health insurance agent in West Ashley

Several hundred new homes are in the works on the edge of Charleston.

In two recent submittals to the city, Mungo Homes plans to build more than 800 homes in the 3,000-acre Long Savannah development in West Ashley.

The Irmo-based builder recently submitted plans for 568 houses on 156 acres on Bear Swamp Road off Bees Ferry Road.

The proposal comes after the builder submitted plans earlier this year to build 237 homes on about 56 acres at the end of Barons Drive.

A representative of Mungo Homes did not immediately respond for comment.

Developers have rights to build 4,500 homes in total on the property on the edge of Charleston and Dorchester counties.

In 2021, builders and environmental groups settled a challenge to the development to avoid some wetlands destruction and allow for natural water flow by removing older roadbeds used years ago for logging and phosphate mining.

The project also includes conserved green space, and a $250,000 donation by developers to a trust to fund water-management projects in the three drainage basins that the development covers.

More multifamily

A new apartment development is in the works for Johns Island.

Ninety affordable multifamily housing units are slated for 9.35 acres at 1725 River Road next to the entrance to Fenwick Hall Plantation, according to plans presented to the city of Charleston.

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The property is owned by the city, which paid $3.3 million for it in 2020.

Storing stuff

A Mount Pleasant-based real estate investment company recently acquired two self-storage properties in the Southeast.

Ziff Real Estate Partners bought a 44,875-square-foot climate-controlled facility in Anderson. The site, previously called Pearman Dairy Self Storage, will be called StoreEase.

Real Estate

The company also purchased a ground-up development tract in Summerfield, Fla., near The Villages master-planned community. When completed, the storage site will be 77,625 square feet with both climate- and non-climate-controlled units. It, too, will be a StoreEase facility.

Finding a home

The Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce now has a physical office for the first time.

The pro-business group has partnered with Pinnacle Financial Partners to lease a 2,000-square-foot space that’s designed to grow staff, hold meetings and have some events at 534 Johnnie Dodds Blvd.

Boom & Balance

Chamber president Jennifer Maxwell said the organization has aspired to have a physical presence in the town for several years.

“This is crucial as part of our plan to continue to grow and support the businesses and community East of the Cooper,” she said.

Some members of Charleston City Council squealed when they saw the price for reviving a dead pig.

And apparently they aren’t hog wild about any of the other options, either.

That leaves the fate of West Ashley’s Sumar Street redevelopment plan murky for another week, and that’s too bad. Because this is more important than some folks realize.

You see, the trajectory of revitalization in the biggest area of Charleston hinges on this decision. Not that you’d know it from council’s response.

Editorials

Back in April, several council members said $45 million was way too much to spend on a redevelopment of the three-acre site of that old Piggly Wiggly off Sam Rittenberg Boulevard.

Which is kind of on-brand for the city’s historical treatment of West Ashley.

A little background: The city bought the site of the former grocery store years ago, at the demand of local residents, to keep it from becoming a convenience store. People who live in the area argued that the property, as the gateway to the city’s largest population hub, deserved something more substantial.

So the city contracted with a developer who came up with a design for West Ashley’s first significant municipal services building, along with neighborhood meeting space, a public park and some room for small businesses and restaurants.

Which, not coincidentally, is exactly what surveys showed West Ashley residents want there.

So that’s what architects designed … along with underground parking to make the most of a tight space. But evidently that seemed too extravagant for a part of town that doesn’t even rate a Logan’s or Bonefish Grill.

Council members demanded the developer give them some more, uh, cost-effective options.

Well, a City Council committee saw the cheaper options on Monday … and didn’t have much to say. Probably because they also saw how public opinion is running on this.

At a packed-house public meeting last week, residents were given three choices. 1) The current design. 2) The same development, only smaller, with a multistory parking deck that might save $8 million to $9 million … but unsurprisingly eats up much of the open space. 3) A development with about one-third the building space and a huge surface parking lot.

The results were telling: 72% voted to stick with the underground parking. Charles Smith, a member of the West Ashley Revitalization Commission since its inception, says there’s a reason for so much community unanimity these days.

Editorials

“We have accepted less than the best for long enough,” Smith says. “This is a gateway project that sets the bar for everything that comes after it.”

He’s right, and here’s an example. Right now, the owner of Ashley Landing Shopping Center — which sits next to the Sumar Street site — is planning to move its Publix into the strip center across the parking lot and replace the grocery store with apartments.

Residents rightly worry about the developer getting all that right for the neighborhood. The city, Smith says, needs to set the example.

“How can we ask that developer to bring their A-game to that site if we’re not willing to bring our A-game next door?”

Yep. And all this will have a cascading effect down Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and along Savannah Highway. Smith notes the West Ashley Revitalization Commission understands the area is destined for more urban-level density, but would like to keep it in the areas currently covered in old, needing-to-be-replaced strip malls.

You know, instead of building them farther out and adding to everyone’s commute.

But some folks on council, which never blinks at spending twice as much on grout for the Italian marble at the Gaillard, are trying to be cheap here.

And it all seems to revolve around the difference in cost for underground parking versus a parking garage. But it’s not that big a deal.

The city’s portion of this redevelopment would be paid for with parking revenue and tax-increment financing — the same model considered for the infrastructure at Union Pier’s redevelopment. Can you imagine asking downtown residents to accept a cheaper alternative?

“You’d get laughed out of the room,” Smith notes.

Well, Charleston’s biggest population center deserves no less.

The council’s Committee on Real Estate heard the options on Monday, but didn’t recommend one plan over another. The usually plain-spoken council members didn’t really say much of anything that suggested how they feel about this latest development. What’s that mean?

Well, it means the showdown at next week’s City Council meeting could go any number of ways.

But you can bet if they send the developer back to the drawing board, literally, it will only bolster the perception that Charleston’s biggest community is considered its least important.

And that’s why we can’t have nice things.

West Ashley, the area across the Ashley River from peninsular Charleston, offers a change of pace from some of downtown’s more tourist-centric areas of town. Home to more than 40 percent of the city’s population, the area boasts parks, restaurants, breweries and shopping catered to locals.

Explore

Known to some as the “birthplace of South Carolina,” West Ashley is home to the well-preserved colonial village, Charlestowne Landing. The 184-acre state park off of Old Towne Road offers an opportunity to explore both the city and the state’s modern origins. With walking trails, marsh views and a small zoo, the state park is a site visitors and locals alike can visit multiple times for different experiences.

For the active set, West Ashley is home to Shadowmoss Golf & Country Club and bowling alley Ashley Lanes. Get practice on your swing at Charleston Golf, a combined golf simulator and bar.

Get a breath of fresh air on the 7.8 mile West Ashley Greenway which starts at U.S. Highway 17 and Wappoo Road and ends at Higgins Pier where anglers can cast a line. There’s another opportunity to fish off of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard at Northbridge Park.

For a different scenic walk, meander via boardwalk through marshes and coastal forest at the Stono River County Park in outer West Ashley.

Shopping

Unlike other areas of the city, West Ashley is home to some large-scale retail spaces that make it an ideal place for furniture stores and other specialty shops.

For many, this time of year revolves around making and enjoying good food. Our readers did a great job sharing their best culinary shots that made our mouths water.

This week’s winner is Hal Perry with an image of a Spanish food market display. The honorable mentions are Robert Peterson with a snapshot of a simple meal of lobster and a baked potato, and Herbert Schiller with a photo of antipasto in Tuscany.

Next week’s topic is still life, a more traditional approach to photography.

The rules: Send your best photo to yourphotos@postandcourier.com by noon Thursday. Include your name, town and where the photo was taken. Add your name and the topic to the file. If you want your photo to be eligible to run in the newspaper, it must be at least 1,500 pixels, not have a commercial watermark and not have been published in another publication.

On Fridays, we first announce the editors’ pick of the week at postandcourier.com/yourphotos and declare a topic for the next week. On Saturdays, we publish an online gallery.

On Sunday, the photo pick of the week will appear in this section, Life.

Next week’s topic: Still life

From Jack Breazeale of Mount Pleasant, “While visiting our daughter, she fed her Venus Fly Trap a diet of freeze-dried bloodworms. The Venus Fly Trap was purchased at a Disney World gift shop.”

From Randy Cochran of Charleston, “Fresh from the farmers market in Mamakating, NY.”

From Bill Lackner of Mount Pleasant, “A sculpture I made years ago. Nothing edible, just an American teen’s burger & fries dream.”

From Hal Perry of Charleston: “I chose this photo of food at the largest market in Barcelona (taken in September 2022) because the colors made it all so appetizing.”

From Robert Peterson of Summerville: “This is not turkey and all the fixins. But lobster and a potato is certainly one of my favorite meals to prepare. A lot can go into a simple meal.”

From Joel Rosenblatt of Mount Pleasant, “Fresh grown carrots taken at a Farmer’s Market in Pennsylvania.”

From Ken Schaub of Daniel Island, “Preparing BBQ lamb in southern Argentina.”

From Herbert Schiller of Mount Pleasant:” Antipasto in Tuscany.”

From Bill Smyth of Mount Pleasant, “Two assistant principals at Lucy Beckham High School, Mount Pleasant, cooking breakfast for the faculty.”

From Paul Stone of Charleston, “I was at my niece’s wedding this weekend and just could not resist this food. Congrats Lauren.”

From Jackie Sunday of Mount Pleasant, “A happy face on a burger makes me smile. This was taken at our house in Mount Pleasant.”

All photos submitted will be considered for publication in The Post and Courier’s yearly magazine, My Charleston. Some images may be selected for other editorial or noncommercial use.

We reserve the right to not publish any photo for any reason.

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Danielle and Brent Sweatman understand the complicated relationship between sobriety and the food and beverage space. The couple, who have worked in the industry for years, are two years sober.

“We knew how it feels to be uncomfortable with limited options and wanted to change that,” said Danielle, who with her husband Brent, opened Sweatman’s Garden — a sodary and fondue Lounge at 90 Folly Road Boulevard in the South Windermere Shopping Center.

Brent said they chose the location for a few reasons.

“We live in West Ashley and have been living in Byrnes Down for about five years. Because we love our community, we wanted to provide a cool hangout spot close to home for both drinkers and non-drinkers.”

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According to Brent, he and his wife were happy to fill a much-needed niche in the community.

“There are so many young people in the area that are becoming part of the sober curious movement and it was important to us to provide an inclusive space for the people that would want to take advantage of it,” he said.

And with the rise of mocktail culture, their timing couldn’t be better. According to research conducted by NielsenIQ, the non-alcoholic beverage sector is expanding rapidly as alcohol consumption declines, with popularity soaring over the past five years — a trend driven by Gen Z and millennials.

An Instagram-worthy experience

When the couple moved into what was Florence’s Lowcountry Kitchen, they were presented with a tabula rasa, enabling Danielle, as she says, “to go wild.”

She transformed plain, white walls into ones with a dark green hue and festooned them with dozens of thriving plants. Quirky and colorful seating areas are Instagram-worthy, like the attractive curved yellow couch which faces tufted lilac chairs and is separated by a ‘70s-era coffee table.

“We set them up to appear like little living rooms,” said Danielle, adding that she loves maximalism and color. “I was inspired by an art-deco, 70s funky vibe,” she said.

The offerings

Brent is no stranger to libation creation, having helped open the King Street Diner known as the Rarebit featuring homemade ginger beer, tonic, sodas and bitters.

“We’re doing 12 different taps, featuring our tonic and ginger beer and additional playful, fun stuff when it comes to our sodas, like plum rose citrus and a delicious habanero fresca sweetened with monk fruit, which is currently getting a lot of love, along with our root beer,” said Danielle.

For an additional $5, customers can add their choice of alcohol, or a cannabis-based infusion to their sodas. Sometimes customers opt for both non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages in the same evening.

“I’ve seen some of them take a non-alcohol root beer break from drinking,” said Danielle

The couple also decided to offer a limited menu featuring fondue.

“We’re serving savory fondue, like Mediterranean and beer cheese and also offering sweet options like white chocolate and milk chocolate,” said Danielle, explaining that she loves cheese and chocolate, but that they also wanted to make the menu a fun, interactive experience that doesn’t take staff too much time to create. For now, the business employs a total of seven staff members.

As for the future, Danielle said they are working on finding their bearings at the moment. “We were intentionally a little mysterious about being open to see what worked and what didn’t, but we may consider live entertainment in the future, if all goes well,” she said.

Stefanie Kalina-Metzger is a contributing writer for SC Biz News.

The site of a former grocery store in Charleston soon will house several new tenants.

The former location of Doscher’s IGA, which was demolished earlier this year next to Whole Foods Market in West Ashley Station Shopping Center, is being redeveloped into six new shop spaces for retailers and a restaurant.

Coming to the 16,200 square feet of new construction are Another Broken Egg Cafe with a patio on the south end as well as Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, clothing store House of Sage, hair salon Nikita and beverage shop Sunshine Liquors, according the to commercial real estate firm Carolina Retail Experts.

Pet supply shop Hollywood Feed also will relocate to a larger space in the new multitenant building from an outparcel site beside Chase Bank. Pet care operator GoodVets plans to occupy the current site of Hollywood Feed.

Two new outparcel buildings under construction, each with two merchant spaces, have lined up one tenant each.

In the structure near Savannah Highway, Pacific Dental Services will occupy half of the roughly 5,400-square-foot building. In the 5,000-square-foot structure behind it, workout site MADabolic has leased about 60 percent of the building.

All of the new structures are under construction. Opening dates have not been announced.

Now open

Two new restaurant venues recently opened in southern Moncks Corner.

Dog & Duck is now serving at 2826 U.S. 52 in the Publix-anchored Moncks Corner Marketplace Shopping Center at Cypress Gardens Road.

It’s the fifth Lowcountry location for the pub. Two are in Mount Pleasant in Belle Hall and Park West, another is in Charleston on Clements Ferry Road in the Cainhoy area and one more is on Trolley Road in Summerville.

Also, fast-food restaurant Wendy’s opened nearby in October on U.S. Highway 52 near Foxbank Plantation and Cypress Gardens Road.

What’s cooking?

A new sandwich restaurant soon will open on Johns Island.

Jersey Mike’s Subs is coming to Maybank Commons at 1800 Produce Lane on Johns Island. The 1,361-square-foot eatery is expected to open before year’s end.

The strip retail center also has two nearly 3,000-square-foot spaces and a 1,361-square-foot slot. The new restaurant is eyeing a December opening, according to the contractor.

Gassing up

A Savannah-based convenience store and gas station chain continues to throttle ahead with new locations in the Charleston area.

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Parker’s Kitchen recently secured a ground lease for the property owned by Gregorie Land Co. LLC at 4315 Savannah Highway, where Circle K convenience store and gas station operates at S.C. Highway 162 near Rantowles Creek.

The five-year lease took effect Oct. 19 and can be extended four more times over the next 25 years, according to Charleston County land records.

The convenience store chain also is adding two more stores in the Charleston area.

Parker’s recently applied for a state license to sell beer and wine at 343 College Park Road in Ladson.

When it was first announced in 2020, plans included a truck stop, but nearby residents, environmentalists and county officials opposed the truck addition because they feared the disturbance of wetlands in Ancrum Swamp next to the 17-acre site.

Real Estate

Savannah-based Parker’s paid $950,000 for the property in 2020, according to Berkeley County land records.

Another Parker’s Kitchen is under development in Ingleside Plantation at the juncture of Palmetto Commerce Parkway and Weber Boulevard. The company has several other locations in the Lowcountry.

Parker’s also recently donated $135,000 to Lowcountry Food Bank through a round-up campaign from customers and a 25 percent match by the company.

New leases

A new nail salon and wellness spa are coming to Summerville.

Nail Garden LLC leased 2,800 square feet at 143 Berkeley Circle and Energy Enhancement Centers USA leased 3,080 square feet at the same address.

Real Estate

Brent Case and Hannah Kamba of Coldwell Banker Commercial Atlantic represented the landlord, Azalea 888 Zhou Tang LLC, in both transactions. Jenna Philipp of Palmetto Commercial Properties represented the spa tenant.

The retail site is near Azalea Square Shopping Center off North Main Street.

Now open

Hurricane Coffee will celebrate its grand opening Nov. 3-4 at 650 College Park Road, Unit H, in the Food Lion-anchored shopping center near Stratford High School on the edge of Goose Creek.

The shop will have offer giveaways, raffles and products from several vendors during its grand opening event 5:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.

A portion of all sales from both days will be donated to Omar Shriners Pirate Unit.

The shop also will offer free coffee, including its special white espresso, to all first responders all the time as well as a 10 percent discount on other items on the menu for all first responders, nurses, teachers and all active and veteran military members. The shop also collects goods for victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse.

The shop previously operated from a food truck in a couple of nearby temporary locations.

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