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Hanckel Marine, Scout Boats build marine mall
By Lindsay Street
Staff Writer
Two family-owned businesses have teamed up to produce a $7 million marine and sporting goods mini-mall on Daniel Island with all the flair of a one-stop shopping experience at a national retailer.
Summerville-based Scout Boats Inc. and Charleston-based Hanckel Marine Sales & Services teamed up on Sportsman’s Island, a multi-store center on Clements Ferry Road, said Steve Potts, president of Scout Boats.
On eight acres, visible from Interstate 526, an 800-foot privately built road and a 150-foot privately built bridge provide access to a site with a roughly 40,000-square-foot retail center. In the future, the site also will include a boat service center and a restaurant, Potts said.
In early 2003, Potts purchased the property for $130,000 per acre. In mid-2005, Milo Hanckel, president of Hanckel Marine, joined Potts on the mini-mall venture. Construction began in early 2006, and the center is targeted for completion in November, Potts said.
The low-lying, marsh-side property had to be built up prior to construction and the work proved to be costly, Potts said. Six acres of the site were built up five feet and the remaining two acres were built up seven feet. The dirt needed to fill the land cost $1 million, Potts said.
Building the infrastructure surrounding the center, including the road and the bridge, cost $600,000, Potts said.
To support the heavily constructed building, 150 60-foot pilings were driven into the sandy, muddy land, said Ronnie Coward, president of Coward-Hund Construction Co. Inc., general contractor for the project.
LS3P Associates Ltd. designed the exterior of Sportsman’s Island to resemble many of the businesses and homes in the communities of Daniel Island, Mount Pleasant, Sullivans Island and Isle of Palms, Potts said.
“The wow factor (in sporting retail) has to exist like it does in the automotive industry,” he said.
The landscaping and façade are the focal point at the center, which include a lamp-lined bridge, a half-acre pond with fountains and palm trees, and the Lowcountry look of the building.
Typically, the larger a building needs to be, the more contemporary it becomes, Potts said. Charged with the structural engineering for the mall, ADC Engineering Inc. tackled the obstacle of making Lowcountry-styled porches, slanted roofs and a cupola structurally sound on a large scale.
To support the large building, heavy-duty steel was used, Coward said. The steel I-beams give enough support to the building for it to withstand a hurricane or an earthquake, Potts said.
“We wanted to be very proactive in building design that it would allow us to go to market and get very attractive (insurance) premiums,” Potts said.
Many buildings in the Charleston area are built with lighter steel, which is less expensive, Coward said.
The building’s exterior is also durable. The trimming and siding are made of a cement-type material called Hardiplank exterior. The material is typical of Lowcountry homes but uncommon for businesses, Coward said.
To give maximum exposure to I-526 passersby, the building was elevated, creating parking spaces below.
The interstate hosts roughly 70,000 commuters a day—most of whom fit the target demographics for marine retailers, said Brent Jonas of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Co., which is handling retail leasing at the mini-mall.
The center’s interior is being designed by Dennis Setterfield, who has designed projects for Walt Disney World and Polo and recently completed the look of R.B.’s Restaurant in Mount Pleasant. Interior features include a showroom for Hanckel Marine and two 1,000-gallon fish tanks.
Potts has enlisted the help of the South Carolina Aquarium in creating the fish tanks.
The ceiling at the entrance of the mall is outfitted with heavy timber trusses, designed as an architectural feature from which design details can be hung, like large wooden fish.
At the pond and inside the center, Sportsman’s Island will host demonstrations and seminars for sporting enthusiasts.
“This is designed to be a gathering place,” Potts said.
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