Sidewall Pizza now open in Montgomery Building

Sidewall Pizza is now open for business, anchoring the ground floor of the southwest corner of Spartanburg’s historic Montgomery Building at North Church and East St. John streets.

“It’s so awesome to be here with that physical presence that means so much to so many people who have fond memories,,” Sidewall Pizza floor manager Betty Bishop said Tuesday.

The pizzeria opened Sunday after a soft opening Saturday. It's open each day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., including Sunday.

“It’s great to have another lunch option,” said Elizabeth Cole, an accounting professor at the nearby George Dean Johnson School of Business.

Cole was dining with fellow professor Michael Wooten and business analytics graduate student Anastasia Livaditis.

Cole ordered a specialty pizza, while Wooten and Livaditis ordered a salad.

“I’ve eaten at the Sidewall Pizza in Travelers Rest and downtown Greenville,” Wooten said. “I am very excited they opened in this location, in the center of town.”

Bishop, a Spartanburg native who trained at two Sidewall Pizza locations in Greenville, said what makes the pizza so special is everything is “made from scratch, with local ingredients and made the old-fashioned way.

“Maybe it takes more work, but it pays off in spades,” she said. “The owners don’t cut corners.”

She said roughly 50 employees have been hired, 20 of whom work in the kitchen and the rest in the dining area.

“They are well-trained,” she said.”We all get to know and fall in love with the product.”

Also dining at the Spartanburg Sidewall Pizza Tuesday for the first time were Melissa Miller, a stay-at-home mom, and Renea Hewett, an off-duty nurse.

Both ordered pizza for lunch, and were planning to take unfinished portions home with them.

“The pizzas are great,” Miller said.

The pizzeria is the third tenant to open since the 10-story Montgomery Building reopened last December after extensive renovations.

Opening on the ground level prior to Sidewall Pizza were Pharmacy Coffee and James and James Collection men’s wear.

Alicia Abrahams, community manager for the building, said there are two vacant ground-floor spaces, but that should change soon.

One tenant, a retail business, is planning to open in a few months. She said the identity is being kept a secret.

“In six months, this will be completely different,” she said. “Stay tuned.”

There is also commercial/office space available on the second and third floors, and one commercial space in the basement. The upper floors, from 4 to 10, contain 63 apartments and are 100 percent occupied, Abrahams said.

The old Carolina Theater in the back of the building, which opened in 1924 as a Vaudeville theater and later a movie theater, is in the process of being restored to its original glory.

“That’s a little longer project,” she said.

Abrahams said Montgomery Building developers James Bakker and Tom Finnegan of BF Spartanburg are taking on the theater restoration.

“Today, it’s still very preliminary,” Abrahams said of the project’s status. “There’s not a lot of details to share.”

Neither Bakker nor Finnegan could immediately be reached Tuesday.

Preservation South Carolina handled the initial planning and fundraising for the $5.5 million restoration project.

It was then turned over to Bakker and Finnegan, who earlier this year said they envision the theater as its own entity, separate from the Montgomery Building, that will “pay for itself” with any profit going toward its maintenance, the Herald-Journal reported.

Suzanne Brooks, director of the Spartanburg Preservation Fund and program manager of sacred space with Preservation South Carolina, could not immediately be reached Tuesday.

In February, she said the goodwill the developers had built through the Montgomery Building restoration would make them the best choice to handle the project.

“I am nothing but confident that they are going to find a really outstanding use for the theater,” she said at the time.

Meanwhile, the response from customers and residents has been positive since the restored building reopened.

“Feedback has been really positive so far,” Abrahams said. “This corner is such a positive center for Spartanburg, with a skyline. We’re also promoting walkability.”

The Montgomery Building is within a short walk of the Spartanburg County administrative offices, the Chapman Cultural Center, the recently opened Cyclebar fitness center and the Spartanburg Marriott.

“It’s great to see new life in this building and to appreciate the history for what it was,” Abrahams said.