Peace Center plans new music venues, recording studio

GREENVILLE S.C. (WSPA) – The Peace Center announced plans Tuesday for new music venues, a recording studio, and an artist dorm at its campus in downtown Greenville.

Peace Center President & CEO Megan Riegel revealed their longstanding strategic vision: AMP: A Music Project.

The project will achieve what the Peace Center said was its goal of having a 10-venue entertainment campus fully implemented by 2030.

“By repurposing existing real estate assets on our campus into mission-centric music venues, we will broaden the Peace Center’s scope of live entertainment offerings and allow more people than ever before to experience the arts,” said Riegel in a statement.

Included in the project is The Mockingbird, a 250-capacity listening lounge inside the historic Gullick and Markley buildings on Main Street behind the Gunter Theatre.

The venue includes a bar and a glass wall behind the stage allowing those walking on Main Street to see inside.

Also included is the Coach Music Factory, a 1,300-person flat floor music club which the Peace Center likened to The Orange Peel in Asheville and the Fillmore in Charlotte.

The three-level club will have bars on every level and an outdoor balcony on the second floor.

The glass-walled entrance to the Coach Music Factory will be accessed through the plaza behind the Gunter Theater.

Plans from the Peace Center also include a professional podcast and recording studio along with an artist dorm to be utilized by artists performing at any Peace Center venue.

The fully-furnished three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom suite will be located above The Mockingbird.

The Peace Center called the project their biggest announcement in decades.

The AMP project is estimated to cost around $36 million.

Also included are upgrades to the Wyche outdoor event space along the Reedy River.

Construction is expected to begin in February 2023 and could be completed by late 2024.

The Peace Center currently consists of the 2,115-seat Peace Concert Hall, the 400-seat Gunter Theater, an outdoor amphitheater, and multiple event spaces.

The campus opened in 1990.