Only the Beginning

Furman’s Master of Science in Innovation and Leadership students have their monthly Friday in the Field at the Furman Innovation Lab at Crescent One on Friday, November 1, 2024. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.

Stepping out of his glass-walled office and into a chic, comfortable lounge, Peter Marsh poured himself a cup of coffee from behind a well-stocked drink and snack bar as he spoke.

“Students are the future, and innovation is a futurist’s game,” he says.

All around him, dappled sunlight streamed in through wall-length windows and frosted skylights. The room looks like a welcoming coffee shop complete with sleek modern furniture and hip high-top tables, rather than the empty industrial facility the building was just a few years ago.

This inviting workplace is inside the Crescent One building at Crescent SC – Greenville’s newest coworking space. Crescent is a partnership between Furman University, Marsh’s company Flywheel Coworking and Hartness Development, among other partners. At its heart is the Furman Innovation Lab, the hub for resources and programs provided by the Center for Innovative Leadership and The Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

PEPSI AND PROGRESS

The Crescent SC site had a long history before its current role as home of the Furman Innovation Lab. Crescent SC sits at 701 Poinsett Highway, where the Hartness family operated a Pepsi bottling franchise from 1948 until moving the facility in the mid-1960s. Even after the move, they remained connected to the Poinsett corridor, housing Hartness International there until 1986.

The entrance to the Crescent Innovation District where the Furman Innovation Lab is located. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

But the building was vacant and defunct for years, says Sean Hartness, grandson of the building’s original owners and Furman trustee emeritus. As CEO of Hartness Development, he approached The Hill Institute’s staff about five years ago wanting to make use of the industrial site for a partnership. Teaming up offered a unique approach to handling urban blight challenges in the area, while providing space to support and host The Hill Institute’s programs, including offering entrepreneurs room to develop and grow their businesses.

“For us to have Furman’s brand and the different programs The Hill Institute is running there, to have students in the space, we are extremely excited about it,” Hartness says.

The chatter of people networking filled Crescent at its official opening on Oct. 16, 2024. Encouraging messages from Furman President Elizabeth Davis, Marsh and Hartness celebrated the Crescent partnerships, while guests talked in the lounge. They toured Crescent’s conference space, with room to host more than 300 people for seminars, retreats and other networking and education events.

Garrett Stern, left, executive director of the Center for Innovative Leadership, talks with Rob Warren, major gifts officer at Furman, in the Furman Innovation Lab at the Crescent Innovation District before the grand opening of the Crescent space on Wednesday evening, October 16, 2024. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

Marsh’s designed coworking spaces can host 250-300 people in their shared work community, offering clients a membership model rather than requiring them to sign rental or lease agreements. The location is close to Furman’s campus while beginning to bridge the distance to downtown Greenville. Placing the Innovation Lab here brings the talents of The Hill Institute and Center for Innovative Leadership closer to local businesses and industries, fostering stronger regional partnerships.

“Having that institutional commitment from Furman is particularly important. It’s a vote of confidence that is meaningful to the community,” Marsh says.

Workspaces range from communal floors, where desks are available with all the features someone might need to do their work while having access to Crescent’s amenities, to individual offices that provide privacy and quiet, with suites for larger companies needing more square footage for multiple employees. A lounge area offers employees space to mingle and have casual meetings, while clear, movable garage doors create a transparent border around the lounge that can be raised to expand the room when hosting events.

“It’s really a huge opportunity zone for revitalization and redevelopment, and we’re one of the first partners,” Marsh says.

CLASSROOM AND INCUBATOR

The corner office of the Center for Innovative Leadership opens to a glass wall, emblazoned with Furman purple and white graphics. This office offers a home for student ventures, says Bryan Davis, executive director of The Hill Institute. He noted that it can be hard for students to get their business ideas off the ground, especially when other settings offer expensive lease agreements for a co-working environment.

People gather in the Crescent Innovation District during its grand opening on Wednesday evening, October 16, 2024. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

Giving students the room to house their startup business in the Furman Innovation Lab, surrounded by resources to support their success, makes it more likely to keep their businesses here even after they graduate.

“What are we doing to retain student entrepreneurs?” Davis asks. “If you house your business in the innovation center, you can graduate and literally run your company right here.”

Alongside The Hill Institute’s support for startup businesses, Center for Innovative Leadership Executive Director Garrett Stern says the center and Crescent’s facilities help bolster community and graduate programs. Graduate students earning a Master of Science in Innovative Leadership have used Crescent for their “Fridays in the Field” program, along with other services to support mature companies and industries.

So much of the programming that Furman will host at Crescent is intended to be available to the public, Stern says. It offers a centralized location for services that Furman’s institutes provide not just to students, but to any companies looking for innovative approaches to break out of stagnant business models.

“The goal is to cover the whole business community,” Stern says. “How can we accelerate that learning and decrease the risk factors of scaling a business?

Sean Hartness talks with people at the grand opening of the grand opening of the Crescent Innovation District on Wednesday evening, October 16, 2024. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

BUILDING FOR GROWTH

Crescent’s site is still under development. Across from the Crescent One building is an outdoor event venue with a covered pavilion. Past that is a four-acre former mill property Hartness acquired when redeveloping his grandfather’s old bottling plant.

“It gives us the opportunity to attract talent to Greenville in a broader sense. Greenville has the foundation to attract entrepreneurs,” Hartness says. “This is a hub to bring the brightest and best here.”

The mill property gives Hartness and his partners the opportunity to explore the next phase of development. Additional buildings could offer new office space and the chance to explore other innovative workplace designs. He says he hopes the attention Crescent SC is getting will attract other developers to the area.

“I know my grandfather would be very proud of continuing our family legacy of giving back to Greenville, because Greenville’s given so much to us,” Hartness says.