Best Moving Company in James Island

Charleston’s Neighborhood Dining Group is living up to its name with its newest restaurant concept.

Set to open this summer in the 1939-A Maybank Highway space previously occupied by Zia Taqueria, The James will be an “all-American grill” serving a range of options at various price points. The James will feel comfortable yet clubby and stylish, Neighborhood Dining Group President David Howard said.

The type of place one might visit for a quality hamburger on a Tuesday night and a prime rib on the weekend.

“It just intrigued me as an opportunity,” said Howard of the 4,600-square-foot James Island property. “It’s a concept that I’m comfortable with.”

Howard likened the The James’ approachable neighborhood offering to that of his first restaurant, Chicago’s Steak and Seafood, which he opened in Roswell, Ga. in 1991. He believes The James will provide another dining option for James Island residents who do not want to venture downtown.

The Maybank Highway-bookmarked Riverland Terrace neighborhood is undergoing a dining renaissance, one that Howard says his group is excited to join. In the last three years, the area has lured downtown Charleston restaurateurs to James Island, including the owners of Bar George, Millers All Day and Huriyali.

Millers All Day’s Terrace Plaza space opened up after Zia Taqueria moved across the street to the 1939-A Maybank Highway building The James will soon call home. Formerly occupied by Athens Restaurant, the space was twice the size of Zia’s original.

Zia Taqueria lasted 12 years in the Terrace Plaza and just two across the street, though the owners pointed to the reasons for closing the restaurant and divesting the business as wanting to retire and take some time for themselves.

The Neighborhood Dining Group — a six-restaurant group that is best known for Husk — will open The James just over a year after its Mexican inspired restaurant Minero relocated from downtown Charleston to Johns Island. Minero’s new compound is a far cry from the tight quarters it occupied from 2014 to 2020, a venue that required patrons to walk up steep stairs to a small, albeit cozy, dining room. Now, it takes just a couple of steps for the up to 175 people that Minero can seat indoors and out to order the dishes and drinks that gained a following during its downtown days.

The James’ large footprint shares many of the same qualities as Minero’s, including ample parking in the front and back of the space. Howard was not ready to commit to a seat count, but there will be plenty of space for patrons to spread out at The James. Zia Taqueria operated with 130 seats inside and another 40 on its patio.

The Neighborhood Dining Group’s main focus right now is renovating the dining room and bar, which will serve beer, wine and traditional cocktails. Mark Keiser, who previously worked at The Dewberry and Oak Steakhouse, will lead the kitchen at The James, offering fresh fish, steaks, salads, burgers, healthy options and a children’s menu.

Once open and fully staffed, The James will accept reservations and serve customers for dinner seven days a week, with lunch available Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, visit thejameschs.com or follow on Instagram @thejameschs.

A Charleston-based sushi restaurant and sports bar with two Lowcountry locations will add a third site by the spring in a former bar and grill on James Island.

Locals Sushi & Sports Pub plans to open after buying the lease for the space at 792 Folly Road where The Roost Bar N’ Grille operated until Jan. 31 according to Jim Moring with Restaurantbrokers.info, who handled the transaction for the property owner and tenant.

Locals owner Shawn Sherman said he’s planning some cosmetic changes, and the 4,500-square-foot venue should be open in a couple of months. He also plans to add a patio bar in the future.

Sherman took over the remainder of the existing lease term of about a year with the option to renew for two five-year terms.

The site once housed Charleston Sports Pub before it moved to Maybank Highway in 2021.

Locals has other restaurants in Mount Pleasant and West Ashley. The Roost has another location in Avondale in West Ashley.

Opening soon

A new restaurant from the couple who brought Community Table and Kiki & Rye to Mount Pleasant is ready for its debut in downtown Charleston.

Southbound, part of Free Reign Restaurants, will open at 4 p.m. Feb. 10 at 72 Cannon St.

Southbound’s menu will include appetizers as well as main dishes such as steaks, pork chops and seasonal fish along with vegetarian options.

The main level of the 2,000-square-foot space features a 10-foot open hearth with seating around it and about 45 seats outside on a wrap-around porch and terrace. The upstairs includes a bar and dining area. It will be open for dinner 4-10 p.m. daily.

Free Reign is owned by Ryan and Kelleanne Jones.

Now serving

An Italian eatery recently opened at Citadel Mall. Bella Roma can be found in the food court. It’s owned by Fabio and Barbara Spadaro.

Stepping in

A women’s shoe shop is coming to Mount Pleasant.

Dear Lucy plans to open tentatively by March 1 at 1421 Shucker Circle in the Oyster Park development off Ben Sawyer Boulevard.

The owner of the 1,500-square-foot space is Melissa Desautels. The Mount Pleasant resident operates another store in Burlington, Vt.

Flying in

Charleston International Airport recently welcomed new vendors to its retail lineup.

Hudson Nonstop and Sunglass Hut are now open beyond the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.

Hudson Nonstop sells food, beverages and travel amenities. The CHS shop features Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, allowing customers to enter by swiping a credit card or holding their palm over an Amazon One device. It also offers a contactless way to pay, charging shoppers for goods they take off the shelves as they exit.

“It’s the ultimate convenience and self-serve option for fliers on the go,” Charleston airport CEO Elliott Summey said.

Nearby, Sunglass Hut offers a range of styles from Ray-Ban, Oakley and other brands.

Supply side

Tractor Supply Co. is out to plow new ground in the Charleston area.

The chain plans to build a 22,000-square-foot store on 7.25 acres on Dorchester Road between Shady Lane and Stack’s Nursery.

The store will be the Tennessee-based company’s fifth in the Lowcountry. Others are in Awendaw, Moncks Corner, Ravenel and near Nexton in Berkeley County.

An affiliate of developer Farmer & Associates of Aiken paid $1.19 million for the Dorchester County site, according to buyer’s representative Will Sherrod of the commercial real estate firm NAI Charleston.

The land was previously owned by Old Fort Baptist Church and Oakbrook Community Church.

The new store will include a garden center and outdoor display area. Completion is targeted by the end of the year, Sherrod said.

The Aiken buyer will develop and lease the site to Tractor Supply. About two acres of outparcel space will be set aside for future purchase.

Doug Richardson with Carolina One Real Estate and Michele Costanzo with eXp Realty represented the sellers.

Shoe shine

An East Cooper footwear store is undergoing a makeover.

Rack Room Shoes in Mount Pleasant Towne Centre will be closed until late March for a total renovation, according to shopping center spokeswoman Kathi Herrmann. The 9,108-square-foot store closed in early February.

A grand reopening is planned for March 25.

Staying fit

The Planet Fitness gym site at 2070 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. in Citadel Mall reopened Feb. 6 after undergoing renovations since November.

The remodel included the gym’s Black Card Spa and locker rooms. Also, overhead televisions were added to the cardio theater.

Diversifying

A North Carolina-based supermarket chain with 19 locations in the Lowcountry hopes to improve its diversity of product suppliers.

Harris Teeter, an affiliate of The Kroger Co., will accept applications through Feb. 10 for its virtual Supplier Diversity Summit set for March 28-30.

The grocer will work to identify and increase sourcing for retail-ready products typically found in a supermarket from suppliers that are at least 51 percent-owned, -operated and -managed by people who are disadvantaged, disabled, LGBTQ+, military veterans, minorities and/or women.

Harris Teeter is partnering with RangeMe, an Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing company, to manage submissions. To apply, go to tinyurl.com/2zwt6e2c.

As the two-time defending Class AAAA state champion, the James Island girls soccer team fully expects to be a contender for a third straight championship.

But, as coach Kimberly Cohn and her 2023 team is finding out, the road to a three-peat is not an easy trek.

Beset with several key injuries, and losing a player for part of the season to international competition, Cohn is forced to change formations of her starting lineup while trying to remain competitive.

The Trojans remain a viable state title contender with a 6-3-2 record as the season enters the final month of regular season play. The losses have come to formidable opponents (Wando, Oceanside Collegiate and Bluffton).

“The girls have shown some serious grit this season, and with some key players coming back from injury after spring break, I think that we should be able to make a strong run to a third straight state championship,” Cohn says.

Getting through the regular season will not be easy as Region 7-AAAA is very difficult.

“Region & is, in my opinion, the hardest region in AAAA,” Cohn says. “Last year, three out of the four teams that made it into playoffs, made it to the Lower State semi-finals. We are fortunate to be able to face some really great competition throughout the season, and this really prepares us for when we get into playoffs.”

Cohn says she puts a different lineup on the field in virtually every game.

Regular starters Olyvia Briggs (senior captain), Hayden Rape and Ellie Davis, all outside backs, are currently on the sidelines with injuries. All three were key performers in last year’s title run. Rape, a senior and an Appalachian State commit, has missed the entire season but is hopeful to return after spring break.

Junior Marley Walker, a key defender, is missing games as she participates with the Trinidad and Tobago national team in the upcoming CONCACAF Cup. She should be back in the States in time for the state playoff run.

Juniors Alexis Spivey (six goals, six assists) and Gabby Redman (six goals, four assists) continue to set the pace offensively.

OCA, Pinewood in national rankings

Two Charleston-area high school soccer programs are receiving national attention by MaxPreps.com.

The Oceanside Collegiate boys team, currently undefeated, was ranked as No. 1 team in the country in the website’s most recent national rankings.

The MaxPreps rankings are based strictly on results. The more a team wins, the higher the ranking. The system also takes into account quality wins against other highly ranked opponents as well as strength of schedule.

The Landsharks took over the No. 1 spot in the rankings after last week’s No. 1, Chapin High, dropped a 2-1 decision at River Bluff last Saturday. Chapin (10-2) plays in Class AAAAA.

In addition to holding down the No. 1 spot in the MaxPreps rankings, the Landsharks currently sit at No. 22 in the nation according to the United Soccer Coaches poll. That poll has Oceanside ranked third among state schools with Ashley Ridge sitting in the No. 2 spot with an 13-0 record. Ashley Ridge is ranked fifth nationally by MaxPreps.

In girls soccer, Pinewood Prep is ranked No. 6 nationally and No. 1 in South Carolina by MaxPreps. Pinewood Prep is 12-0 this season, outscoring its opponents, 78-4, as the team seeks a third straight SCISA state championship.

Stratford’s McNeil steps down

Stratford girls basketball coach Kelly McNeil stepped down from her position earlier this week.

McNeil guided the Knights to their best season in school history, reaching the Class AAAAA state finals before losing to Mauldin. The Knights finished with a 25-5 record.

McNeil orchestrated one of the more impressive turnarounds in the state over the last several seasons. From 2017-18 through the 2020-21 season, McNeil and the Knights won just nine of 70 games. However, the last two seasons produced a 44-14 record and the school’s first Lower State championship.

A reason for her resignation was not immediately known.

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston City leaders provided some insight on a flood-prone neighborhood on James Island that saw an excess of water after Hurricane Ian.

News 2 first introduced viewers to Michael Miller and his wife on Friday when Hurricane Ian flooded their home and others on Shoreham Road.

According to Miller, it took about five to six hours for the water to drain on the street and about three hours for it to recede inside his home.

“We just started getting as much of the water and as much of the dirt out as we could. Putting up fans, scrubbing down everything. Trying to assess the damage,” said Miller.

According to Charleston City leaders, Shoreham Road is known to flood because it sits in a low-lying area.

“It’s a neighborhood where when that water falls on the streets and on the roofs and on the properties it’s hard to move it out very quickly especially if we get higher tides,” explained Matthew Fountain, the Director of Stormwater Management for the City of Charleston.

There are a few projects in the works to help prevent flooding in the neighborhood. Fountain said one includes a rain garden that is set to be built at the site of a former flood-prone home the city acquired through federal grants.

He said the other small project consists of constructing a drainage swale system to help store more water in the neighborhood. While these projects can help with a typical thunderstorm/rain event, Fountain said it will take more to prevent flooding in a major storm like Ian.

“That neighborhood is going to experience flooding. That’s part of the reason we’ve looked at home acquisitions and demolition in that location giving people the opportunity if they have a heavily flooded home to have the city work with the federal government and eventually buy their homes,” explained Fountain.

Meanwhile, drainage projects on other parts of James Island seem to be showing signs of improvement. News 2 met with Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt at the Charleston Municipal Golf Course where drainage improvements are underway.

She said Hurricane Ian was one of the first big storms to hit the area since rolling out the projects. Because of the work that was done over the last few years, Honeycutt said the water in the system was able to drain within one tide cycle, as opposed to sitting for days as it has in the past.

“One of the parts of the improvements that really helped was cleaning out the Stono River outfall and then back up the ditch system to the entire watershed, so that water could drain out faster. In conjunction, we also enhanced these ponds you see on the golf course to allow more water to stay in the system as the tides change,” explained Honeycutt.

According to city leaders, they monitor streets like Shoreham Road ahead of big storms, making sure the pipes aren’t clogged.

Charleston County has received a reduced cost estimate for the long-planned and controversial Mark Clark Extension project, but it’s a price tag that would still leave the county responsible for paying $1.78 billion.

That’s about five times the county’s yearly general fund budget.

Several council members who support finishing the Interstate 526 loop said the most likely path toward paying for it would be another half-percent sale tax increase that would require local voter approval.

“We just have to be willing to move forward and do it,” Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt said. “Every day I get more and more calls.”

The project would create a 9½-mile, four-lane road from the current end of I-526 in West Ashley, to Johns Island and then onto James Island with a connection to the end of the James Island connector at Folly Road.

Most of the road would be elevated, with a proposed speed limit between 35 and 45 mph.

The marginally better cost estimate was delivered by S.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Christy Hall in a letter to the county. The previous price tag was estimated at $2.35 billion, while the new estimate that followed a consultant’s study came in at $2.2 billion.

“I think initially there was some thought that maybe we have overinflated the numbers,” Hall said.

When the higher cost estimate came out in May, Bradly Taggart, co-founder of Charlestonians for I-526, told County Council members that a temporary spike in commodity prices was likely to blame. He predicted that “we could be looking at a project that costs half as much in six months’ time as the market rebalances.”

Instead, the estimate dropped by less than 7 percent.

Hall said the estimated $150 million reduction came mainly from reducing the cost of potential “risk elements” — surprises during construction, such as unplanned conflicts with utilities or unexpected poor soil conditions — and partly from reducing expected cost inflation.

“This estimate has built into it every possible contingency for things that could go wrong,” said Honeycutt, who said she thinks the actual cost will be lower.

Hall asked the county to develop “a financial plan that is rational and realistic” for the entire road project, which would be required in order to get final approval for an environmental review from the federal government. She also asked the county to approve $150 million in preliminary work, with the county paying half that cost, to keep the plan moving forward.

Honeycutt and Council Chairman Teddie Pryor both said they favor a new half-percent sales tax referendum as the best way to pay the cost. County voters previously approved two such sales tax increases, mostly to fund road projects.

Pryor said if there were another referendum, it could be entirely dedicated to funding the Mark Clark Extension. The most recent sales tax increase, following a 2016 referendum, was expected to raise $1.89 billion for specified road projects in the county, over 25 years.

The county received the new cost estimate for the Mark Clark Extension on Dec. 2, a spokesperson said, and has not had time to discuss it. The earlier higher estimate was delivered to the county in May.

“I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry,” Councilman Henry Darby said at the time. “I would never, ever go with this.”

The Mark Clark Extension has lots of support, including the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, the city of Charleston and the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors, but also lots of opposition. The Coastal Conservation League said in May that the multibillion-dollar price tag “is a perfect opportunity for Charleston County Council to walk away from this project.”

A community organization called Nix 526 has also been fighting the extension, and Charleston Waterkeeper and the S.C. Wildlife Federation have raised objections.

Supporters say it’s necessary for traffic relief and possible hurricane evacuations, while opponents say it will increase development on Johns Island and harm the environment while providing little traffic relief at great cost.

New roads tend to provide traffic relief for a time but also spur development. The existing portion of I-526 from North Charleston to Mount Pleasant initially provided traffic relief and a new hurricane evacuation option, but it also accelerated development in northern Mount Pleasant and on Daniel Island. The state is currently planning to spend about $4 billion to widen that part of the interstate.

Here are some numbers to put $1.78 billion in context:

The S.C. Department of Transportation assumes that if the Mark Clark Extension project goes forward, litigation could delay it by two or three years.

Pryor blamed opponents for the rising costs of the project, and said it could have been built for far less years or decades ago. In 2015, the cost estimate was $725 million.

Unlike the even-more-expensive plans to widen and improve the existing sections of I-526 — for about $7 billion — the state in 2019 limited its contribution to the Mark Clark Extension project to $420 million and the county agreed to finance the rest.

“Our interstate program is focused on upgrading our existing interstates,” said Hall, and those plans are focused on moving freight and aiding commerce. The state is pursuing plans to widen all or portions of interstates 526, 26 and 95, and to redesign multiple interchanges.

County Council is expected to discuss options for the Mark Clark Extension at a future meeting. Hall did not put a deadline on her request for action.