Hey, Greenville👋 Have y’all heard of Canvas Tower at 301 College St.? You may recognize it as the former BB&T office tower. Well, this 1970’s building is about to get a major facelift, both inside + out.
The Beach Company , a Charleston-based real estate development company, is planning to convert the former bank office to a multi-use space. Together with some new construction, the Canvas community will house 31 for-sale townhomes, 48 multifamily for-rent apartments, and 21,805 sq. ft. of retail space.
As for the outside, The Beach Company has commissioned Guido van Helten to use Canvas Tower as the canvas for a new eight-story mural. Guido is an award-winning Australian artist, known for his towering photorealistic works + the murals he has created all over the world .
When van Helten visited Greenville earlier this year, he met with several community leaders before deciding to explore diversity, connectivity, and unity in Greenville for his concept + the history of integration in education as the unifying theme of the piece.
So, what will the mural look like? Well, that’s a mystery for now.
Here’s what we do know. We can expect a photorealistic mural of a Greenville resident to cover the façade of the eight-story building + that the design will reference the history of desegregation + integration of schools across the county and convey the impact one teacher can have across multiple generations.
Work is just getting started on the mural + the Greenvillian’s identity will be revealed as the mural progresses. The mural is expected to be finished sometime this fall. You can read the mural project summary presentation here .