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Watson Hill development lingers on drawing table
By Rachel Pleasant
Staff Writer
The story of Watson Hill, despite the many twists and turns since it began earlier this year, remains far from a conclusion.
Recent developments:
• Earlier this month, North Charleston annexed the 6,600 acres slated for the Watson Hill development, despite Summerville’s objections.
• Questions still surround the future of a piece of land called the Barry Tract in Mateeba Gardens. North Charleston needs the tract in order to make the Watson Hill land contiguous to its boundaries, as required by law. Both Summerville and North Charleston have annexed the tract. The fate of that property will be decided in the courts, says Julie Elmore, North Charleston’s annexation coordinator.
• Property owners have placed easements on several large pieces of land near Watson Hill, limiting development to one house per several acres. Watson Hill developer Richard Lam says he is “actively talking with the groups in play” about selling those easements.
• Dorchester County is working on regulations to limit development in Watson Hill to one house per every eight acres.
Meanwhile, Lam has resubmitted plans calling for 1,200 units, a massive cut from his original 4,500. At this point, he says, Dorchester County has put the development on a deferral, waiting for the outcome of the Summerville, North Charleston situation.
“That was basically phases one and two,” Lam says of the revised plans. “This was our idea for going forward.”
The 1,200 units would be a mix of condos, selling for “north of $400,000,” Lam says, and single-family homes, selling for approximately $650,000.
With so much wrangling and controversy surrounding Watson Hill, and with a new set of plans now drawn and on the table, one would have to wonder if the development is losing money before ground is even broken.
S.C. Property Holdings purchased the Watson Hill land in December for
$34 million.
After completing projects in Manhattan and Florida, including a $600 million community currently under construction in southwest Florida’s Manatee County, Lam says he has become well-acquainted with zoning and approval processes.
Though he admits he has never experienced anything “this bad,” referring to the land battle between Charleston, North Charleston and Summerville, Lam says with any project a budget is set aside for situations such as these.
“We budgeted for it well, so we’re well within our safety zone,” he says.
As for how he’d recoup the multimillion-dollar investment on the land, especially if the number of units is cut by nearly two-thirds, Lam says there are a number of options.
“Maybe it could be something very high-end,” he says. “That’s very subjective. I think in the next few weeks, we’ll know a lot.”
Rachel Pleasant is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at rpleasant@crbj.com.
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