Deering Street: Adaptive Reuse of a Historic Church in Mills Mill, Greenville SC
About the Project
Built in 1933, with a three-story education wing added in 1956, Emmanuel Baptist Church served the Mills Mill community for generations before sitting empty for several years. Our adaptive reuse transforms the church on Deering Street into a residential community that honors the building’s history while answering Greenville’s need for workforce housing. In 2025, the property was annexed into the City of Greenville, and the City’s Historic Review Board approved the church as a local landmark.
Our Approach
Preservation is central to the development. Plans retain the church’s historic exterior, with studio and one-bedroom residences fitted inside the original structure, including loft homes beneath the existing roof. Site improvements include a relocated entrance, on-site parking, new landscaping, and bike storage. Residences are planned for households earning around 80 percent of the area median income, keeping homes near downtown attainable for the people who work there.
Project Details
- Type
- Adaptive reuse, multifamily residential
- Neighborhood
- Mills Mill
- Status
- In design
- Location
- 14 Deering St, Greenville, SC
In the Press
- Post and Courier
- Historic Greenville church to become affordable apartments
- Upstate Business Journal
- Historic Greenville church to be converted into affordable housing
- Fox Carolina
- ‘Opportunity to create and revitalize:’ Two historic Greenville churches set to get new life
More Gallo Company Projects
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View the ProjectA Building Worth Preserving?
Own a historic building or underused property with a story worth preserving? Our team would welcome the conversation.