Best Moving Company in Summerville

SUMMERVILLE — There will soon be a new sculpture right outside of Saul Alexander Playground, and it’s going to be absolutely bananas.

Town Council accepted the Sculpture in the South’s donation of a 350-pound, 7-foot half-peeled banana with feet reclined on a 6-foot-long bronze bench.

Sculpture in the South is an organization formed in 1999 to add art to public spaces throughout Summerville.

The group is in the process of fundraising to purchase the sculpture, which costs $50,000.

Otis Engelman, chairman of Sculpture in the South, said every sculpture the organization has purchased to place in Summerville has been paid for by donations from Summerville residents and no town funds.

The banana sculpture will be placed between the Miracle League field and the playground, near the horseshoe. Town Council accepted the sculpture during its Jan. 12 meeting.

The banana is a work of Jack Hill, who is based out of DeLand, Fla. Dora Ann Reaves, a member of Sculpture in the South, said the banana is one of Hill’s favorite forms, adding that he has other sculptures of bananas on roller skates.

“He’s got a real interesting sense of humor,” Reaves said. “The idea that a banana could sit on a bench or roller skate is of interest to him.”

Sculpture in the South has already placed a variety of sculptures around the town, many of which are in Summerville parks. The organization helped facilitate the sculpture of the late John McKissick and his wife, Joan.

Sculpture in the South was looking to add a more whimsical piece to its collection, Amy Evans, parks and recreation director, said.

Reaves spoke for the banana at the standing committees meeting on Jan. 9, where the Parks and Recreation Committee voted unanimously to accept the donation.

Reaves said she likes the banana sculpture because it’s a more fun piece, and has a unique look.

Town Councilman Aaron Brown spoke in favor of the sculpture after Reaves gave her endorsement.

“I think it would be a good idea if we try to be more broad-based with the sculptures that we approve,” Brown said at the meeting. He then suggested getting a sculpture at Wassamassaw Community Park to represent Native Americans’ heritage.

Town Councilwoman Kima Garten-Schmidt said she believes the banana is the perfect sculpture for the park.

“It’s not supposed to be anything serious,” Garten-Schmidt said. “The kids are going to absolutely love it. They’re going to love climbing on it, getting their picture taken with it — even adults are going to love getting a selfie taken with it.”

While it was board of the Sculpture in the South’s decision to choose the banana to place in Saul Alexander Playground, Reaves said she was pleased with the choice.

“Most of our other pieces are memorials or animals,” Reaves said. “We don’t have any other bananas.”

If anyone is interested in donating or contributing to the fundraiser for the banana sculpture, email [email protected].

Two new retail shops are ready to launch in a Target-anchored shopping center in North Charleston.

“Opening soon” and “Now hiring” signs are posted in front of Advance Auto Parts and Popshelf in North Rivers Towne Center at 7250 Rivers Ave.

They are splitting a formerly 31,433-square-foot vacant space next to a recently opened Buy Buy Baby store. The retail center is owned by LBX Investments of Los Angeles.

Popshelf is a new concept from Dollar General that offers home furnishings, party items, toys and beauty products. It’s geared toward the suburban shopper with a household income between $50,000 and $125,000, higher than Dollar General’s lower-income targeted customers.

Opening dates for the new stores have not been announced.

Tool time

Tool giant Harbor Freight plans to set up shop in Summerville.

The Calabasas, Calif.-based retailer recently signed an extended lease for a 16,000-square-foot structure to be built at 388 E. 5th North St., also known as U.S. Highway 78, about a block south of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway, according to Dorchester County land records.

The 1.43-acre site, owned by Henbell Summerville HFT LLC of Augusta, Ga., sits east of a Spinx convenience store and gas station and next to Sawmill Branch. It also abuts a retail center where Planet Fitness and Palmetto State Armory are located.

Harbor Freight’s lease is for 15 years with five five-year renewal options. The agreement also grants the tenant the first right of refusal to purchase the property.

On the way

In northern Mount Pleasant, Red Bird Hospitality Group LLC plans to open a new Bohemian Bull tavern and beer garden in January in a 6,143-square-foot space at 2668 U.S. Highway 17.

The East Cooper franchise location for the bar and grill is the former site of Carrabba’s Italian Grill. It’s also near the newly opened Cabana Burgers & Shakes at 2664 U.S. Highway 17.

Bohemian Bull’s flagship venue is on Folly Road on James Island. Another restaurant is in Greenville, with a new site coming to Mauldin in the Upstate and another in Grapevine, Texas.

What’s cooking?

A Connecticut-based restaurant specializing in rotisserie chicken is close to opening in the Charleston area.

El Pollo Guapo recently applied for its state alcohol license at 1130 Folly Road on James Island where Black Magic Café operated before closing its last Lowcountry location in September after 13 years.

The new restaurant will offer whole roasted chickens, sides, tacos, rice bowls, salads, desserts and other items.

The company’s website says it plans to open by the end of the year and bring a food truck.

Cleaning up

Not one but two car washes are on the way to the Centre Pointe development in North Charleston.

Whistle Express, part of Charlotte-based Magnolia Wash Holdings, is building its first South Carolina location beside Mellow Mushroom on Tanger Outlet Boulevard while Tommy’s Express plans to take over the former Burger King site at Centre Pointe Drive and Tanger Outlet Boulevard near Walmart and Tanger Outlets.

Michigan-based Tommy’s Express has two other locations in the Charleston area on Ashley Phosphate Road in North Charleston and Trolley Road in Summerville. Opening dates have not been announced for either location.

Rolling in

A luxury rental transportation business recently added a second U.S. location in Charleston.

Double Black Transportation has set up an office at 310 Broad St. on the peninsula along with an off-site vehicle lot at 1211 Palm St. in Hanahan.

The company’s other location is in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Case Resor is the owner of both businesses, which offer party buses for weddings, concerts and other social outings.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - The Town of Summerville announced the approval of the Maple Street Extension project on Monday.

Years after the project was introduced in 2014, Blythe Development Company was awarded the bid to begin construction on the project, which will improve in total a mile and a half of roads throughout Summerville.

The town acquired 90 pieces of property in order to make the project possible with the first of four major projects of the extension being Maple Street, which will be widened from two lanes to four to reduce traffic and improve safety in the area.

The project does not just include Maple Street, but intersection improvements at US-78 adding turn lanes on all approaches, installation of a traffic signal at West Richardson Avenue and new alignment from West Richardson to Parsons Road where it will transition from three lanes to two lanes at the Parsons Road connection.

Summerville Director of Public Works and Town Engineer Russ Cornette has been with the project since the beginning. He says he’s really happy to see the project get approved for construction.

“I think this is the largest purchase order the town of Summerville has ever approved,” Cornette says. “The towns and cities the size of Summerville don’t take on large projects like this; this is kind of a unique situation.”

The cost of the project, including construction engineering and inspection services, will be funded by the Town of Summerville’s Mid-Town Tax Increment Finance District funds up to $11 million Dorchester County Sales Tax Referendum Funds will fund the remaining cost.

“The project purpose is to reduce traffic congestion and improve safety and that whole corridor anytime you have that many cars, taking up that little space that’s there, you’re going to have accidents and we’ve seen that the past four years,” Cornette says. “That extra lanes extra capacity will help congestion and get people moving a little more freely than they are now.”

Construction on the Maple Street Extension project starts in April or May of 2023 with the goal of completion being in the spring of 2025.

“The Maple Street extension project will help alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety,” says Summerville Mayor Ricky Waring. “I am grateful for the support from our agency partners and the Dorchester County voters who supported the transportation sales tax referendum that helped fund this project.”

For further details on the Maple Street Extension project, visit project page on the Town of Summerville’s website.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Located at the corner of Berlin Myers Parkway and Highway 78, a 57-acre multi-use property will bring new development to the Summerville area by early 2025.

The property, named Sawmill, will include 474 multi-family apartment units, offices, restaurants, hotels, stores, banks, outdoor spaces and a 40,000-square-foot Roper St. Francis facility.

Summerville spokesperson Mary Edwards said the task to get the development started was a long process.

“It’s something that people have been wanting for a long time, and council has really supported the developers, too. It’s a big deal for us; I mean, it’s a new big development that’s coming to our area,” Edwards said. “It’s something that’s needed. It’s something that the public has really wanted.”

The developers, Lee & Associates, said in a news release that “a new walkable community designed to better connect residents with the fun they want and services they need will be anchored by a major healthcare system.”

Although not everyone in the area is excited about the new development. Some members of the Summerville community shared their concerns on a Facebook post with over 400 comments mentioning traffic problems, school enrollment and housing availability.

Located near the development, the Spinx gas station may see increased traffic with the upcoming construction. Employee Rona Emons, shared her concerns.

“I don’t think we can really handle it because this road is already always backed up; it’s already hard to get in and out of the store,” she said. “I think that’s going to make it a lot worse unless they try to widen the road somehow, which I don’t know how they can do that. But yeah, it’s going to cause a lot of congestion in this area.”

In response to the concerns, Edwards said the city and developers studied research before deciding if the project was appropriate for the area.

“The town is growing really fast,” Edwards said. “So, we know that people want to come here, and they want to experience the area. We want to be able to provide these types of options for people when they come.”

Construction on the health care facility and multi-family apartment units will begin in early 2023.

“I’m kind of excited,” Emons said. “I’d like to get out. You know, it’d be nice to see something new in this area. So yeah, I’m looking forward to it in some ways, and otherwise, I’m kind of a little leery of it.”

Overall, the project is expected to cost $200 million.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Ample servings of Champagne coupled with a coastal poolside ambiance served as a fitting backdrop to a favorable economic forecast report during an April 4 Nexton luncheon attended by several local realtors at a sun-splashed Midtown Club in Summerville.

Following a brief synopsis of Nexton’s recent sales and continued growth as a “third job center” in the Charleston market, the mixed-use development’s marketing coordinator Alicia Smith introduced South Carolina Ports Authority Business Development Manager Marion Bull to the podium, as he delved into his group’s efforts of recruiting business activity to the Lowcountry.

The guest speaker sang the praises of Nexton — which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary as a destination venue in the Summerville community — for its role in providing housing for incoming employees of national and global firms seeking to establish a presence in the Charleston region.

Moving forward, Bull anticipates Nexton continuing to offer corporations an attractive option for its staffers as a source of housing, employment and an ever-expanding array of amenities with new industry emerging in the Jedburg area of Summerville, as well as Ridgeville in the very near future.

“When they want to live somewhere with, you know, a high quality of life that’s affordable, this is a place where business leaders can feel comfortable locating their businesses here,” began the Mount Pleasant resident.

“South Carolina has done a fantastic job as a state, [and] not just as a port, in recruiting business. [We had] $10 billion in investment last year. I think the largest previous year was $3 billion or so. It’s a huge number for our economic development in the state of South Carolina and some of it has happened right here.”

Bull detailed that South Carolina Ports drives about $63 billion in economic impact statewide, with about $8 billion of it emanating from the Lowcountry. In fact, about 30,000 jobs are either directly or indirectly linked to port activity in the immediate surrounding zone — a number that he anticipates will “dramatically” increase due to investments by Volvo, Walmart, Mercedes-Benz and the like.

Luncheon attendees were also treated to a breakdown of expectations for the real estate market in 2023 by President of the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (CTAR) Katesha Breland.

The Charleston-born real estate broker noted the Charleston region’s remarkable 25 percent population growth over the past decade, along with a 17 percent spurt of newcomers in Summerville over that same 10-year stretch.

“We see changes in our local culture, our restaurant scene, our retail opportunities, and of course, we feel it in our traffic as well,” she stated.

“The local economy is booming. The Nexton development offers something that Summerville residents hadn’t seen before, an intentionally-developed masterplan community that gives residents the ease and opportunity to live, work and play right in their backyards ... that’s just what Nexton does. They haven’t built a neighborhood, they’ve built a community. While local media doesn’t always like to focus on the positives of our real estate market, there’s plenty of good news I can share with you,” added Breland without referencing any specific news media outlet.

On that note, the CTAR leader communicated that closed property sales were down in 2022 by 18 percent, but compared to 2019, that total was actually up six percent.

Breland further spoke of a healthy, sustainable pace of growth, as the overall median sales price increased 14 percent, single-family home prices surged 12 percent and townhouse/condos similarly saw a 22 percent uptick.

Summerville and Moncks Corner, in particular, were two of the top areas in terms of home sales in 2022.

“We expect sales will remain at the pace we’re seeing now, which is a good, healthy pace. Prices will also increase likely at a slower pace than we’ve been seeing. But that’s good news for buyers who are challenged by the affordability of our region.”

Breland concluded her address by lauding Nexton for its development of a wide range of home options (single-family, townhouses, rentals, etc.) and a variety of price points for prospective residents.

Smith topped off the information session by filling in listeners on the imminent additions of Harris Teeter and Publix retail outposts in the Nexton area in Q1 of 2024 and Q2 of 2024 respectively.

Also mentioned were the opening of Pickle Bar, as well as a new hospital and middle school site that are both in the works.