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Pavers make their way into the downtown area
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
The city of Charleston has approved a new paving material for a couple of little-traveled downtown streets, lending an antique look to a new neighborhood and possibly creating a future trend for infill neighborhoods.
Midtown of Charleston, the 33-unit infill development at the northwest corner of Cannon and Coming streets, will have its streets paved with tumbled-concrete pavers rather than with traditional asphalt.
A fast-growing segment of the hardscape industry, concrete pavers mimic the look of Old World-style stone-paved streets but have been manufactured in North America only for the last several decades. The pavers have become popular in the past few years because of their authentic appearance—they come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and colors—and because they interlock like pieces of a puzzle and can be done by do-it-yourselfers.
Concrete pavers have been laid on Brewster Court and Bracky Court, two streets that will be maintained by the city that lead into the 1.4-acre development. Sidewalks and paths in the Midtown of Charleston also are paved with the concrete stone, which developers say allows for better drainage and easier repair.
“My hope is the city will encourage developers to use pavers because the long-term maintenance costs are less,” said Lee Edwards, owner of The Greenery, a landscaping company serving Charleston, Hilton Head Island and Savannah, Ga., that is providing landscaping and hardscaping for Midtown.
Edwards said city officials had to be convinced to use the pavers, because the product is different from the typical asphalt used on most city-maintained roads. There are only a few routes in the city that are laid with paving stones, such as Chalmers Street and lower Church Street in the historic district, and a section of King Street between Wentworth and Beaufain streets that was laid with brick when the Charleston Place hotel complex was constructed in the 1980s.
Midtown, which will have 10 condominiums, 23 single-family homes and two commercial spaces, will be paved with a type of tumbled concrete often used for patios and crosswalks.
“We had a very overwhelming positive response from people interested in buying these houses, how much they like the look,” said Craig Comer, a partner in Reavis Comer Development, developer of Midtown. “It’s not blacktop, it’s individually laid bricks, but it’s not like you’re driving over cobblestones. It’s like you’re driving over asphalt, but it looks like a brick-patterned road.”
For future Midtown residents, the look is one of Old World charm, an amenity one would expect in an old Charleston neighborhood. While they are a little more labor-intensive to install, pavers can turn an ordinary blacktop road into a 21st-century Appian Way, enhancing landscape elements and creating another feature for developers to market.
“They’re super easy to clean and it adds an interesting look that’s unique to Charleston,” Comer said. “It’s more expensive than your typical asphalt, but you see the result for what you pay. It’s got really good drainage capabilities because it’s semi-pervious.”
Edwards said the pavers cost the developers about $2 more per square foot than asphalt but added that they will save the city and its taxpayers in maintenance costs.
“Most people don’t realize that concrete pavers last way longer than asphalt,” Edwards said. “With asphalt, about every eight or 10 years, you have to come in with a milling machine and grind it all up and repave it. To be honest, the oldest roads in the world are made out of pavers, mostly stone pavers.”
The paving stones are laid on a bed of gravel or sand and can be cut to fit curbing. If they are damaged, or if underground infrastructure such as sewer pipes need repair, the stones can be lifted up until work is completed and then replaced.
“They interlock,” Edwards said. “Once you get a couple out, you can pick them up like a puzzle.”
Like other concrete pavers, those used at Midtown are far stronger than typical concrete
products, poured at 8,000 pounds per square inch, as opposed to the average street or driveway, which is 4,000 psi.
Because of their durability, concrete pavers are now being using in port facilities and industrial sites, Edwards said, including in the $7 million expansion of the port of Oakland, Calif., a few years ago.
O’Brien said the developers have a two-year agreement with the city to repair any defects that might arise in the paving system. Thirty days before the two-year agreement expires, the city will do a final inspection of the streets.
Edwards hopes the city will encourage other developers to use pavers when they entertain development proposals.
“Maybe some of these developers will spend the money up front,” Edwards said. “At Midtown, it really distinguishes their product from some of the others around here.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@setcommedia.com.
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