Libertas Academy and the Riverbend Athletic Complex Break Ground
On Oct. 8, 2025, Woodruff broke ground on a tuition-free charter school on Godfrey Town Road, and Mayor Gist laid out plans for a 103-acre park on the Enoree River with turf fields, pickleball, a dog park and a kayak launch.
The Greenville Journal's Megan Fitzgerald covered a two-part celebration in Woodruff on Oct. 8, 2025.
The first was the groundbreaking for Libertas Academy Woodruff, a tuition-free public charter school for 4K through 8th grade at 497 Godfrey Town Road. It is authorized by the Charter Institute at Erskine and supported by Tutelage School Solutions, a Columbia-based education management organization. The paper reported that it would be the second Libertas Academy in Spartanburg County. School director Celina Patton called it "more options for parents and a bright future for our children." State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver also spoke, saying every child deserves "a high-quality education that meets their individual needs." (The Journal gave a fall 2027 opening at the time. The school's own site now lists its first year as 2026–27, starting with 4K through 6th grade. See its directory listing.)
The second was Mayor Kenneth Gist's announcement of the Riverbend Athletic Complex, a 103-acre park on the Enoree River to be run in partnership with Spartanburg County Parks and Recreation. Plans call for four turf fields for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse and flag football, plus walking trails, pickleball courts, a dog park, a playground and a kayak launch on the river. Gist called it "a significant investment in the future of Woodruff" and a hub for "community engagement and economic growth." The paper said completion is expected in 2027.
This is where the city's long-planned sports complex landed. In 2022 it was sketched as a roughly 40-acre, $16 million concept off Fountain Inn Road.
Read the full story, with renderings, at the Greenville Journal.