ZUMAN

Construction has begun on this project. No link but I drove by last weekend and site work was underway and crane was in place.

I didn't think this project had final B.A.R. approval but I was at the Marion Square Farmer's Market this past Saturday and happened to notice a construction crane was in place and work appeared to be underway.

Clemson's proposed architecture center planned for the corner of George & Meeting Sts. goes before the B.A.R. at this week's meeting for review: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20121008/PC16/121009336/1165/behre-column-new-clemson-university-architecture-center-design-sure-to-stir-the-pot I personally like the design but this will never get approved. Too Un-Charleston.

Charleston's Broad St. was included in American Planning Association's great 10 streets for 2012. http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/streets/2012/

Update on the East Shed project in the Post & Courier today: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20121001/PC16/121009968/1006/plans-moving-forward-for-best-friend-museum The lease contract was approved by City Council at last week's meeting with Ecovest. The article mentions that construction could begin early 2013 but I wouldn't put this down quiet yet as done deal. If I read the lease agreement correctly Ecovest could back out of the deal after 45 days of signing the lease for due deligence. This is normal for Ecovest projects and part of their business model. But hopefully things will move forward; it will be good to have the Best Friend back in Charleston in a nice display area. A family-style restaurant is also still planned, and it can not be a chain restaurant with more than a total of 15 locations.

Just when things were starting to look up in Manchester. The property just north of this proposed development was supposed to have a mid-rise apartment or condo building developed. At least that was plan a year or so ago. Not sure what happened to that project.

Great news for CHS: JetBlue will begin servicing CHS effective Feb 28 with 2 daily flights to New York's JFK and 1 daily flight to Boston's Logan. http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120912/PC16/120919786/1165/jetblue-to-land-in-charleston-starting-feb-28

Horizon project update in today's Post & Courier. The article is a project overview with little new info but states there is a meeting planned for tomorrow (9/12) to review the project with prospective developers, and that proposals are due back this November which I had previously posted above. A city parking garage is scheduled for phase one. This would be logical since the city uses several acres for parking at the city's police/office building that's located in the district. http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120911/PC16/120919891/1006/search-on-for-developer-of-1b-horizon-project

Planning is moving forward on the new skatepark that will located near Meeting and Huger St's. Construction is slated to begin sometime next summer and the park will open sometime in 2014. For now it will be the largest skatepark in SC. Update from the Charleston City Paper: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2012/09/10/skatepark-design-meeting-to-be-held-wednesday-night

Construction underway per personal obervation during my visit last week.

Hotel is closed for renovations (personal observation during my visit last week).

The latest update I could find is on the home page of the Horizon District website. The RFP was released July 26 and are due back November 16th. http://charlestonhorizon.com/

It appeared to me from looking at the revised architechural renderings that the Midtown development's mass is larger now than what was previously approved by the B.A.R,. In fact, the developer is seeking approval to increase the number of hotel guest rooms by 65 (from 250 to 315). http://www.postandcourier.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120716/PC05/120719436/1011/grapevine-midtown-development-in-charleston-seeks-to-add-more-hotel-rooms&template=printart

Slightly late in posting this but the B.A.R. gave final approval at its Jun 27th meeting for exterior renovations to the existing Howard Johnsons Hotel at 250 Spring St. The changes include architectural detailing at the building's base and on floors 7 & 8; new exterior paint colors; and replacement of the porte cochere. I believe the hotel is going to be re-branded to a Holiday Inn Express.

This is difficult to understand or even believe: http://realestate.yahoo.com/news/america-s-emptiest-cities--2012.html

Station 2 (aka Central Station) is 124 years old! Here's a link with some interesting info concerning Charleston's old firehouses, including Central Station: http://www.legeros.com/history/charleston/stations/

I normally wouldn't post about the construction of a fire station but I will for this one: Charleston City Council approved the contract at this past Tuesday's council meeting for the contruction of what will be the city's new main fire station to be built at 1451 King St. (far upper King). It will be a $5.7 million facility that when completed will become the home for fire companies 2 & 3, in addition to housing CFD's administration offices and emergency command center. It's is disappointing though that the new station will be replacing the historic fire station at Meeting & Wentworth Sts., which currently the main fire station. From what I understand, it will become a museum of sorts for old fire apparatus.

Here's a brief update on The Alley from Eater's website: http://charleston.eater.com/archives/2012/07/12/barbecue-and-bowling-coming-to-downtown.php Opening is now scheduled for October and Home Team BBQ has been selected as The Alley's food partner. There's a number of construction pics on The Alley's Facebook page that can be linked to from the link above.

Lollicup USA, a coffee and tea distributor, will begin operations in July at its new 63,000 sq-ft distribution center in Summerville and will employ 40 people. Lollicup cited Dorchester County's proximity to I-26 and the Port of Charleston for its site selection. http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/44246-distributor-to-bring-40-jobs-to-dorchester-county

Project Aries is a planned $19.5 million expansion of Cummins Turbo Technologies at Palmetto Commerce Park that will add 76 jobs. http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/44230-cummins-expanding-in-palmetto-commerce-park

Burtons Grill will be moving into the space previously occupied by On The Border. This will be Burtons Grill first SC location, Burtons Grill's website: http://site.burtonsgrill.com/

Was there announcement on Tuesday? The only announcement I saw was from Monday that I posted above but I haven't seen any updates since Monday. I got thrown-off with the Monday announcement stating that the development was in the area of I-26 and Ashley Phosphate. I think of Inglewood as being more in the area of I-26 and Hwy 78 but I realize these intersections are close to each other. I just returned from a 3-day visit to Charleston and didn't hear a word about the Inglewood project. Maybe someone jumped the gun on Monday's announcement.

A major new commerical/retail development in North Charleston is scheduled to be announced tomorrow at 1:00PM. The project will involve 450 acres in the area of Interstate 26 and Ashley Phosphate Rd and will be developed by The Weiser Companies, the developer of Centre Pointe which includes Tanger Outlets. http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/13011-major-commercial-and-retail-project-coming-to-north-charleston

Midtown Project Update: Looks like the hotel will be flying the Hyatt Place banner based on the revised architectual drawings the B.A.R. will be reviewing on June 13. There's a number of architectual revisions being proposed. Not sure what is driving these revisions but regardless this is an exciting project. Below is a link to the partial agenda for the B.A.R. June 13 meeting. The Midtown project renderings begin on page 95 of the meeting agenda. Separately and unrelated to Midtown, the B.A.R. will also be reviewing and hopefully giving final approval for the Gaillard Center project at the June 13 meeting. See pages 33 thru 61. http://www.charlestoncity.info/shared/docs/0/1%20bar%20presentation%206.13.2012.pdf

Mayor Riley has announced that the City will not be challenging Town Ver 4.0: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120601/PC16/120609899/1180/mayor-riley-no-legal-challenge-against-town-of-james-island Let's see how things are going for the town 7-10 years down the road from now.