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Rising rents worry some upper King Street retailers
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
Jim and Lee Breeden, owners of Boomer’s Books at 420 King St., say they see the writing on the wall.
The Breedens realize that as upper King Street, the corridor stretching northward from Calhoun Street to Line, continues to develop into a fashionable enclave of galleries, designer boutiques and fine restaurants, retail rents will rise along with that area’s popularity.
The Breedens praise their landlords, The PrimeSouth Group, for keeping the store’s rent below market value. But sooner or later such generosity will have to end, says Jim Breeden. He understands that as a matter of business, The PrimeSouth Group will have to start charging what the space is worth. The inevitable rent hike—Breeden believes it will happen in about a year—will mean the final chapter for the bookstore the Breedens founded 10 years ago, when upper King Street was a slum.
“We won’t bother continuing the store,” says Jim Breeden, adding that Boomer’s Books is downtown Charleston’s last used bookstore. Instead, the Breedens will close shop and head for New Orleans.
As trendy upper King Street becomes trendier, the specter of higher, business-threatening rents concerns a number of the area’s retailers, notes Chris Price, a principal at The PrimeSouth Group, which brokers much of the commercial real estate along upper King Street.
Three years ago, retail real estate along upper King rented for roughly $15 to $18 per square foot, Price says. Today, rents range from about $22 to $28 per square foot.
Along lower King Street, stretching southward between Calhoun and Broad streets where national chain stores loom, retail rental rates range from about $28 to $32 per square foot, says Hope DuBoise, Beach Co. commercial broker.
It’s the influx of national chains, whose pockets are deep enough not only to afford retail space and renovate it, that leaves some local retailers skeptical about King Street’s chances of maintaining a Charleston character.
“Everybody complains about the ‘malling’ of King Street, yet they’re all walking around with a Williams-Sonoma bag,” says Earastus Corning III, who co-owned the Silver Puffin, a gift and home décor shop at 278 King St. High rents forced Corning to close the Silver Puffin Feb. 19. Sigrid Olsen, a national women’s clothing retailer, will occupy the space, located across the street from national kitchenware retailer Williams-Sonoma.
Corning says he’s not sure where he will move the Silver Puffin if he decides to maintain the store. “I looked at upper King Street and saw what was happening up there,” he says, referring to upper King’s rising real estate rates.
Upper King real estate will appreciate significantly when the old county library, a crumbling eyesore, becomes a Hilton hotel; when Ted and Richard Stoney build their hotel near the corner of John and King streets; when developer Robert Clement builds his hotel at King and Spring streets; and when the city’s “streetscape” beautification project is completed, says Price. Start dates for these projects have yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, The PrimeSouth Group, which brought national retailers like Pottery Barn and Waterworks to King Street, receives at least 60 real estate inquiries a month from national, regional and local retailers seeking possible space on upper King, Price points out.
“The phone calls have increased dramatically over the past two years,” notes Price.
In addition to retail activity, office space in upper King’s 400 block will be converted to residential condominiums, further polishing the area, says PrimeSouth principal Philip Woollcott.
Some retailers are less nervous about upper King Street’s rising rental rates.
“When you start a business in an up-and-coming area, you have to understand that real estate prices will go up,” explains Leigh Meadows-McAlpin, co-owner of Dwelling, a home furnishings store at 474 King St. Meadows-McAlpin and her husband launched Dwelling three years ago.
However, Meadows-McAlpin says that if upper King real estate becomes too expensive, Dwelling will move out of Charleston. “We’re looking at other markets. That’s our ‘Plan B.’”
“I think there will always be a place in Charleston for local shops,” says the Beach Co.’s DuBoise.
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.
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