The Charleston area economy continues to thrive! This month, we highlight recent news related to development, restoration and renovation projects and the life sciences. Follow the links provided for each news item to find out more.
Several major development, restoration and renovation projects are underway or planned across the Lowcountry. Those on our radar include…
- The Archer School Apartments - a $43M restoration and adaptive reuse of the 90-year-old building that was the historic Henry P. Archer School into an affordable housing complex for seniors - has just opened in Charleston’s Eastside. The project, spearheaded by The Humanities Foundation, Charleston County and the City of Charleston and supported by the community, also included the addition of two buildings to create a complex of 89 one- and two-bedroom apartment units.
- The Shem Creek shrimp docks and shrimp processing facility in Mount Pleasant are undergoing a year-long, $3 million renovation aimed at improving accessibility, safety, operational efficiency and viability of the shrimping operations to “ensure the continuation of Mount Pleasant’s rich cultural heritage of shrimping and support for the local economy.”
- After two years of planning, Greystar has received final approval for Courier Square Phase II, by the City of Charleston’s Board of Architectural Review. This mixed-use redevelopment project at 635 King Street was designed by Sotille & Sottile, with involvement by the American College of the Building Arts, to meet a 5-point “manifesto” that includes “The Solution Must Be Charleston”.
- The Charleston Parks Conservancy has a $125,000 campaign underway - you can contribute via the link provided - to renovate downtown Charleston’s popular Colonial Lake, not only to spruce it up, but to also address critical environmental challenges resulting from rising sea levels, extreme weather and other changing conditions.
- The need for “Missing Middle” housing - types that range between single-family detached and multi-family housing - along the Lowcountry Rapid Transit’s planned route is being studied by the planning and design team Opticos and the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors in order to “provide a roadmap to create housing opportunities where they currently do not exist and help make our region accessible to everyone”.
Did you know that, according to the online commercial real estate listing service CommercialCafe, between 2018 and 2022, the number of life sciences establishments in Charleston increased by 67%, making it “the fastest growing life sciences metro hub” nationwide among 24 leading metro competitors? The life sciences encompasses biotech, pharmaceuticals, biomedical technologies, medical devices, health IT, bio-ag and more. Much of this success is due to the efforts of SCbio, a local entity that is working to ensure that companies active in these areas have access to needed resources. One of many recent developments in this sector is the Tri-County Biological Science Center now under construction on Leeds Avenue in North Charleston. Once completed in late 2025, this state-of-the-art, 21,480 square-foot facility and its operational team will streamline the local forensic biology analysis process to help reduce DNA processing times.
