South Carolina has a law that requires a pre-construction condo buyer's money to be held in escrow, or covered by a surety bond, until the building is finished. The law is real. It also only applies under one specific condition, and a buyer signing a presale contract for downtown Greenville can't assume that condition has been met. With several high-profile for-sale projects downtown stalled, in foreclosure, or still waiting on enough buyers to start, it's worth confirming that condition before you sign anything.
The escrow rule has a trigger
Section 27-31-30 of the South Carolina Code covers how a condominium, which the statute calls a horizontal property regime, gets created. A developer creates one by recording a master deed. The statute lets a developer submit property to a regime before the building exists, as long as "all proceeds from its sale are deposited into an escrow account with an independent escrow agent until construction or completion of the proposed property as evidenced by issuance of a certificate of occupancy."
There are two details in that sentence. First, the escrow requirement attaches to submitting the property to the regime before construction. If a developer takes reservations or signs contracts before recording a master deed, or if the product is a fee-simple townhome and not a condominium at all, that statutory protection may not cover the money. Second, the escrow agent can accept a surety bond in place of cash, as long as the bond is at least as large as the funds that would have been escrowed and names the South Carolina Real Estate Commission as beneficiary. A bond is security. It isn't a cash account sitting untouched.
A separate rule, Section 40-57-136, requires a broker-in-charge who receives a sales deposit to hold it in a trust account until closing or termination. That rule covers money a broker is holding. A developer acting as seller and collecting payments directly is a different situation.
None of this is a reason to avoid presales. It means the first useful document in a downtown condo deal is the recorded master deed, along with the escrow or bond paperwork tied to it. The renderings come later.
Why presales are where the risk sits
For-sale buildings downtown usually need buyers before they can go up. Michael Redmon of Boardman Group put it plainly in 2024 in the Upstate Business Journal when describing Ten Howe, a planned West End condo building near the Falls Park entrance: "We'll start pre-selling sometime next year and then obviously as soon as we get a little handful of pre-sales, we'll go vertical." The two parcels behind that project cost $3.05 million in 2023. Greenville's Design Review Board approved a 30-unit, four-story exterior with conditions in November 2024. We found no public confirmation that presales or construction have started since then.
Ten Howe follows the standard order. Buyer commitments come first, construction second, and a certificate of occupancy last. The earliest buyers carry the most risk, because their money goes in when the project has the least certainty.
Here's where the downtown for-sale pipeline stands as of early October 2026, based on local reporting and public records:
| Project | What was announced | Latest public status |
|---|---|---|
| The McDaniel, East McBee Ave. | 30 limestone townhomes, presales up to $2.5M | Work stopped in 2024; contractor liens filed; developer says a restart is coming |
| Vardry Residences, 100 N. Markley St. | $92M hotel-condo plan with 26 condos in its latest version | Foreclosed; sold at a September 2026 master's sale |
| Ten Howe, West End | About 30 condos | Exterior approved Nov. 2024; no confirmed sales launch |
| The Crescent, 127 S. Main St. | Five condos, including a penthouse | Design approved June 18, 2026 |
The Crescent shows the scale of what is moving. Crescent Greenville LLC and Caldwell Contractors plan a five-story building with ground-floor commercial space, five condos and 10 basement parking spaces. The board approved it on a 3-1 vote. That's five homes.
What a stall looks like from the buyer's side
The McDaniel is the clearest local example of the timeline a presale buyer agrees to. In July 2023, Keene Development Group and the project's sales firm announced that half of the first phase's 20 townhomes had sold within six weeks. Construction started three months later. Work stalled in 2024, and the wooden shells were exposed when Hurricane Helene came through the Upstate that September. Kyle Keene told the Post and Courier that the storm played a part, but that the tight, steep 2-acre site was the bigger challenge. The original general contractor, Ineo Builders, ended its involvement in March 2025.
As of May 19, 2026, H&H Concrete, PK Legacy Builders and Yoder's Building Supply alleged in Greenville County court that they were owed $274,367 combined. H&H and PK Legacy had filed mechanics' liens. Keene said the dispute was "well on its way to getting resolved," that first-phase construction would restart, and that the specs would stay the same, "down to the limestone." We found no public report since then confirming that work has resumed, and the reporting we reviewed doesn't say what happened to buyer deposits.
Liens explain why a pause like this hits buyers. Under the South Carolina Code provisions on mechanics' liens, a contractor or supplier who goes unpaid has 90 days after stopping work to serve the owner and file a sworn statement. They then have six months from that same point to file suit, or the lien dissolves. If the lien holds up, a court can order the property sold. Until a lien is paid or released, it clouds title, and a buyer with clouded title can't close.
Once a master deed is recorded, Section 27-31-230 generally limits later liens to the specific unit involved and its share of the common elements, instead of the whole building. If a lien covers several units, an owner can clear their own unit by paying its proportional share. So the recorded regime matters for liens as well as escrow.
How a foreclosure resolves
The Vardry Residences site at 100 N. Markley St. shows what happens after a stall turns into a default. The project had gone through several versions since 2020, ending up as a Kimpton-branded hotel with condos. The 2024 plans called for 29 condos and 116 rooms. The most recent description listed 26 condos and a 133-room hotel. Keene told the Post and Courier he's no longer involved in that project.
Greenville County's court index for case 2026CP2300730 lays out the ending. The Fidelity Bank waived a deficiency judgment on September 4, 2026. On September 8, LML Properties, LLC bid $4,650,000 at the master's sale. The bid was paid in full by September 11, the deed went to LML on September 16, and Fidelity filed a lien release on October 1. The sale notice had said bidding would stay open for 30 days, but it also reserved the bank's right to waive the deficiency up to sale day, and the bank did. The same notice shows the parcel was conveyed to the developer entity by LML Properties in 2019. The land is back with its previous owner, and no new plan has been announced.
No public reporting shows Vardry condo buyers losing money. The point is the order of claims. A foreclosure sale settles the lender's debt. Whatever is left of a buyer's position depends on where their money was held.
The closest regional warning
About an hour up I-26, the deposit question has already played out. WLOS reported on September 23, 2026 that roughly 66 buyers at Fairmont Heritage Place The Cedars in Hendersonville, North Carolina, had put down deposits totaling about $18 million. A buyer said the developer required 50% deposits and later called that a red flag. The lender's $36 million offer for the property would give buyers and contractors nothing back. That project falls under North Carolina law, but deposit size and where the money is held are questions a Greenville buyer can ask before signing.
Why apartments keep getting built
Large rental projects downtown don't need individual buyers to sign before construction starts. At 426 North Main, Green Property LLC and Bijou Properties are planning about 650 apartments across three buildings, and the 12-story south building was approved in March 2026. WYFF reported that construction there is expected to start in late 2026 or early 2027 and take 24 months. One existing building went the other direction. Ninety-Eight McBee opened as apartments in 2014 and began converting its 56 units to condominiums.
City officials have talked about the imbalance openly. In May 2026, Council member Tina Belge called the split between owning and renting "pretty imbalanced," Planning Commission members pointed to "financing issues, utility fees and building codes" as barriers for developers, and planning director Mary Douglas Hirsch said the city would explore ways to address them. City data cited in the same report puts Greenville at 56% renter-occupied and 44% owner-occupied in 2025.
Across the wider market, buyers have room to negotiate. In August 2026, the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS reported a $320,000 median sales price, 4.2 months of supply, and an average of 56 days on market, up from 49 a year earlier. Those figures cover the whole metro, though, and they don't show the downtown ownership market. Resale downtown units are a separate niche. The Post and Courier reported on September 4, 2026 that a renovated 2,810-square-foot condo at 18 S. Main St., Unit 202, had listed for $2.375 million. That's one asking price, but you can walk through that unit and close on it next month, which a presale contract can't offer.
What to get in writing before you sign
- The recording date of the master deed, and whether the regime was recorded before your contract.
- The name of the independent escrow agent, or a copy of the surety bond naming the South Carolina Real Estate Commission.
- The deposit as a percentage of price, and whether later installment payments go to the same escrow.
- A search of the property's records for lis pendens or mechanics' lien filings.
- Whether a construction lender's mortgage is recorded, since a mortgage recorded before a lien notice generally takes priority under Section 29-5-70.
- The refund terms in the contract if no certificate of occupancy is issued by a set date.
Take this list to a South Carolina real estate attorney. It's a set of questions, not legal advice.
FAQ
Is a townhome presale covered by the same escrow rule? Section 27-31-30 applies to property submitted to a horizontal property regime. A fee-simple townhome sold outside that structure may not be covered, so ask how the project is legally organized.
Does the federal Interstate Land Sales Act protect condo buyers? The Act exempts many condominium sales from its registration and disclosure requirements. Its anti-fraud provisions still reach sales that fall outside the Act's full exemptions. For deposit protection on a Greenville condo, the state escrow rule is the one to check.
Can a stalled downtown project still get finished? Yes. Keene has said The McDaniel will restart with its original specs. A delay changes your timeline, though, and every extra month is another month your deposit is tied up.
Before you put a deposit down on a downtown building that hasn't been built yet, Rossitto Collective will pull the recorded master deed, check the lien and court records, and review the escrow terms with you so you know where your money will be held. Request Representation.
