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LOCAL REAL ESTATE NEWS
And Information
FOR CHARLESTON, BERKELEY AND DORCHESTER COUNTIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Rising tide
Ashley Bridge District attracting affluent residential growth
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Will people pay more than $1 million to live beside an expressway on the site of a former concrete manufacturer?
They already have.
That is because the north end of the city’s Ashley Bridge District has become an up-and-coming residential hot spot at the gateway to West Ashley. It is two minutes from downtown Charleston and situated along the banks of the Ashley River, where marinas and restaurants abound.
The hospitals, entertainment venues, art galleries and restaurants that downtown Charleston offers are just a short hop over the river. Hotels and offices have also settled on the banks of the Ashley, where they can be part of the city but the parking is free.
Once a semi-industrial area diagonally across the river from the city’s former garbage dump, this edge of the Ashley Bridge District now is luring condominium developments catering to boat owners and is becoming a new residential neighborhood on its own.
Redevelopment started with The Albemarle, a 63-unit luxury condominium development completed by Applegate & Co. in 2004. The complex set a precedent for residential development in this area wedged between Albemarle Road and the Ashley River and bisected by the Herbert Fielding Connector, which runs between West Ashley and James Island. In spite of its snug position next to an expressway, The Albemarle is just a stone’s throw from scenic Ripley Light Marina and the waterfront California Dreaming restaurant.
Nearby and closer to the water, The Townhomes at Ripley Cove will have 18 units when the development is completed later this year. Coastland Enterprises has completed the first two of three buildings and has closed on all initial sales. The townhomes originally sold in the mid-$600,000s and are now ranging from $700,000 to $850,000. They are built atop garages, crowned with rooftop terraces and come with boat slips.
Developer Jeff Woodman, owner of Coastland Enterprises, said development potential in the area had been overlooked in spite of some high-profile tenants such as California Dreaming and Porter-Gaud School.
“We are excited to start contributing to the area, which was kind of neglected,” Woodman said. “The city mandated a mixed-use for the neighborhood. They wanted townhomes, single-family (homes) and condos.”
New residents of the area say it’s almost like living downtown, but with a peaceful, resort-like feel.
“I just feel like I’m on vacation all the time,” said Sunny Steinberg, who has lived at The Townhomes at Ripley Cove for six months. She and her husband Samuel Steinberg, both retired, moved from just five miles away in Parkshore III. They will soon have more neighbors as other projects take hold in the area, including 12 single-family homes to be built across the street. One home, costing $2.5 million, is nearly complete.
Sintra Development Corp. is building three of the homes, which come with deeded deep-water boat slips. The area was once home to Pre-Stress Concrete, a concrete manufacturer that shipped its products out of the area on barges.
“I think our buyers are obviously individuals with a large boat or yacht and probably somebody looking for everything Charleston has to offer, but probably with a little more seclusion and a little more privacy,” said Rebecca Boone, Sintra’s director of marketing. “It’s like a perfect little gem of a place and I don’t think a lot of people in Charleston know about it yet.”
More boat slips are on the way, as are more condos. Ashley River Properties II is developing the nearby Ripley Light Yacht Club and marketing 24 units in its first phase. The three-bedroom units will range in price from more than $1.4 million to nearly $1.9 million and should break ground this spring. Most of the development’s marina is built, with 80 out of 94 slips operable. Two of the condos at Ripley Light Yacht Club are under contract.
“We’re going after the boater,” said Clay Cunningham, broker-in-charge with Frank Guarino Properties. “That’s kind of a niche market. We’re selling more of a lifestyle than just a condo.”
Ryan Black, project manager for Ashley River Properties II, said buyers would probably be people who have million-dollar yachts and are either moving north from Florida or south from the Northeast.
“They are probably net-worth individuals in the $5 million-plus range,” Black said.
Not far away, Stonebridge Development Group has 42 units planned for another luxury condominium complex with a pool and hot tub. Half of the upscale residences to be built at Westwind Landing are already sold and the project will probably break ground within six months. Laura Hart, an agent with Stonebridge Realty, said the least expensive unit left is nearly $800,000 and others range up to $1.2 million.
Mark Caldwell, president of Stonebridge Companies, said the development’s average sale has been right at $1 million for units that include boat slips across the street. The company paid $5 million for the 1.68-acre tract, which is not waterfront property.
“I think the area has taken a dramatic turn toward the higher-end residential product,” Caldwell said. “I can’t think of another site that has those river views and is as close to downtown.”
Stonebridge also plans 40 more condominium units in the area on the site of the former Landry’s Seafood restaurant, which closed several years ago.
As the area nestled at the foot of the Ashley River bridges continues to be transformed, it is beginning to better fit the ideals of city planners and area residents.
A plan for the Ashley Bridge District, which includes eight West Ashley neighborhoods, was adopted by the city in 1997. Bill Wallace, chairman of the Ashley Bridge District’s board, said residents of the area felt the district had some unique concerns and wanted to maintain it primarily as a high-quality residential district.
While the area around Ripley Light Marina had once been industrial, it was also adjacent to some of Charleston’s oldest and most exclusive suburbs, including Windermere, The Crescent and Wappoo Heights, which was started in 1924.
“We saw a lot of encroachment into our neighborhood by commercial development and traffic that was passing through these neighborhoods,” Wallace said. “We wanted to preserve the residential character of the neighborhoods and promote the quality of life that had existed here and attract development we thought would be suitable and complementary to the residential units that were here.”
A good example of that is Beazer Homes’ purchase of a 71¼2-acre parcel once occupied by a concrete products company. The national home-building giant plans a 181-unit condominium complex, called Station West, at the corner of Folly and Albemarle roads that will include 18,000 square feet of retail space at the corner of the two roads. Residences at Station West will be priced from $399,000 to around $560,000 for units of less than 1,000 square feet to a little more than 1,800 square feet.
Matt Hornberger, director of mid-rise construction for Beazer’s Charleston division, said he has worked on other mixed-use projects that Beazer has done in south Florida and described Station West as an urban infill project.
“More people are interested in living close to where they work, living in downtown urban areas, and they like the convenience of having a supermarket or a coffee shop right downstairs or close by,” Hornberger said.
Next door, behind Gold’s Gym, Howell & Associates plans a four-story, 49,000-square-foot office building called Albemarle Place, which will include eight rooftop condominiums.
“Somebody could buy a unit up there and actually work down below,” company President Sean Howell said.
Such urban infill projects also suit city officials’ ideas for the Ashley Bridge District.
“What’s happening there with the residential development is very positive and does implement that Ashley Bridge District plan, because the plan did envision more
residential there and more mixed-use and a phasing out of the industrial activities,” said Yvonne Fortenberry, deputy director of the city’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Economic Innovation.
Some of the development around Ripley Light Marina has brought more positive uses along the waterfront while still attracting some commercial use, such as a new corporate headquarters for Piggly Wiggly supermarkets, Fortenberry said.
Christopher Morgan, planning division director for the city’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Economic Innovation, said there are a lot of things going on in the neighborhood, including efforts to connect the West Ashley Greenway bicycle path to the Ashley River Bridges via a separate bicycle and pedestrian lane.
“It’s a beautiful area, with the little inlet and views of downtown,” Morgan said. “What has come along has not been exactly what’s been envisioned, but it’s a dynamic redevelopment of the area.”
Wallace, the Ashley Bridge District chairman, thinks most of the new uses that have moved into the Ripley marina section of the district are supportive of the neighborhood.
“I think we’ve been successful, with the city’s help, to maintain this as a residential area and not to let commercial and industrial encroach upon it, but at the same time we’ve allowed new uses like condos replace other things that were a detriment to our area,” Wallace said. “I think quality of life has changed dramatically.”
Most of the area around Ripley Light Marina is now planned, and development is underway on most of the property, Fortenberry said.
One holdout is Turky’s Towing, a long-established tow-truck operation whose owner, Werner Burky, also uses a portion of his property along Folly Road as a car lot for collectible European cars. There is a boat ramp at the rear of the property and the river can be accessed at mid-tide.
If someone made him an offer, Burky said, he would be happy to relocate.
“I will sell,” Burky said. “All they have to do is show me the money. It’s definitely for sale at my price.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
Beazer Homes to build condos locally
By Kathleen Dayton , Staff Writer
Atlanta-based Beazer Homes is planning two condominium projects for the Charleston area, one to include retail space and a mix of townhomes with condos.
Station West will be built on 7.5 acres at the corner of Albemarle and Folly roads on a site formerly occupied by a concrete products company. Beazer plans 181 units on the site with a mix of lofts, condominiums and townhomes. The project will include 18,000 square feet of retail space at the corner of Albemarle and Folly and is expected to break ground in April.
Residences will be priced from $399,000 to about $560,000 for units of just less than 1,000 square feet to a little more than 1,800 square feet.
Beazer Homes also plans a condominium project for Mount Pleasant near the intersection of Interstate 526 and Clements Ferry Road. Governors Cay will have 192 units ranging from 952 to 2,900 square feet in four buildings. Sale prices have not yet been determined and groundbreaking is expected by June or July.
Matt Hornberger, director of mid-rise construction for Beazer’s Charleston division, said the condominium projects are relatively new for the company, which is best known for developing single-family home neighborhoods. Beazer began developing condominiums in the past couple of years and has similar projects under construction or in pre-construction in Memphis, Tenn., and in Charlotte, N.C.
Beazer Homes is one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, currently building in 40 markets in the Southeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, West and Central United States.
Provided by The Charleston Business Journal
Best Places to Work in South Carolina named
By Daily Journal Staff
Fifteen South Carolina companies have been named the Best Places to Work in the state.
The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce partnered with the Society for Human Resource Management—South Carolina State Council, SCJobNetwork.com and Setcom Media, publisher of the Charleston Regional Business Journal, to create the inaugural competition naming the best places to work in the state.
The program is a multi-year initiative to encourage South Carolina companies to focus, measure and move their workplace environments toward excellence. Best Companies Group, an independent research company, surveyed the participating businesses. The selection process was based on an assessment of the company’s employee policies and procedures and the results of a 65-question employee survey.
All participating companies will receive an Assessment Findings Report in August, which not only summarizes and sorts employee feedback, but also will include South Carolina benchmarking data for comparison purposes. The report will enable the companies to develop and implement the strategic steps necessary to create a great workplace and continue to improve the performance of their business.
The companies that made the list will find out where they rank at a special recognition event during the annual Society for Human Resource Management—S.C. State Council conference in October.
The goal of Best Places to Work in South Carolina is to raise the bar among the state’s employers and create excellence and employee satisfaction in the workplace that will attract talented people for years to come.
The winning companies, listed alphabetically, are:
Buist Byars Pearce & Taylor LLC
Buist Moore Smythe McGee PA, Charleston
Carolinas Hospital System, Florence
Colonial Supplemental Insurance, Columbia
Edward Jones
FGP International, Greenville
First Financial Holdings Inc., Charleston
First Reliance Bank, Florence
Life Cycle Engineering, Charleston
Shred First LLC, Spartanburg
South Carolina Bank and Trust Financial Corp.
South Carolina Education Lottery, Columbia
South Carolina State Credit Union, Columbia
The Jackson Companies, Myrtle Beach
Time Warner Cable-South Carolina Division
Mount Pleasant makes list of Top 100 Best Places To Live
By Daily Journal Staff
Mount Pleasant is No. 70 on Money magazine’s list of the Top 100 places to live in the nation.
Money determined the top 100 cities and towns by working with data provider OnBoard of New York and consultant Bert Sperling of BestPlaces.net. The aim of the study was to find the most livable locales in the nation that combine the best of city and suburban life.
Cities and towns with low education scores, high crime rates and declines in employment and income were eliminated. Money magazine also considered a poll of 1,005 Americans that revealed that good schools, low crime and job opportunities are the most important characteristics people look for in a place to live.
Among the data that placed Mount Pleasant on Money’s list was an air quality index of 63.6%, compared with 70.8% for the Best Places average. Median commute time for Mount Pleasant was 19.5 minutes, compared with 20.8 minutes for the Best Places average. Job growth for Mount Pleasant for 2000-2005 was 8.32%, compared with 10.46% on average for other cities and towns on the Best Places list.
In company with Mount Pleasant on the list was Fargo, N.D., at No. 69 and West Des Moines, Iowa, at No. 71.
Fort Collins, Colo., topped the list as the No. 1 best place to live in the nation, while Cary, N.C., was listed at No. 5 and included among the magazines Top 10 Great American towns.
A separate list of 10 best big cities was topped by Colorado Springs, Colo.
Raleigh N.C. made the best big cities list at No. 4.
The survey considered a number of other factors, including health, arts and culture. The skinniest people in the nation were found in Roseville, Calif., while the most educated people were found in Arlington, Va.
View the Top 100 Best Places To Live online at Money’s Web site.
Developers revive old concept with mixed-use communities
By Kathleen Dayton , Staff Writer
It may seem that developers in the Charleston area are onto something new, but they’re actually reviving a housing trend that has been around since the Middle Ages.
Homes built above commercial space are going up in clusters all over the Charleston area, as well as mixed-use neighborhoods that group town homes, condominiums, apartments and even single-family homes with retail and office space. A central green space, park or plaza usually anchors such developments.
The trend is a component of New Urbanism, a movement among architects, planners and developers to counter the urban sprawl that emerged with the explosion of highways and suburban developments after World War II.
Old and new versions of the concept have been successful across the nation, in historic cities such as Pittsburgh as well as in newly created communities including Seaside, Fla., and Disney’s 5,000-acre Florida town, Celebration.
Developers say Charleston’s time has come.
“We just thought there was a void in the market. We’re always looking for voids, and that’s why we jumped on it,” said Mike Surles, a local real estate appraiser turned developer.
Surles has traveled the globe studying live-work spaces in places as diverse as Lisbon, Portugal, and Charlotte, N.C., for his Cambridge Square project, which will soon break ground in Mount Pleasant’s Park West neighborhood. To prepare for the project, Surles and his partners studied rooftop gardens in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood and looked at Phillips Place and Burkdale in Charlotte.
“This is totally not new,” Surles said. “If you go to Calhoun Street, if you go to King Street, you’ve got the same thing. I was in Italy this summer and every one of those people lives above a store. It’s nothing new; it’s just coming back around.”
Read more about this trend in the June 26 issue of the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
Mount Pleasant SC the state’s fastest growing city
By Kathleen Dayton , Staff Writer
A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Mount Pleasant gained the most residents of any city in South Carolina between 2000 and 2005.
Mount Pleasant gained an estimated 10,323 residents during the period, outpacing Charleston, which gained an estimated 10,062.
Summerville, another of the fastest growing areas in the report, gained an estimated 9,962 residents from 2000 to 2005 and was slightly ahead of Rock Hill, which added an estimated 9,789 residents.
North Charleston grew by an estimated 6,671.
Others among the state’s fastest-growing cities were Greer, Mauldin, Myrtle Beach, Lexington and North Myrtle Beach.
Columbia was the most populous city in the state from 2000-2005, with 117,088 people, although Columbia’s growth estimate between 2000 and 2005 was only 810.
The census report, released Wednesday, estimates Charleston’s population at 106,712 and Mount Pleasant population at 57,932 as of July 1, 2005.
According to the report, Elk Grove, Calif. was the nation’s fastest growing city among large cities with a population of 100,000 or more.
Carolina Park donates 134 acres to Mount Pleasant
By Dennis Quick , Senior Staff Writer
Carolina Park, a 1,700-acre master-planned community in northern Mount Pleasant, has donated 134 acres of park and recreational space to the town of Mount Pleasant, Carolina Park officials announced Wednesday.
The donation consists of 54 acres earmarked for an active park, which will include eight soccer fields and be the main site for the town’s soccer leagues, and 80 acres for a passive park.
Construction on the park space is slated to begin later this year and be completed by fall 2007.
‘City within a city’ approved for Goose Creek
By Kathleen Dayton , Staff Writer
The Daniel Island Co. got approval Tuesday for its 5,000-home Carnes Crossroads development to be located at U.S. 71A and S.C. 176 in Goose Creek.
City council gave the final OK for the 2,360-acre community, which developers have described as a city within a city that will include schools, shopping, parks, trails, highways, offices and restaurants.
Matt Sloan, chief operating officer of Daniel Island Co., said initial interest in the property is beyond the company’s expectations and that the development is an opportunity to create a new downtown in Berkeley County.
Sloan said the same principles the company used in developing Daniel Island will be brought to the Goose Creek project.
Goose Creek Mayor Mike Heitzler said the development will do more than thicken the tax base in Goose Creek and that the downtown concept would allow people to spend more time within their community.
The Ponds receives final approval from Dorchester County to begin construction–
Greenwood Recently received final approval on the master plan for the new Ponds community from Dorchester County. The plan, created by DesignWorks of Charleston, incorporates a small town center, miles of trails, parks, community pools and ponds. There will be 1950 homes and over 1000 acres of conservation area. GDC is donating the land for a new K through middle school on the property, and has set aside $3 Million for the construction of a new branch of the Summerville Family YMCA to be built in the town center. The Ponds is located just outside of Summerville at the headwaters of the Ashley River.
GDC is in negotiation with several local builders, and plans to have multifamily and single family homes as well as live-work units and homesites available for sale. We hope to begin delivery on these products by late spring of 2007. Pricing for homes should be from the high 200’s through the $700,000’s.
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Dorchester subdivision is on track
BY WARREN WISE
The Post and Courier
Centex Homes is poised to build a 2,100-unit subdivision near upscale Coosaw Creek and the Farm at Wescott subdivisions in Dorchester County that North Charleston hopes to annex.
The mixed-used development plan for the 586-acre Heape tract, which was approved Monday by the North Charleston Planning Commission, includes 31.5 acres of commercial property and 188 acres of open space, most of which is wetlands.
The remaining land would include 1,184 single-family homes, 686 townhouses and 230 apartments, said Kevin Wadley of Centex Homes.
About 92 acres of the tract is already inside North Charleston city limits and is zoned for single-family use. The unincorporated property is zoned for multi-family use under Dorchester County's zoning.
If the entire tract is annexed into the city, it would have a housing density of 3.6 units per acre, Centex Homes' attorney Foster Gaillard said.
Under Dorchester County's current zoning, the site could hold 7,129 dwelling units or 13 per acre, he said.
''Whether we like it or not, this tract will be developed, and we believe North Charleston is the best custodian of that property,'' Gaillard said.
''This represents the very best in good planning.''
North Charleston's city limits surround the property on three sides.
Centex Homes plans to build part of unfinished Patriot Parkway that would divide the tract from Future Drive to the Farm at Wescott.
The city would be responsible for connecting the road from Wescott to the Heape tract and on the east side to Future Drive.
Centex is working on a development agreement for the city to complete the roads to coincide with the subdivision's construction, Gaillard said.
Nearby residents support Centex's building plans, the property's rezoning and the tract's annexation into North Charleston, but they are worried about the additional traffic that could be dumped on their neighborhoods and car-clogged Dorchester Road without the completion of additional outlets to Ladson Road, Mike Sujka, past president of Coosaw Creek Owners' Association, said. ''The Patriot (Parkway) section should be completed before the subdivision begins to add traffic,'' he said.
''We can't handle much more (traffic) without good planning,'' Dorchester Corridor Coalition of Neighborhoods co-chairman Richard Kopfmueller said.
He urged the city to get road development agreements in writing.
Developers are counting on an extension of Old Fort Drive to Ladson Road and the connection of Patriot Parkway to Future Drive to alleviate traffic problems, said engineer Tony Woody of Thomas & Hutton Engineering Co.
North Charleston City Council will consider the proposal in January.
Contact Warren Wise at 745-5850 or wwise@postandcourier.com. |
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This article was printed via the web on 12/14/2005 9:10:53 PM . This article appeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Wednesday, December 14, 2005.
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Parks of Berkeley zoning plan OK'd
BY YVONNE M. WENGER
The Post and Courier
MONCKS CORNER - Immediately before Berkeley County Council granted final approval to a 13,000-home subdivision Monday, three of its members swore on the Bible that they are working in the best interest of residents.
Elvin Standrich of New Hope asked council if their votes for The Parks of Berkeley have been controlled by County Supervisor Jim Rozier.
Rozier's campaign disclosure forms show that he has accepted monetary contributions from developers, including $200 from John Roach of Crescent Resources LLC, which is developing The Parks.
"I am asking each member of County Council to search your hearts and ask yourself if you willingly and knowingly cast your vote on the following issues as being in the best interest of the citizens of this county without coercion or influence from Mr. Rozier," he said extending his Bible.
Rozier was the first to accept.
"I swear I have done the best of my ability to serve the citizens of Berkeley County," said Rozier, who only votes in case of a tie. He has not cast any votes on The Parks.
Council members Judith Spooner and Dennis Fish also swore on Standrich's Bible and said they were insulted by the accusation that anyone would control their votes.
"I have a clear conscience," Spooner said.
Standrich and a group of residents paid for an advertisement that appeared in The Berkeley Independent on Dec. 7, about a month after council did not respond to some residents' request to postpone the approval process. The ad listed nearly $22,000 in campaign contributions Rozier received since December 2004. The ad claimed the money was from "developers, builders, Realtors, and investors who will directly benefit from all the new residential growth."
Council voted 5-0 to grant final approval for the rezoning of the 4,550-acre subdivision planned for a parcel northeast of |
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This article was printed via the web on 12/14/2005 9:17:03 PM . This article appeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Tuesday, December 13, 2005.
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Council approves rezoning - Some Hollywood residents upset
BY EDWARD C. FENNELL
The Post and Courier
HOLLYWOOD - Some residents upset by Town Council's 5-2 vote Monday to rezone a 235-acre tract known as Summer House vowed they'll challenge the decision.
The vote gives final approval to a request by tract co-owner Frank Marvin to rezone the tract from rural/agricultural to single family. The new zoning would allow up to four homes per acre, but attorney Tommy Hill, who represents Marvin, said homes will number far fewer.
Hill said a 45-acre manmade lake, buffers and green space will hold density to three homes or less per acre. He said the yet-unnamed developers will gladly adhere to stipulations council placed on the rezoning approval. As Councilman Arnold Collins requested, council required that developers work with council and town staff; include green space and buffers; devote property to low-income housing; and limit new traffic in the nearby Petersfield community.
A rezoning opponent said after the vote that efforts will be made to convince Hollywood residents to vote the tract, located between Wilson Road and Toogoodoo Creek, out of the town. Marvin Bowens of Adams Run, who has been trying to get about 1,000 residents of Adams Run and other communities outside of Hollywood to become part of the town, said he's concerned that large, upscale developments such as Summer House will erase the rural, low-cost living many people enjoy.
Bowens said some 2,000 upscale homes could be coming to Hollywood in the near future. "When you bring in rich, white people, they change the way you live. You see that at Hilton Head and the city of Charleston," he said.
Bowens said a law allows for a referendum on expelling property from the town, provided a majority of the voters first sign a petition seeking the vote. He said it is his understanding that if Summer House is sent back to Charleston
County, it would revert to the agricultural zoning originally given it by the county.
Some rezoning opponents have alleged the property is not even in Hollywood. Marvin on Monday distributed copies of a Hollywood council annexation resolution, dated Jan. 12, 2000, that he says proves the tract was legally annexed.
A petition signed by eight Petersfield residents and requesting a delay in rezoning until an environmental impact study could be completed was presented to council. Petition sponsors said they fear traffic, noise and pollution they expect Summer House to generate will ruin their community.
Dana Singleton of Petersfield said jobs that rezoning proponents have said will go mainly to Petersfield residents if Summer House is developed are the degrading kind that don't improve lives.
"We are not going over there to clean and do slavery jobs like we did on the plantation," Singleton said.
Council members Ned Mitchell and Ezell Middleton voted against the rezoning. Middleton accused council of switching back to a single-family zoning after last week dangling the prospect of planned development zoning. Planned development would give council a large amount of control over the project.
Contact Edward C. Fennell at efennell@postandcourier.com or 937-5502. |
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This article was printed via the web on 12/14/2005 9:20:16 PM . This article appeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Tuesday, December 13, 2005.
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Peterfield residents fight plan to develop 235-acre parcel
BY CHRIS DIXON
The Post and Courier
Hollywood - Residents of the small Gullah community of Peterfield pleaded with the mayor and Town Council on Friday to delay a rezoning for a planned 235-acre residential development called Summer House.
At issue is a pending council decision to rezone the Summer House parcel from residential-agricultural to either high-density or planned-development zoning.
Frank Martin, a co-owner of the tract, has indicated that he and his partner would sell the Summer House tract to an unnamed developer should the rezoning be granted. The sale of the rezoned land could net Martin and partner an estimated $10 million.
In recent days, opponents of the Summer House plan had discovered that a few acres of the land to be rezoned are in Meggett. This land, according to Mayor Gerald Schuster, had been withdrawn from the rezoning. Councilwoman Ezell Middleton and area resident Margaret Blackmer also argued that the Charleston County Planning Commission had not been given 60 days to study the rezoning. This could, they said, render any Summer House zoning decision illegal.
Before an fiery crowd in Town Hall, an equally fiery Schuster and Councilman Arnold Collins sought to belay concerns of the close-knit community, which is adjacent to the Summer House tract in unincorporated Charleston County. In several instances during the raucous meeting, both sides pleaded for calm.
The planned-development zoning, Schuster and Collins argued, would give the council the greatest say over final density, open space and rural buffer zones in the Summer House tract.
Schuster also assured residents that their sewers would continue to function and that their centuries-old culture would not be lost to suburban sprawl should the rezon-ing proceed. It was a tough sell to Peterfield residents, who have a devotion to one another and a feeling of being threatened by development.
"Things are being approved through the buddy system," said the Rev. Charles Linnen.
"Don't make us think we're ignorant because we're questioning you," Janie Moore Jones said. "You say you went from 900 to 600 houses like that's an improvement. What about 200 or 300 houses? We want trees; we don't want highways. We want rural to be rural."
Moore Jones added that the people who moved into Summer House would be oblivious to the unique people and culture they would be displacing as a result of eventually higher property taxes and land values.
"They want a good lifestyle," she said. "Well, we want a good lifestyle, too, and we're not going to let this happen."
Moore Jones predicted the people of Peterfield would take legal action should the rezoning be approved.After the meeting, Schuster said that to the best of his knowledge, the zoning procedures had been followed in a legal manner. He said the residents of Peterfield are ignoring potential benefits from infrastructure and economic development.
"The potential developer has said that he will have local groups do a lot of the construction work," Schuster said. "You put up several hundred homes, you've got a job for years. Sheetrock people, bricklayers and others - they'll have a job right next door."
Contact Chris Dixon at 745-5855 or cdixon@postandcourier.com |
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This article was printed via the web on 12/14/2005 9:25:20 PM . This article appeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Saturday, December 10, 2005.
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Dorchester to weigh development option
By DAVE MUNDAY
The Post and Courier
SUMMERVILLE-The debate over development in Dorchester County's plantation district resumes Monday with a new attempt to break the deadlock.
Council Planning and Development Committee Chairman Skip Elliott will introduce a proposal to require planned-unit developments for big projects along S.C. Highway 61, rather than setting a definite limit on density.
Planned-unit developments allow houses to be clustered on small lots, as long as the bulk of the land is kept green. The green space can include wetlands, which can't be developed anyway.
Encouraging developers to cluster houses saves money on roads, sewer and water and gives the county more control of what developments will look like, Elliott said. He favors clusters of 7,600-square-foot lots, or about four houses an acre, offset by areas of undeveloped land.
It was unclear Friday how much green space would be required to offset the clusters. Elliott said he would be more specific Monday.
The unanswered questions worry those who have been pushing to keep the district rural.
"We encourage clustering, but this is so vague now," said Drayton Hall Executive Director George McDaniel, a member of a citizens committee that spent three months debating how to limit density near the historic plantations. "People have been concerned about this for more than a year. There's going to be a public hearing less than week from now, and I don't even know what we're going to talk about. What kind of public process is that?"
The 14-member citizens committee split over what density to recommend to council. Half, including McDaniel, recommended one house for every four net acres, which would not include wetlands. The other half, including Chairwoman Elaine Murray, recommended one house for every two gross acres.
The Coastal Conservation League argued for McDaniel's proposal.
Planning committee member Mike Murphree has said on several occasions that he favors requiring planned-unit developments in the plantation district rather than enacting a base zoning.
Planning committee member Larry Hargett said he would support a planned-unit development only if the maximum density were also limited to one house for every 3 or 4 net acres. "I would not support a PUD with no caps on overall density," Hargett said Friday.
Council has already given ordinances to create a plantation district and an Ashley River district two of three readings necessary for approval.
If you go
The planning committee will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in council chambers in St. George. There will be a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday in County Council chambers in Summerville. The committee will make a recommendation for council to consider at its January meeting.
Contact Dave Munday at 745-5862 or dmunday@postandcourier.com. |
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This article was printed via the web on 12/14/2005 9:28:20 PM . This article appeared in The Post and Courier and updated online at Charleston.net on Saturday, December 10, 2005.
Berkeley County bears the brunt of big local developments
November 14, 2005
By Rachel Pleasant,
Staff Writer
During the next few decades, thousands of homes will be built in Berkeley County, and with each scoop of dirt and every newly paved road, the face of this county will change.
Here is a look at the biggest subdivisions currently seeking approval or underway in Berkeley.
The Parks of Berkeley
Somehow the word “big” doesn’t really cut it when it comes to The Parks at Berkeley.
With about 13,000 residential units, The Parks is better described as huge.
Located in the northeast corner of the county at the intersection of Interstate 26 and Highway 17A, The Parks of Berkeley is being developed by Charlotte, N.C.-based Crescent Resources LLC, a land management, real estate and development company formed by Duke Energy more than 40 years ago.
The Parks, which recently received an initial rezoning approval from the Berkeley County Council, will be built following a 30-year schedule.
The community will include an estimated 6,150 single-family homes, 1,480 townhouses, 3,300 multifamily homes and 2,350 residential units in a “village district” that will include commercial and retail space.
About a quarter of the land, formerly owned by MeadWestvaco, will be conserved as green space, and a park and trail system will connect neighborhoods in the community with schools and commercial sites.
As part of the development process, a connector road will be constructed through the community, connecting Interstate 26 and Highway 176.
Cane Bay Plantation
When a developer is working with 50 acres, there is not much room to be creative, said Ben Gramling III, president of Gramling Brothers Real Estate & Development, the group behind Cane Bay Plantation, off Highway 176 in Berkeley County.
But when a developer has 2,000 uninterrupted acres of land to work with—as is the case for Gramling—it opens up all sorts of possibilities.
In the case of Cane Bay, one of those possibilities was being able to donate land for school sites.
In all, Gramling donated 200 acres for an elementary, middle and high school.
The development will also include a commercial area and a series of trails, making it possible for a resident to walk the kids to school and ride a bike to run errands.
“When you have all those things close by, it makes a big difference. Instead of having to drive 10 miles to get to the school, everything is self-contained,” Gramling said, adding a large portion of the property will be conserved as green space, perfect for children to play “pickup games.”
Cane Bay, to be built on land formerly owned by MeadWestvaco, will include 5,000 residential units, and like The Parks of Berkeley, Cane Bay’s neighbor, those units will include everything from townhouses to larger, more expensive homes.
Gramling pegged the price range at between $120,000 to $300,000 and up.
Cane Bay will take about 20 years to complete.
Gramling estimates more than 10,000 people will live in the community.
Foxbank Plantation
Foxbank Plantation is notably smaller than some of its neighboring communities in Berkeley County, but with the total buildout between 1,850 and 2,000 residential units, it still dwarfs many communities currently underway.
Located at the corner of Highway 52 and Cypress Gardens Road, Foxbank Plantation is being developed by the Greenville-based Randolph Group.
The Randolph Group has sold some of its first lots to builders, infrastructure is in and home construction will begin shortly.
Homes will include single-family detached units, single-family attached units and townhouses. Prices will range from a little less than $120,000 and hit a high of about $300,000.
Of the 725 acres, formerly a family holding, there is also space set aside for an elementary school, office and retail space, and expanses of open green space. There will also be a 65-acre lake that will be available for use by all residents.
“It’s heavy on lifestyle,” said Jeff Randolph, manager of the Randolph Group. “There’s lots of open space and amenities rather than a piece of property divided into six pieces. It’s all integrated.”
Randolph estimates the project will take between seven and 10 years to complete, and approximately 8,000 people will live in the community when finished.
Spring Grove Plantation
Like other large developments slated for the area, Spring Grove Plantation, on 477 acres at the intersection of Cypress Gardens Road and Old Highway 52, also promises that a grocery store, a dry cleaner and other conveniences will be built within its borders.
It is a trend in residential development buyers are likely to see a lot more of, said Steve Pendley, CEO of Spring Grove Development.
“It’s something more developers are paying more attention to now. Instead of building without the foresight to infrastructure and transportation, we’re taking a stronger look at mixed-use and being self-supporting without the need of mass transit.”
Approved for a maximum of 1,240 homes, Pendley said Spring Grove will likely include about 1,200 units when finished, which will include townhouses, starter homes and custom homes.
Spring Grove will also include a pool and clubhouse, and a baseball and football field.
Spring Grove was in the planning stages for two years, construction began six months ago and Pendley said it will take another five or six years to complete. Currently, home prices range from about $140,000 to $250,000.
Pendley estimates about 2,700 people will live in the community when it is complete.
Rachel Pleasant is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at rpleasant@charlestonbusiness.com.
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