The Coolest Place in Town - Greenville’s Pavilion

The Coolest

Place in Town

By: Jai Gilliland, Pavilion Manager at Greenville County Parks, Recreation & Tourism

For 30 years, the Pavilion In 2015, a catastrophic failure Recreation Complex has offered to the ice system occurred many different recreation and resulted in the need of opportunities to the residents renovations to the Pavilion. of Upstate South Carolina. Phase I of the project was The Pavilion has gone through completed as the ice rink was changes throughout the years converted to a state of the art and plays host to multiple system to present optimal ice user groups. It had been an for the many different user integral avenue in reaching groups. With an exceptional the people in the community ice surface now, the next step through the multitude of options was to further each guests’ for recreation such as: ice recreational experience skating, adult and youth ice by updating the facility’s hockey, figure skating, curling, Skating at the Pavilion in the 1990s amenities. This next step would badminton, table tennis, be on hold until 2020. volleyball, pickle ball, indoor soccer, lacrosse, etc. To help progress the recreation experience for anyone who visited the Pavilion, a renovation plan was put into place. On March 1, 2020 the Pavilion closed its doors for 7 months to undergo the widely anticipated Phase II of its renovation project. Phase II of this renovation would be led by the

With an exceptional ice surface now, the next step was to further each guests’ recreational experience by updating the facility’s amenities.

Pavilion new entrance, 2021 Pavilion old entrance, 1990s

on a very tight 7 month time frame (March 1-September 30) and were made possible through the procurement of a revenue bond. Both phases were able to be completed for $6.8 million. On September 30, 2020, the construction was complete and the facility was prepped for its re-opening. Each of the user groups, along with the general public were buzzing with excitement to see the unveiling of the new project. We hope that this will continue to bring the Upstate and surrounding area residents through the doors for the next 30 years. On October 28, 2020 the Pavilion reopened. The freshly designed floor plan, along with the additions from the renovation project was welcomed with overwhelming compliments and praise! Now the Pavilion can truly live up to its nickname of “Greenville County’s Premier Rec Center.”