publicly disclosed.