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Urban redevelopment rejuvinates Park Circle area
Mixson Avenue to replace older homes, encourage residential, commercial growth
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
White clapboard houses sit abandoned waiting demolition along Mixon Avenue in North Charleston’s Park Circle area. These homes were built by the federal government in 1941 for shipyard workers and military personnel and are to be transformed into a 44-acre mixed-use neighborhood.
That tract, called the John C. Calhoun Homes, deteriorated over time and were last being used as low-income housing. In their place will arise 950 residential units. Created by the I’On Group, developer of Mount Pleasant’s upscale I’On Village, and Charleston urban design firm Keane & Co., Mixson is expected to revitalize North Charleston, attracting more businesses and homebuyers to the area.
Project construction, scheduled to begin in early 2006, will be conducted in six phases and take approximately 10 years to complete.
The $200 million development will include various housing types — condominiums, townhouses and detached single-family houses — with prices ranging from about $100,000 to $300,000. Apartments will be included but will comprise only about 20% of the housing.
“Our goal is to have the greatest diversity in price range and product,” says I’On Group president LeGrand Elebash.
The amount of commercial space in the development depends on the demand for it, says Tim Keane, president of Keane & Co. The planners would like to see restaurants, shops and workplaces in the neighborhood.
The project remains a work in progress, with various designs being considered. The mix could include studio-sized condos perched atop commercial space. Apartments might be offered in eight- to 10-unit garden complexes and as single, basement units in certain townhouses.
The project’s initial phase will consist of about 250 units, Elebash says. Although architectural styles have yet to be finalized, the planners are leaning toward “traditional, classically inspired architecture,” with such features as porches, window shutters and columns.
“The architecture will be very simple and not dripping with ornament,” Keane says. “Materials will run the gamut from wood siding to stucco to brick.”
Mixson Avenue’s master plan, filled with interconnecting streets and public spaces, is influenced by the designs of European cities like Paris, Rome, Florence and Berlin, Elebash says.
“We want the neighborhood to grow outward from the middle, like the organic growth of a seed,” Elebash says. The planners also intend to incorporate asymmetrical designs that achieve what Elebash calls an “ordered chaos,” rather than the regimental design of a city like Savannah, with its perfectly aligned public squares.
Residents in the Mixon Avenue area also have a say in the project. I’On continues to have public meetings in surrounding neighborhoods where people can suggest how the development should look and what it should include. I’On and Keane & Co. have met with North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and his staff, community leaders, neighborhood associations and local churches to get their input and to make the project as transparent as possible, Elebash says.
The Mixson Avenue development displaces some 240 Calhoun Homes residents, who in January were given six months to find new living quarters. To help these displaced residents find new housing, I’On held a January housing fair where the Calhoun Homes tenants met with North Charleston apartment landlords, ShelterNet and Habitat for Humanity. So far, all but 50 displaced residents have found new housing, Elebash says. He adds that I’On continues to work with ShelterNet, a part of the Humanities Foundation in Mount Pleasant, to help the remaining residents find new places to live.
“It’s a gut-wrenching task to relocate people from their homes,” says Elebash. “It’s painful, even if it’s done right.”
The Mixson Avenue project falls within the 3,000-acre footprint of the Noisette Co.’s urban redevelopment plan for North Charleston. I’On and Keane & Co. have met with Noisette and intend to adopt some of Noisette’s sustainable building and community-design concepts. The plan is to make Mixson Avenue’s buildings energy efficient and the neighborhood environmentally friendly, community-oriented and fit for pedestrians.
“Certainly, we are excited about the redevelopment of the former Calhoun Homes site,” says John Knott, the Noisette Co.’s chief executive.
“The early plans outlined by Tim Keane and his team will improve the quality of life for residents, creating a new urban neighborhood for the Noisette community with walkable streets, public parks and open spaces. These plans are consistent with Noisette’s views on restoring neighborhoods with great urban design that nurture sensitivity to our social and physical health.”
“We’ve taken the Noisette master plan and replicated a small piece of it,” says Keane.
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.
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