This month, we reveal the athletes with ties to the Lowcountry who medaled in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as well as inform you about some newcomers to the Charleston area, property purchases, expansions and renovations, and mobility improvement efforts that include "pedestrian scrambles" (our new favorite word!). You can click on the links provided where you see bold blue font to learn more about the topics of most interest to you.
In last month’s News Blog, we named some athletes with roots or ties to the Lowcountry who were participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics. We’re happy to report that three have earned medals: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, a Fort Dorchester High School graduate, won Bronze in the women’s 100m hurdles for Puerto Rico. The College of Charleston was also well-represented. Ian Barrows, assistant sailing coach, won Bronze in the men’s skiff event with partner Hans Henken for Team USA and 2018 alumnus Stefano Peschiera secured Bronze in the men's dinghy competition for Team Peru.
Charleston is well-known for its restaurant scene, with new venues always opening up - two of which made Yelp’s recently released 25 best new restaurants in the South. Ranked 14th is Xo Brasserie (Cantonese and Sichuan) in the NoMo neighborhood, followed closely by Costa (coastal Italian) in downtown Charleston in the 17th spot.
We also welcome other area newcomers, from businesses to developments to public spaces. Global provider of used shipping containers, Eveon Containers, will open its new headquarters in the Cigar Factory in downtown Charleston. Gray Media will soon launch a new channel for watching SC sports, the Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Channel at WZCH 35.3 locally. Charleston’s new Entrepreneur Resource Center - a business incubator focuses on supporting underrepresented, disadvantaged, minority-owned and women-owned businesses - opened last month on Hanover Street. The public will soon be able to fish, hunt and view wildlife on the permanently protected, 206-acre Mallard Tract on the western shore of the Edisto River just north of the Good Hope Boat landing, thanks to a recent transfer from the Lowcountry Land Trust to the SC Department of Natural Resources.
As for property purchases, expansions and renovations underway or planned, perhaps the biggest news is that MUSC will be purchasing Roper Hospital’s downtown campus on Calhoun Street once Roper relocates to North Charleston in 2029. Lowcountry Oyster Company will expand production once it completes construction of its $6.4 million seafood processing and cross-dock facility in Green Pond in Colleton County. Thanks to funding from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its regional partners are currently renovating its facility and ship pier on the Cooper River in North Charleston in order to better support climate and ocean research missions in the Atlantic.
Efforts to improve mobility are also in the works in Charleston. Through the federal SMART grant program, Charleston is working to make its streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists by installing smart technology sensors to monitor traffic patterns (including jaywalkers) along the Meeting Street, Calhoun Street and Courtenay Drive corridor as a pilot program. “Pedestrian scrambles”, where pedestrians can cross simultaneously from all corners of an intersection, are also planned for three intersections along Calhoun Street: at Coming, St. Philip and King.
