City of Charleston · Design Review Board
🏗️ Two-building retail center on Johns Island clears preliminary review
The board granted preliminary approval for two small one-story retail buildings at the corner of Fenwick Lane and General Cornwallis Drive on Johns Island, with the project featuring a restaurant anchor, shell retail bays, and Lowcountry-sensitive architecture. The board disagreed with staff recommendations to add glazing to rear service walls, accepting the applicant's explanation that opaque rear walls are standard for retail security. Landscape conditions addressing tree preservation and foundation plantings were forwarded to staff for final review.

City of Charleston · Design Review Board
💬 Three-story apartment phase two deferred for design simplification
The board voted to defer conceptual approval for phase-two apartment buildings near Live Oak Square on Maybank Highway after members cited excessive material complexity, unclear architectural logic, and unresolved roofline geometry across the three-building project. The applicant had made revisions following a prior review including a neutralized color palette and brick colonnade entries, but the board found the overall design still too busy and lacking a coherent organizing principle. The board also directed the applicant to address an ADA parking layout recommendation from the previous review that had been declined as code-compliant.

Town of Mount Pleasant · Planning Committee
🏙️ Planning committee denies PUD converting commercial site to 85 townhomes
The committee voted to deny a planned development ordinance request for a 15.2-acre site on Highway 17 and All-American Boulevard that would have replaced a previously approved recreation and commercial village with 85 townhome units and a commercial phase. The Planning Commission had also unanimously recommended denial, largely because the proposal offered only approximately 8 affordable units — roughly 10% — far below what the existing AB1 zoning would require if residential were pursued through standard channels. The committee separately voted to recommend annexation of an adjacent 0.64-acre county parcel.

Dorchester County · Parks and Recreation Commission
🌳 Golf professional pitches public-private community golf park to commission
Bob Marman, a longtime Dorchester County resident and golf professional, addressed the commission urging a public-private partnership to build a community golf park featuring nine lit holes, a technology-equipped driving range, and ancillary recreational facilities. He cited the loss of 36 golf holes in the county since 2005 alongside a population increase of 65,000 residents as creating an urgent access gap for beginners, youth, and families. The commission received the concept warmly and Marman requested a future agenda slot for a full presentation; staff confirmed prior discussions had already taken place.

City of Charleston · City Council
🚧 D'Allesandro reaffirms neighborhood traffic calming as a top priority
Councilman D'Allesandro states that slowing traffic in residential neighborhoods remains a core goal consistent with his campaign platform. He also emphasizes fostering face-to-face community communication among residents. No specific projects, streets, or funding amounts are discussed in this segment.

A $2–3 billion waterfront development. The first cable-stayed bobtail swing bridge in the United States. South Carolina’s first mass transit system. Nine construction projects are underway or in final planning across the Charleston region right now — and taken together, they represent a scale of physical change the city hasn’t seen before.

Here’s what each one is, where it stands, and when it’s expected to deliver.

The largest mixed-use project in Charleston history broke ground in February 2025. The 192-acre development along the Ashley River, developed by Highland Resources, is planned at up to 4,000 residential units, 5.9 million square feet of total development, 200,000 square feet of retail, 1,080 hotel keys, 1 million square feet of office space, 25 acres of public parks, and 1.5 miles of Ashley River waterfront.

Toll Brothers is the residential developer for the first phase of homes. The first office building has officially advanced to the city’s Technical Review Committee. First residents are expected around 2027–2028. Full buildout is projected over roughly 20 years at an estimated cost of $2–3 billion.

The 70–74-acre former cruise terminal along the Cooper River — stretching from Laurens Street to Waterfront Park — was acquired from the SC Ports Authority by Ben Navarro’s Beemok Capital. The city adopted Union Pier language into its Comprehensive Plan on April 8, 2025.

The city-adopted vision calls for a mixed-use district with public waterfront access, varied housing including affordable units, civic and commercial space, resilience infrastructure, and building scale compatible with the historic downtown. Beemok has assembled a design team and is conducting community engagement. No official master plan or construction timeline has been publicly announced.

Phase 1 of the Lowcountry Lowline broke ground in December 2025. The project is a 1.6-mile linear park and multi-use trail system beneath the I-26 overpass running through the center of the peninsula.

Phase 1 connects Mt. Pleasant Street to Line Street and includes a 10-foot walking path, a 12-foot bike path, a landscaped median, lighting, security improvements, and stormwater management upgrades. The City of Charleston committed $15 million to Phase 1, which is being built by Edifice. Target completion for Phase 1 is early 2027. Phases 2 and 3, which would extend the trail to Marion Square, have no confirmed timeline.

The City of Charleston’s Project 3500 aims to deliver 3,500 net new permanently affordable housing units by 2032. The city describes it as the largest affordable housing program in its history.

The approach uses six pre-designed, pre-permitted sites — four on the historic peninsula — with classical architectural design. Rather than traditional development solicitations, the city is issuing fully entitled, shovel-ready RFPs. Partners include Bloomberg Associates, architects Sottile & Sottile, Ben Pentreath, and Hugh Petter, as well as HUD and the Charleston Housing Authority. The city is working to secure LIHTC financing through the state.

A public Design Charrette ran March 16–20, 2026, and a public-facing Project 3500 Dashboard launched in February 2026 for residents to track progress. One example site: 275 Huger Street, a 77-unit affordable development at a cost of $31 million, received final approval in October 2025, with construction planned for early 2026 and occupancy as early as 2027.

The former Charleston Naval Station — an 79–85-acre site just south of Park Circle along the Cooper River — is being redeveloped by Jamestown, in a joint venture with Weaver Capital Partners and WECCO Development. The planned scope includes up to 3.2 million square feet of office, retail, restaurant, and residential space, plus a concert hall, an outdoor event venue, and green spaces.

Storehouses 8 and 9, totaling 107,000 square feet, are complete and nearly at full tenancy. A Charleston Design District anchor opened in Storehouse 8. DRB Homes announced 55 for-sale townhomes called Marine Row at the Navy Yard, with groundbreaking planned for Q2 2026 and first homes expected mid-2027. The campus currently supports $1 billion in economic impact and over 4,000 jobs, according to project materials.

Construction on the Ashley River Crossing began in January 2025. The project is a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian bridge spanning the Ashley River, connecting the West Ashley Greenway to Brittlebank Park and the Ashley River Walk on the downtown peninsula.

The bridge will be the first cable-stayed bobtail swing bridge in the United States. It features an asymmetrical movable center span that swings horizontally to allow marine passage and stretches over 4,000 feet. The $75 million project is funded by the City of Charleston, Charleston County, SCDOT, and FHWA. Estimated completion is summer 2027.

According to project materials, nearly half of Charleston’s city population lives in West Ashley with no current safe pedestrian or bicycle crossing to the peninsula. The bridge is projected to unlock over 30 miles of connected trail.

Lowcountry Rapid Transit is a 21.3-mile bus rapid transit system — South Carolina’s first mass transit infrastructure project — connecting downtown Charleston’s medical district to the Ladson Fairgrounds at Exchange Park, with a future extension planned to Summerville. It is governed by BCDCOG, Charleston County, SCDOT, and CARTA.

The system is designed around 19–21 articulated 60-foot electric buses, 18 or more stations, dedicated median bus lanes covering 11.7 miles (55% of the route), traffic signal priority, park-and-ride facilities, and a $2 fare. The federal contribution is capped at approximately $375 million, or 60% of the project cost, with the local match coming from the Charleston County half-cent sales tax.

100% design was completed and submitted in February 2026. The project is seeking a Full Funding Grant Agreement from the FTA in fall 2026. Construction is targeted to begin in early 2027, with projected completion between late 2028 and early 2029.

A new $1.2 billion, 27-acre Roper Hospital Medical Campus is under construction in North Charleston near the I-26/I-526 interchange, built by a joint venture of Barton Malow and Edifice. Construction started in 2025. As of spring 2026, structural steel installation was underway on a nine-story tower that will include an emergency department, operating rooms, an ICU, oncology facilities, and a rooftop helipad. The new campus is targeted for completion in the second quarter of 2029.

Upon relocation, the existing 11.5-acre Roper Hospital property at 316 Calhoun Street — including the 900,000-square-foot hospital building, a medical office building, and parking garages on Doughty and Lucas streets — will be sold to MUSC Health. The sale price will be determined by fair market appraisal in 2029. MUSC has stated its intent to use the Calhoun Street land for healthcare, research, and innovation facilities.

The former Ashley Landing Shopping Center at 1401 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard — a 35-acre site that also includes the former Piggly Wiggly parcel on Sumar Street — is being redeveloped into a $345 million mixed-use district. Developer Edens is leading the project with Woodfield Development on multifamily and Material Capital Partners on townhomes, with design by The Middleton Group.

The planned scope includes 240,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 285 multifamily units, 100 townhomes, affordable and workforce housing targeted at 80% AMI, a new Publix, nearly 1 acre of communal green space, and 9 acres of underground stormwater retention. The City of Charleston committed $45 million; Edens is contributing $300 million, which the city has described as the largest investment in West Ashley’s history.

City Council approved the project in September 2024. A groundbreaking was held May 7, 2025. The first phase of demolition was completed by October 2025. First new retail is expected to open in late 2026 or early 2027.

Several of these projects are delivering in overlapping windows. The Ashley River Crossing and the Lowline’s Phase 1 are both targeting completion in 2027. Lowcountry Rapid Transit is aimed at late 2028 to early 2029. The new Roper campus follows in 2029. Magnolia Landing states the first residents are expected around 2027–2028, with full buildout stretching two decades.

Union Pier is the outlier with no construction timeline, but is also probably the most anticipated to see what is done with it.

What did I miss? Reply to this email with the big projects that you’re watching that didn’t make my list.

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