Construction is under way on the new offices of the Hub City Writers Project in downtown Spartanburg. Hub City's new home will be located on the second floor of a historic building that opened in 1928 as R.E. Foil Motors, a dealer of Chrysler, Plymouth, Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles. More recently, it was home to the Gilbert Shoe Co. for a quarter century. The building is located at 149 Daniel Morgan Avenue, a block behind the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

When renovation is complete in late spring 2006, Hub City will share the space with its sister organization, Hub-bub.com. Together, the two arts groups will operate a 3,200-square-foot performance venue and art gallery on the second floor. Thanks to a large grant from the city of Spartanburg, the space will host regular poetry readings, films, musical events, art openings, and small theater performances.

"This represents a significant expansion of our mission at the Hub City Writers Project," said Betsy Teter, executive director. "Now we are opening our arms to songwriters, screenwriters, and playwrites." It also will provide a permanent home for the Hub City reading series, which featured more than 40 creative writers during the past year. Hub City also anticipates hosting writing workshops there.

"Hub City has been a big part of the Spartanburg community for ten years, but we have never had a place where the public could come and interact with us. Now we will have that," Teter said.

In addition, Hub City and Hub-bub.com are co-sponsoring a new artist residency program that will provide four year-long fellowships to visual artists and creative writers. Four live/work spaces are being readied on the third floor of the building for the artists, who will move in on June 1, 2006. The fellowships will be open to people in their twenties who do challenging and experimental work and are willing to participate in community service.

The first floor of the building is being marketed to restaurants. "We will be very busy throughout the summer and fall shaping all the new programs," Teter said. "And we look forward to throwing open the doors in late spring."