North Greenville University
North Greenville University has purchased the former Greer headquarters of Ovations Brand, the parent company of Ryan's restaurants. The building has 31,000 square feet, includes 10 acres of property plus a 1.4 acre parcel for future development.
Ovations Brand formerly owned the property that housed the corporate offices to all its food brands – Ryan’s, HomeTown Buffet, Old Country Buffet, Country Buffet, and Fire Mountain.
The 31,000-square-foot-building will house the university’s T. Walter Brashier Graduate School and College of Adult Professional Studies (CAPS).
The sale of the building, located at 405 Lancaster Ave., to NGU was effective Friday. Two days later Ryan’s was closed as part of a move to shutter 74 underperforming restaurants.
The acquisition includes the office building, along with over 10 acres of property plus a 1.4-acre parcel available for the school’s use for future development.
Officials say the facility will offer many additional opportunities for university growth and will house several programs that are operating in other locations. North Greenville’s T. Walter Brashier Graduate School, for example, is utilizing leased space from Fairview Baptist Church in Greer, a partnership that began in 2006.
“This new facility is an ideal addition to the North Greenville main campus,” said Dr. Randall Pannell, NGU’s interim president. “The building is not only in close proximity to our current graduate school, but also provides precisely the kind of space we need to continue our current graduate degree and online offerings and to carry out a high-quality, Christ-centered program in physician assistant medicine, set to begin in January 2017. We are delighted to solidify our presence in Greer.”
In addition to the physician assistant medicine program, NGU will continue its current graduate degree offerings in business, education, ministry, and music education and also its CAPS programs at the new facility. The university's CAPS recruitment team will also relocate to the Lancaster Avenue location from the Tim Brashier Center on Pleasantburg Drive in Greenville, as well as other support functions from the main campus in Tigerville.
“I'm very pleased to welcome North Greenville University to the City of Greer,” said Rick Danner, mayor of the City of Greer. “The university has long been a fine neighbor at its Tigerville campus, and its prestigious graduate school will be a tremendous addition to the city.” University officials say the graduate school will begin transitioning to the new facility at the beginning of summer and will be fully occupied by the start of the fall semester.