Charleston's $1.3B Flood Wall: Built to 10ft Now, Engineered for 12ft Later

Charleston County · Charleston County Council
🌳 Council amends directive on Ten Mile heritage farm green belt encroachment
Council voted unanimously to amend a prior directive that had required forced sale of a portion of the Ten Mile community heritage farm green belt to an encroaching parcel owner. Staff is now directed to explore a land swap of similar conservation and financial value, a partial sale, or a combination to resolve the encroachment, and must return with a plan and timeline. A $135,000 repayment obligation and a Post and Courier article had publicly linked the Ten Mile Neighborhood Association to the matter, which the association formally disputed before council.

City of Charleston · City Council
🏛️ Council approves Ashley Hall demolition settlement 7-5 over preservation objections
The council voted 7-5 to approve an amended settlement allowing Ashley Hall to demolish the historic structure at 148 Smith Street — believed to be connected to Dash Hall — provided no qualified nonprofit or government entity submits a viable relocation plan by October 31 and completes the move by November 30, 2026. Critics including Council Members Waring, Brady, and Scarden argued the timeline is designed to fail and sets a dangerous precedent for overturning BAR decisions. A historical plaque or monument must be installed on or along Smith Street no later than December 31, 2028.

City of Charleston · Committee on Ways and Means
🌊 City approves $492K sole-source contract to modify historic brick arches for Four Seasons utility work
The committee approved both an MOA with Pinnacle Mountain Holdings to fund city modifications to the brick arches at Meeting Street and Cumberland Street and a companion $492,510 sole-source construction contract for work at five locations. The project is connected to utility undergrounding efforts related to the Four Seasons development, with Pinnacle Mountain Holdings bearing the full construction cost. Both items passed unanimously.

City of Charleston · Design Review Board
🏙️ Johns Island Jubilee Hotel clears conceptual hurdle with conditions
The DRB voted 4-0 to grant conceptual approval for a 75-room boutique hotel at 2919 Maybank Highway on Johns Island, the first hotel proposed on Maybank Highway. Public commenters and the Preservation Society of Charleston called the design too institutional and generic for Johns Island's rural character, and staff recommended deferral. The board approved with conditions requiring the applicant to restudy materials, detailing, construction methods, and several specific architectural elements before returning.

Town of Mount Pleasant · Town Council
🏙️ Council approves first-reading moratorium on hyperscale data centers 7-2 despite mayor's skepticism
Council voted 7-2 to place a 120-day moratorium on new data center applications, citing a desire to update zoning code before any large-scale facility could be approved by right without public process. Mayor Haynie and Council Member Brownstein voted no, arguing the threat is effectively impossible given groundwater permit constraints and the absence of any known interest from data center operators. Planning Committee can continue drafting permanent ordinance changes during the moratorium period, with a final reading expected in October 2026.

City of Folly Beach · City Council
🔥 Council authorizes STR litigation defense and settlement talks while repealing rental fee
Council passed three resolutions authorizing attorneys to negotiate, mediate, and defend multiple active short-term rental lawsuits involving Park Lane Partners, Thomas Germaine, and Jennifer Davis. A first-reading ordinance repealed and reenacted the STR chapter to remove the rental registration fee as part of the city's legal protection strategy. Citizens warned of $6-8 million in potential damages and urged council to issue licenses and complete the study before further litigation.

City of Charleston · Board of Architectural Review – Large (BAR-L)
🏗️ MUSC cancer hospital at 250 feet receives unanimous conceptual approval
The board unanimously granted conceptual approval for the new MUSC comprehensive cancer hospital at 16 Sabin Street (corner of Ashley Avenue and Calhoun Street), to be the tallest building on the Charleston peninsula at 250 feet — four stories taller than Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital. The glass curtain-wall tower is sited with setbacks of 44 to 100 feet from Calhoun Street and over 50 feet from Ashley Avenue to preserve views to historic structures including the nunnery and original Charleston High School. Board conditions at preliminary include bringing physical material samples, refining detailing of the Calhoun mass top, and providing accurate lighting proposals; the curtain wall's mullion detailing was identified as paramount to the building's compatibility with Charleston.

City of Charleston · Board of Architectural Review – Large (BAR-L)
🏗️ 12-story Morrison Drive apartment tower deferred again over crown design concerns
The board deferred conceptual approval of a 12-story multifamily building at 989 Morrison Drive, its second return after a July 2026 deferral. While acknowledging significant simplification improvements, a 3-2 majority found the building's arched metal crown too top-heavy and inconsistent with the mid-section language, and directed the applicant to restudy crown proportions, hyphens on the north elevation, and mechanical screening strategy. The building sits in the Upper Peninsula incentive-based zoning district and is regarded as a precedent-setting project for the area.

This week I talked with Steven O'Connell about Charleston's plan to build a storm surge barrier encircling the entire peninsula, and here's what I learned. Steven is a project director for Black & Veatch, a local engineering firm that is performing preliminary planning, flood modeling, and design work for the project, which is a joint effort between the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Charleston.

The Battery Extension has evolved into a multi-benefit structure: it extends the Battery into a public promenade that doubles as flood protection, adds pump stations to manage rainwater, and blends hard barriers with nature-based measures like oyster reefs and non-structural approaches like elevating individual buildings. It carries a projected cost of $1.3 billion, split 65 percent federal and 35 percent city funding, and construction is being phased across several segments of the peninsula. The first phase will protect to 10 feet, matching the region's worst recorded storm (Hugo), while the foundation is engineered to eventually reach 12 feet.

The project addresses two distinct threats to the peninsula. Storm surge from major hurricanes can inundate nearly the entire peninsula except for the highest ground. Separately, flooding from heavy rain and tidal events predominantly affects the lower-lying zones of the peninsula.

O'Connell explained that the barrier is a joint project between the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Charleston, designed to encircle the peninsula. He said the concept has evolved from an initial simple wall into a multi-benefit structure: extending the Battery to create a public promenade that doubles as a flood barrier, paired with pump stations to manage rainwater.

The approach combines "hard" structural barriers with "soft" and non-structural solutions, O'Connell said. In areas less prone to frequent flooding, nature-based measures such as oyster reefs will be used. For isolated, flood-prone properties where a continuous barrier isn't cost-effective, non-structural strategies such as elevating buildings will be used instead.

O'Connell said construction is being divided into segments because of the project's scale and funding needs. The first phase is Adger's Wharf, followed by the Lockwood section. Later phases will cover Brittle Bank, Union Pier, and Columbus Terminal. Higher-elevation areas, including the High Battery and Aquarium Wharf, are scheduled last.

He said Adger's Wharf was chosen to go first as a "proof of concept" because it's relatively small and manageable. Completing it quickly is meant to move the project into construction and, in turn, help unlock larger federal funding for the initiative as a whole. It's also a very low-lying, flood-prone area, according to O'Connell.

A longer-term benefit tied to the project: a continuous pedestrian pathway connecting the Low Battery to West Ashley and Mount Pleasant, which would expand waterfront access and recreation.

O'Connell said the $1.3 billion estimate splits 65 percent federal and 35 percent city funding. Federal dollars cover the functional flood-control elements. City funds, and potentially partners such as the Port Authority, would pay for "betterments" like pavers and landscaping that improve the aesthetics and public experience.

He said the barrier's design will vary to match neighborhood character. In some locations it will take the form of a high, walkable promenade. In others, it may appear as a simple garden wall that discreetly functions as flood control. All designs will go through the city's standard review boards.

O'Connell said many segments will initially be built to 10 feet, to deliver protection quickly. He described that height as enough to guard against the largest hurricane on record, Hurricane Hugo, and framed it as an early, tangible win for the city.

The foundations, however, are being engineered for a final height of 12 feet, he said. Planned methods, such as adding panels or pouring additional concrete, would allow the final two feet to be added later without requiring the project to start over.

Relatively high-elevation areas, like the High Battery, currently sitting at 9 to 10 feet, are being addressed last, O'Connell said. That sequencing prioritizes the most vulnerable, low-lying zones first, while allowing time to monitor sea-level rise and other factors before committing to changes in the less urgent segments.

A few pieces of this project haven't been finalized yet: the specific timeline and milestones for the Adger's Wharf and Lockwood phases, potential partners such as the Port Authority for funding the "betterments," the criteria and monitoring indicators that would trigger raising the barrier from 10 to 12 feet, and the schedule for public engagement and design review on upcoming segments.

Unexpectedly back…and better than before!

Things don’t always go as planned, and for these home seller clients of mine, that meant the buyer having a change of heart. But instead of just coming back on the market the same, they went ahead and did repairs from the inspection report, so it is truly better than before and ready to give its new owner more peace of mind. Check it out below or respond to this email for more details on what was done.

CHECK IT OUT HERE

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