Co-Working Space Near Jedburg, SC

Several new commercial tenants are coming to a large housing development on the edge of Summerville.

Lombardi's Pizza Kitchen, The Co-op Frosé & Eatery, The Backyard Biergarten, Lowcountry Yoga and children's gym KidStrong are all lined up to be a part of The Hub in Nexton.

The restaurants and fitness sites are expected to move in by late June or early July, according to Nexton spokeswoman Cassie Cataline.

The Hub is a collection of office and commercial buildings under development on Nexton Parkway and Brighton Park Boulevard near Home Telecom and Refuel convenience store.

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Office tenants include Coastal Vascular & Vein Center, Charleston Wound Care, Palmetto Primary and Specialty Care Physicians, Derrington Dermatology and Holliday Ingram law firm.

A new pair of two-story office buildings is expected to be completed in 2024 and 2025. They will be 30,000 square feet and 20,000 square feet, respectively, and be built beside Nexton Parkway.

Nexton is a 5,000-acre, mixed-use development next to Summerville between Interstate 26 and U.S. Highway 176 in Berkeley County. With more than 2,500 homes already sold, the development is expected to have 7,500 residential units at full build-out.

It also could house as many residents as the current populations of Clemson, North Myrtle Beach or West Columbia, roughly between 16,000 and 20,000. That would make it as big as Moncks Corner and Georgetown combined.

Now open

A new pizza restaurant is now open in Mount Pleasant.

BarPizza opened May 12 at 656-G Long Point Road in the revamped former Kiki & Rye space.

It's part of Free Reign Restaurants owned by Ryan and Kelleanne Jones. They also operate the recently opened Southbound on the Charleston peninsula and Community Table in Mount Pleasant.

Stepping in

A new retail shop that incorporates a clothing item in all of its wares is close to opening in downtown Charleston.

Respoke hopes to open by the weekend at 377 King St. in the former location of Simply J Boutique.

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The shop will offer shoes, clothing and other items that are made in part by repurposing different sections of scarves. Hours will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, but they could change after the shop opens, according to store manager Joseph Fennell.

New threads

Also, coming to downtown Charleston is a new women's clothing store, now with a shop in Asheville.

Hazel Twenty owner Lexi DiYeso plans to open in August at 73 Wentworth St., formerly part of 269 King St. that was used as back-of-house storage for the former Gap store. The front section houses Aerie, also a clothing shop.

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The 3,641-square-foot space is currently under construction behind clothing store Collared Greens and next to The Port Mercantile, part of The Restoration Hotel, according to Blair Hines Gearhart of Oswald Cooke & Associates, who represented the tenant. Charles Constant with Constant Properties represented the landlord.

Fresh return

Ruke’s Produce Stand returns to Mount Pleasant on May 24. Operated by Arthur Brown, the vegetable and fruit vendor will operate 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Dec. 31. It’s at 378 Mathis Ferry Road next to Holy Trinity AME Church.

Book it

That Big Book Sale returns for its 41st run May 19-21 at Omar Shrine Auditorium at 176 Patriots Point Road in Mount Pleasant.

More than 60,000 books in all categories will be on sale, starting at $1. Sponsored by Charleston Friends of the Library, the event helps support Charleston County Public Library System.

A pre-sale event for members is 5-8 p.m. May 18. The event is open to the public 9 a.m.-7 p.m. May 19, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. May 20, and 10 a.m-3 p.m. May 21.

Checks, cash, major credit cards and electronic payments, such as ApplePay, will be accepted.

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Construction of the biggest speculative industrial project in the Charleston region kicks off this week with a groundbreaking event for the 1.1 million-square-foot development at Crossroads Logistics Center in Summerville.

The site, near the Jedburg Road exit on Interstate 26, is being built out by a partnership between Citimark Realty and Pure Development. The Indianapolis companies formed Citimark Pure Charleston LLC to buy roughly 131 acres fronting I-26 for $8.75 million last year.

Their first building will eclipse by 10 percent the previous record for a local "spec" project — a 1 million-square-foot structure at the nearby Charleston Trade Center.

The Crossroads project is scheduled for completion by late 2022. Plans call for three more buildings to rise in two phases totaling an additional 1.53 million square feet at the Berkeley County site.

Wednesday's groundbreaking will feature speakers from the State Ports Authority, operator of the Port of Charleston, as well as commercial real estate firm CBRE Inc., which is marketing the project.

The term speculative in this instance means that no tenants have been secured at the time construction begins.

While such projects continue to grow in size and scope, they still don't approach the region's biggest-single industrial property. That distinction belongs to the cavernous 3 million-square-foot import hub built just up I-26 in Dorchester County for retail giant Walmart.

The Crossroads project is part of a boom in speculative industrial-grade real estate deals in the Charleston area, particularly along the I-26 corridor from North Charleston to Ridgeville. Almost all of it is being driven by the need to store and sort goods that retailers are importing through Charleston.

Mike White, broker in charge of Daniel Island-based Charleston Industrial, said about 5.1 million square feet of "Class A" space is set to open by the end of this year. Most of that space will be snapped up before a certificate of occupancy is issued, he added.

"The conditions of a high demand and low volume of space available will continue," White said.

No wonder?

CNN will feature Charleston in its upcoming fourth season of “The Wonder List with Bill Weir,” but it’s not looking to be yet another wonderful tourist piece.

The series is now part of the content catalog at CNN+, the cable network’s subscriber-based streaming service.

The four new shows will focus on “fascinating locations at a critical crossroads brought on by climate change,” according to a written statement last week.

The season kicks off April 21, on the eve of Earth Day.

Weir, who has been CNN’s climate correspondent for about a decade, will anchor reports from Montana, Greenland and Hawaii as well as coastal South Carolina.

In its statement, the network suggested that the Charleston episode will look at the “surging seas and frequent floods” that “batter one of America’s most storied cities and the critical reminders of its slave trade past.”

Material event

A North Charleston-based global textile manufacturer’s next stop in its 232-year journey is in the Lone Star State.

AstenJohnson, which makes specialty fabrics for industrial customers such as paper mill operators, recently picked Waco, Texas, for a new 220,000-square-foot plant that will employ 36 workers.

The $40 million factory is expected to open in 2023 and will make “nonwovens,” a widely used material formed by bonding synthetic fibers through either a chemical, mechanical or heating process.

In this case, the specialty textiles to be made in Waco will be sold to manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, filtration and piping industries, among others.

A local economic development group provided the 36-acre plant site, and the company qualified for $2 million in public financial assistance from the city and county, according to a report in the Waco Tribune-Herald.

“The long-term prospects for our nonwovens business are excellent,” CEO Kevin Frank said in a written statement. “Customer demand for our products has only been growing. This investment will allow us to satisfy the increasing demand and continue to offer more products and innovation.”

The global company expanded into the nonwoven sector when it acquired a Missouri-based manufacturer in 2014. It bought another plant a few years ago in New Hampshire.

AstenJohnson traces its corporate ancestry to a family-owned wire business that was started in 1790 in Manchester, England. It's now headquartered on Corporate Road. Its only South Carolina plant is in Clinton.

1M milestone

Boeing South Carolina's science-and-math-focused education program has learned that it's reached a major milestone.

The manufacturer, which makes its 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, announced last week that more than 1 million students had participated in DreamLearners, a STEM-heavy instructional outreach it launched about 10 years ago in the Palmetto State.

As part of the program, school kids have toured the Boeing South Carolina campus and have had the program come to them in their classrooms. During the COVID-19 pandemic, DreamLearners went virtual.

Students do a hands-on paper airplane activity and learn about careers in the core STEM elements of science, technology, engineering and math, as well as advanced manufacturing and aerospace.

More than 7,600 Boeing employees have volunteered to participate in DreamLearners, the company said.

Boeing celebrated hitting the seven-figure milestone last week at North Charleston Elementary School, not far from its 787 Dreamliner campus.

Hey, bow

A Charleston-born business built from formal-wear feathers made famous by celebrities has fashioned a new formation to fete its decade-old creations.

Brackish, a bow-tie retailer that launched after groomsmen's wedding gifts made from turkey feathers proved popular, is toasting its 10 years in business with a new neckwear adornment called "Cheers."

The latest version features a turkey feather in the center, a nod to the original design. Its colors — blue, white, green and others — are meant to reflect the Palmetto State from the salty Atlantic to the rolling hills of the Upstate.

Owners Ben Ross and Jeff Plotner, friends from their college days at Wofford, say the commemorative and limited-edition tie "instantly invokes good times with family, friends and, in this case, feathers."

Lounging about

Edwin Hughes figures he’s spent about half of his adult life at Charlotte Douglas International.

As a member of American Airlines’ Executive Platinum club, he is a frequent visitor to the big Queen City airport, which serves a major hub for the carrier.

Now he has a new place to spend his layovers. A passenger lounge concept that's already available at Charleston International recently opened its doors at Charlotte Douglas.

The Airports Dimensions-operated Club CLT in Concourse A made its debut March 30. It’s open daily from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and seats 105. Hughes, who lives in West Ashley, said it’s a welcome refuge from the hustle and bustle at the North Carolina travel waystation that accommodated more than 43 million passengers in 2021.

“If you’ve got a long layover and you need to get some work done or just relax, it’s a great extra amenity,” said Hughes, who travels about 40 weeks out of the year. “If you fly out of Charleston, you’ll either have to go through Charlotte or Atlanta on most flights, so it’s nice to have this place to go if you’re an American flyer.”

Anyone can access the lounge with a $45 day pass. Club CLT is also available to Priority Pass members, a lounge access membership that starts at $99 a year. Customers in the lounge are limited to a three-hour maximum stay. Food and drink are complimentary with entry.

The Club concept also has outposts in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and 10 other U.S. airports. Club CHS at Charleston International opened in mid-2019.

A large Berkeley County tract near the Summerville area's industrial real estate epicenter recently sold for nearly $17 million.

Rushmark Properties paid $16.8 million in late May for about 300 acres along Interstate 26 southwest of Jedburg Road and north of Dawson Branch Road, according to public land records.

The largest chunk of land in the transaction — about 263 acres — was sold by North Charleston Lands Corp. for about $15.3 million. A group of smaller adjoining parcels made up the remainder of the deal.

Business

The property is just west of a parcel off Woodhill Patch Lane near Jedburg Road that was sold for $5.75 million in October to an affiliate of Camping World.

A representative of Rushmark did not respond to a request for comment about the plans for its newly acquired property.

The Falls Church, Va.-based firm has been active in the local market for years. Among Rushmark's previous commercial real estate holdings was a part ownership with Charleston developer and investor Frank Haygood in the S.H. Kress & Co. building at 281 King St. on the peninsula. They sold the art deco-style structure for $19.5 million in 2019.

Now open

A new apartment development is now open on the Charleston peninsula.

Quarterra Multifamily, a subsidiary of single-family homebuilding giant Lennar Corp., and Cresset Partners last week announced the completion of the 303-unit Cormac Apartments where Morrison Drive meets Meeting Street Road.

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The rental complex has studio to two-bedroom apartments with monthly rates ranging from $1,500 to $4,000. Residents have access to a controlled-access, three-story, above-grade garage as well as on-street parking and 19 electric-vehicle charging stations.

The complex also features an eighth-floor rooftop terrace with a butler kitchen. Three elevated courtyards can be found on the fourth floor, including one with a pool and clubhouse.

Cormac also includes 13,068 square feet of retail space and a pair of public ground-level courtyards. The moniker comes from the birth name of 18th-century pirate Anne Bonny, who may have lived in Charleston as a child.

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New builder

The company behind a Berkeley County tract as big as the Charleston peninsula is adding its own homebuilder to the lineup of companies already doing business at the site.

Brookfield Residential, which acquired Newland, the former developer of the 5,000-acre Nexton project near Summerville in 2021, plans to build a new collection of townhomes in the mixed-use community as its first project in South Carolina.

The builder is an affiliate of Brookfield Properties, which invests in logistics, hospitality and retail assets. Among its holdings is Columbiana Centre in the Midlands.

The Nexton townhomes will be built in the Midtown neighborhood. The 1,600-square-foot, two-story, three-bedroom properties will be priced starting in the mid-$300,000s.

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They also can be outfitted with extra driveway space and a one- or two-car garage. Pre-sales will begin mid-summer with a model residence opening later this year.

Builders in Nexton have sold more than 2,600 homes to date. At completion, it's projected to have more than 7,000 dwellings, or about 17,500 residents, making it as big as the populations of Moncks Corner and Georgetown combined.

Other Nexton builders include Ashton Woods, Centex, David Weekley, Del Webb, Homes by Dickerson, New Leaf, Pulte Homes, Saussy Burbank and True Homes.

Nexton is owned by a subsidiary of North America Sekisui House LLC and is managed by Brookfield.

Rebranding

A national nonprofit with an office in Charleston that provides apartment companies with pre-screened, trained and ready-to-work talent is now operating under a new name.

The former Shelters to Shutters is now Entryway.

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The multifamily industry continues to grapple with high turnover rates for entry-level employees. Entryway offers a unique program that focuses on sourcing talent where hiring managers may not be looking: individuals and families at risk of or facing situational homelessness.

The nonprofit offers training, employment and housing to qualified individuals who aren't living on the street but are close to it.

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Sportswear and underwear manufacturer Fruit of the Loom said it will permanently close its Summerville distribution center in two months, leaving 119 workers without a job.

The 173-year-old company, which was bankrupt when Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased it in 2002, filed a notice with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce this week stating the closure will take place beginning March 22. It will be completed by July 1.

"As a global company operating in a highly competitive marketplace, Fruit of the Loom Inc. is constantly analyzing its business to ensure we remain as competitive as possible," company spokeswoman Melanie Cressman said in a written statement Thursday. "After an extensive review of our distribution network, the decision was made to close the distribution center in Summerville in support of a consolidation strategy."

Cressman said the workers will receive outplacement assistance and other benefits.

"State and local officials have been notified to provide any available assistance as well," she said.

The announcement comes less than eight years after Fruit of the Loom unveiled a major expansion at the Summerville site as part of a plan to boost internet purchases to 7 percent of all sales from 1 percent.

The 402,000-square-foot addition more than doubled the size of the Berkeley County center, providing enough capacity to ship 60 million pairs of T-shirts, boxers, briefs and other casual garments. The site off also sorted and shipped products for major retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kohl's.

Employment at the distribution center between Business Park and Old Dairy roads had dwindled in recent years, from 225 full-time workers when the expansion was announced to about half that amount this year.

This is the seventh layoff notice filed by South Carolina companies so far this year that will eliminate 844 jobs. The bulk of the layoffs are related to German automotive supplier Mahle Behr's announcement that it will close its North Charleston factory by the end of 2024.

A federal lawsuit that Charleston Water System filed against seven major U.S. companies over equipment damage caused by disposable bathroom wipes has been formally settled.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel approved the terms of the deals after a March 8 hearing.

The agreements are expected to benefit all public U.S. water providers.

Gergel wrote that he found “the settlements reached in this case were the result of a fair process” and were “clearly adequate.” He overruled a minor objection filed by a Maryland utility.

Charleston Water sued a handful of high-profile businesses that made, distributed or sold disposable wipes that were marketed as “flushable,” including Walmart, Costco, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark Corp.

The public works agency went to court about three years ago after scientific testing traced their products to costly and time-consuming clogs in its pumps and wastewater lines.

Kimberly-Clark, which makes wipes at its Aiken County plant, quickly settled.

The others, including CVS Health, Target and Walgreens, asked that the case be dismissed. Their request was denied, and a trial date had been set for earlier this year. Settlement talks began about 18 months ago.

The terms mirror the Kimberly-Clark deal. The retailers and manufacturers will ensure their products meet higher international “flushability” and disintegration standards by certain deadlines starting in April. Walmart and Kimberly-Clark have already complied.

All of the companies also agreed to follow-up inspections and to change their packaging and labeling to better inform consumers whether the disposable wipes they’re buying are suitable for flushing.

The companies will pay the attorneys for Charleston Water about $1.9 million in legal fees and expenses, according to the settlement agreement.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Some businesses say prioritizing a sense of place in the town of Summerville is most important and sometimes that means new development, despite what some people might think.

Dorchester County has a proposed plan to turn 500 N. Main St., also known as their main county building, into a hotel, retail spaces, a parking garage and more.

Some businesses located in the heart of Summerville, like Eva’s Restaurant, think change is about time.

“If we don’t have growth, we don’t have a future,” general manager Tina Howard said.

Eva’s Restaurant has been serving the town since 1944. With the proposed development, Howard says she’s not worried about competition.

“I think it would benefit us as a small business with, you know, bringing in tourists,” Howard said. “...I don’t feel it would hurt us personally because we have such a strong, established business.”

Diane Frankenberger, the owner of People, Places & Quilts, says she’s watched Summerville grow for over 30 years. She says with the old post office as the new public works art center, the old Coca-Cola company as the new YMCA and an old hardware store as her own business, she believes both the county and town councils prioritize preservation.

“You have to go forward with the future,” Frankenberger said. “We still can’t have the same houses around here and the old town hall and no computers and blah blah blah. And so, it’s keeping a sense of place, but moving forward with an eye towards the future.”

The county has already approved plans to preserve part of the county building, which once was the old hospital, and improve the current Veteran’s monument.

“I think when people are calling names or say, ‘Don’t do something,’ let’s wait and see and work together and make the best use of what we’ve got there,” Frankenberger said.

Howard says she wants her 6-year-old grandson to be able to experience a flourishing Summerville, just like she has all her life.

“A lot of people complain about the growth and ‘People will stop coming here, we’re full, don’t come here,’” Howard said. “Without growth, we don’t have a future. The future is growth.”

Frankenberger says she’s ready to move forward.

“No more gas on the fire,” Frankenberger said. “Let’s put water on the fire.”

Dorchester County provided the following statement about the proposed plan:

Dorchester County is looking forward to having greater capacity and flexibility to complete the following projects from fee revenues of the redevelopment:

Funding to preserve the façade of the old hospital building.

A new civic park and improvements to the Veterans Memorial.

An additional $8 Million in funding to DD2 schools to supplement $2 Million from the TIF.

Provide $20 Million in funding for a Community Recreation Facility in the Summerville area.

Provide $2 Million in additional funding for streetscaping and improvements to Main Street and Cedar Street.

Provide credits for workforce housing for teachers, firefighters, law enforcement, and first responders within the multi-family development for at least 15 years.

A modern County office building and additional Class A Office Space in the downtown area.

A new downtown hotel and restaurant to provide much-needed retail and hospitality amenities in the downtown area.

Create additional parking by providing for the construction of a parking garage in the downtown area.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.