In 2026, two addresses beside Falls Park on the Reedy came back to life. Both came from people who already ran restaurants within sight of the falls. Stone Cottage opened at 615 S. Main St. in July, in a house built in 1894. South Main Social took over the former Foxcroft Food & Wine space a few doors away at 631 S. Main St.
Across the park, Greenville's biggest planned project in years is a different story. The Falls Park Conference District goes to the Design Review Board on Oct. 15 as site plans and building massing. So the people who already knew the block shaped it first. The conference district will arrive on a street that has already changed.
615 S. Main: a mill superintendent's house, now a lunch counter
The cottage beside the park has had many uses. It was built in 1894 as the home of W.E. Touchstone, superintendent of Camperdown Mill, back when the mill was still running. For a while it sat empty as the Falls Cottage. Then the city signed a lease, and Michael Minelli reopened it as Stone Cottage on July 11.
Minelli already knows this stretch of river. He and his wife, chef Jenifer Minelli, have owned Passerelle Bistro near the west end of Liberty Bridge since he bought it from Table 301 in 2021. The cottage gives them a second address at the park, this time on the street side.
Jenifer wrote the menu, and it is mostly grab-and-go: breakfast burritos, hot and cold sandwiches, soups and salads. One sandwich has a backstory. The chicken salad croissant uses a recipe from one of Jenifer's former colleagues. Mavin Construction, Keystone Design and Amy Emery Interior Design handled the renovation. In a statement to the Greenville Journal, Michael Minelli described the space as a place "where families can grab lunch before a picnic in Falls Park, friends can meet over coffee, and people can celebrate life's special moments together."
The Journal stopped by at noon on July 15, four days after opening, and found a line nearly out the door. Stone Cottage is open every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those hours cover breakfast through a late lunch and stop before the evening crowd arrives.
631 S. Main: Foxcroft's old room, built for slow evenings
The evening shift belongs to a familiar name. Conrad Hunter, founder of Foxcroft Food & Wine, turned his former Foxcroft space into South Main Social, a vinyl hi-fi listening room and craft cocktail bar. Fox Carolina reported an April 28 opening. Hunter told the station that "everything about South Main Social is designed to slow things down a bit."
The concept takes its cue from Japan's kissaten, and the opening announcement traces vinyl listening rooms back to the 1920s. Here's how the room is set up, based on the opening announcement and the VisitGreenvilleSC listing:
- Records: jazz, ambient, bossa nova, electronica and the American songbook, played on a vintage hi-fi system, with in-house sets and rotating guest DJs
- Kitchen: led by culinary director Stephanie Klos, with Southern and Asian influences in dishes like tempura chicken bao buns, smashed dumpling tacos and a bourbon-soy glazed N.Y. strip
- Bar: the All Analog, made with pisco, cachaça, crème de violette and egg white, plus the Hi Watt Clarity and nearly 40 wines and beers, from Miller High Life to Westbrook Gose
- Events: whiskey dinners and other curated nights, with dates announced as they're set
The listing places it "just steps from Falls Park on the Reedy," and its reservation button links to Resy.
One block, two shifts
Both reused an existing building. Both come from operators with history near the falls. And their hours fit together instead of competing.
| Stone Cottage | South Main Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 615 S. Main St. | 631 S. Main St. |
| Opened | July 11, 2026 | Announced for April 28, 2026 |
| Building | 1894 Camperdown Mill superintendent's house, formerly the Falls Cottage | Former Foxcroft Food & Wine space |
| Operators | Michael and Jenifer Minelli of Passerelle Bistro | Conrad Hunter, Foxcroft founder |
| Best fit | Coffee, breakfast, a picnic lunch for the park | Dinner, cocktails, a night of records |
| Hours | Daily, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Evenings; reservations through Resy |
Between them, the street side of the park now has a reason to stop at both ends of the day. Before this year, one of these buildings was empty and the other was a restaurant under a different name.
Across the park, a plan still under review
The Falls Park Conference District would redevelop more than six acres east of the park, bounded by Falls Street, Calvin Street, Vivian Street, Webster Street and East Camperdown Way. Fox Carolina put the price at half a billion dollars and placed the site next to the Grand Bohemian. According to the Upstate Business Journal, the plan includes:
- A 100,000-square-foot conference center with a 30,000-square-foot grand ballroom and a 12,000-square-foot junior ballroom
- One multifamily residential building and two office buildings
- Retail spaces that open onto the street
- A 1,250-space parking garage
- One acre of green space
A luxury hotel comes with it. Greenville-based Auro Hotels plans to convert the Bowater Building at 55 E. Camperdown Way into South Carolina's first JW Marriott. The hotel would connect to a conference center annex by a skybridge over Falls Street. Mayor Knox White has said the district's shops and restaurants would keep the conference center active year-round and reflect the feel of Main Street.
At the Sept. 22 project preview, Steve Navarro, president of the Furman Company and the project's master developer, explained why the site is at the park. He told Fox Carolina:
"When those conveners and those agencies are looking at setting up a conference, and someone says Greenville, South Carolina, what's the first thing they do? They look up Greenville, South Carolina, what do they see? They see our Main Street, they see our bridge, they see the falls, and they see the park."
Navarro is describing the same Main Street that Stone Cottage and South Main Social now line. When the conference district opens, the block a visitor first sees will already have been shaped by local operators.
The timeline is long. When the city unveiled the plan in March, it estimated construction could start in early 2027 with a public parking garage, and the full district would be finished in 2029. More recent reporting expects demolition later this year and construction sometime next year. None of the coverage so far reports any change to access to Falls Park.
What's still open on this end of Main
Two dates and one loose end are worth tracking:
- Oct. 15, 4 p.m.: The Design Review Board meets on the 10th floor of Greenville City Hall at 206 S. Main St. It will review the conference district's site plan and massing, the JW Marriott exterior renovations and additions, and the Bon Secours Wellness Arena renovations. The board hasn't acted yet, so nothing about the design is final.
- Church Street bridge: SCDOT reopened the bridge to cars on June 15 after a $30 million rehabilitation. The work added a wider western sidewalk and new lighting. At the reopening, the handrails, pedestrian lights and a new staircase down to McBee Avenue were still unfinished, and the sidewalks were to stay closed until the handrails went in. Full completion was projected for the end of July. We haven't found a later update confirming the sidewalks and stairs are open, so check before you plan a walk across the bridge to the park.
- Fall for Greenville: Weather canceled Saturday, Oct. 10, and organizers extended today's Sunday hours so participating restaurants have more time to serve.
For now, the change at the park's Main Street edge comes down to two buildings: a café open at 8 a.m. in an 1894 house, and a record bar in the old Foxcroft room.
When a block this close to the falls gets new neighbors, nearby homes are seen in a new light too, often before any listing mentions it. If you live near lower Main and want to talk through what the conference district's timeline could mean for your own property, Thomas Tamrack is glad to have that conversation over coffee at the cottage. Let's Connect.
