Hartness COO to helm Greenville County development board: Business notes | Greenville Business

An executive for a Greenville developer who also served on Greenville County Council for more than a decade has ascended into the top role for the Greenville Area Development Corporation board. 

Jim Burns, the Chief Operations Officer for Hartness Development, will helm the Board of Directors for the GADC, the local economic development arm of Greenville County, as the 2022-2023 chairman. He replaces Don Erikson, the retired former general manager and site director of Greenville’s Lockheed Martin.

Burns, a Clemson University alum, has held several executive positions in the Upstate, including the CEO of development consulting agency Strategy & Execution Excellence, LLC and the Director of Development for real estate developer Central Realty Holdings.

Other GADC board positions have been filled by healthcare consultant Beverley Haines, Senior Corporate Counsel with Michelin North America Justin Bagwell and Managing Partner of the Greenville office of GreerWalker CPAs Barry Leasure. Haines will serve as vice chair, Bagwell as secretary and Leasure as treasurer. 

Greenville County Council appointed CEO of Moon & Associates, Inc. William Moon and former Director of CME Group, Inc. Charles Piczszor to serve three-year terms on the board, which started on July 1. Both Erikson and Leasure were reappointed to serve second terms. 

Greenville animal hospital real estate sold

A Nashville-based veterinary real estate investment company acquired two buildings of a full-service pet hospital in Greenville.

The buildings obtained by Clarity Veterinary Real Estate compose the main campus of Upstate Veterinary Emergency + Specialty Care. The two structures combined are 41,700 square feet and fully leased. 

“We are pleased by the opportunity to acquire these prime assets and to work directly with the award-winning veterinarians at Upstate in helping them make the most of their real estate both now and for the long term,” said Chip Conk, CEO of Montecito Medical, the real estate parent company of Clarity.

Clarity allows sellers and tenants to act in a partner role after transactions.

The main campus of the pet hospital is located at 393 Woods Lake Rd. and has 40 veterinarians, according to a news release. It provides care for the Upstate, Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia. Outside its primary base in Greenville, there is also a satellite office in Asheville with six veterinarians. 

The hospital provides medical, surgical, neurological, cancer, dental and eye care for animals. 

Civil engineering firm relocates

SeamonWhiteside, a landscape architecture and civil engineering firm, will relocate its Greenville offices and 46 employees to the Judson Mill district, nearly doubling its space. 

The company will move in December from its 7,500-square-foot spot on Rhett Street to a 14,730-square-foot spot at the former mill property just west of downtown along Easley Bridge Road.

“When looking for a new space for our Greenville team, we didn’t want just another office setting, we wanted an innovative and unconventional work environment for our team to be able to collaborate,” Executive Vice President of SeamonWhiteside Joe Bryant said in a statement.

The firm worked alongside architects McMillan Pazdan Smith and contractor Triangle Construction to redesign the mill over the past few years. Its offices will be near music venue Cowboy Up, rock climbing gym Blochaven, Feed and Seed and the co-working space Judson Mill Community Innovation Hub. 

SeamonWhiteside has more than 100 employees total in its offices in Mount Pleasant, Summerville, Spartanburg, Greenville and Charlotte, N.C. 

That’s all for this week. Email your thoughts, tips, releases and newsy bits to [email protected].

Follow Stephanie Mirah on Twitter @stephaniemirah