By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer

Development of Carolina Park, the long-awaited 1,700-acre “smart growth” community in northern Mount Pleasant, is preparing to get underway.

“2006 will be a benchmark year for Carolina Park,” said Stacy Hornstein, development director for Fairfax, Va.-based Republic Land Development, which is helping develop Carolina Park.

Aside from the building of the new Wando High School, which opened in 2004, not much ground has been broken on the massive tract. That is about to change.

Carolina Park construction projects slated to begin this year include:

• An 18,000-square-foot child development center on a recently purchased 3.5-acre parcel.

• 350 single-family home lots, constituting Carolina Park’s first phase of residential development. Construction of the lots could begin this summer, with home construction possibly completed by November 2007. A total of 1,745 houses are slated to be built during the next nine years.

• A 1.25-mile extension of Carolina Boulevard, one of the development’s main arteries, from Wando High School to the development’s residential area.

• The completion of another main thoroughfare, Park Avenue Boulevard, extending 1.5 miles from the Park West subdivision to Wando High School.

Additionally, Roper St. Francis Healthcare will soon close on the 78 acres it is purchasing for its new 85-bed hospital, which is expected to open November 2010. Construction on the 250,000-square-foot facility could begin in 2008.

The developers also have a 1.5-acre parcel set aside for an office building, another 1.5-acre parcel earmarked for a bank and 15 acres for a church.

Carolina Park features more than 400 acres of economic development space for companies seeking 50 to 100 acres each for corporate headquarters. The economic development segment will take about 20 years to build out, Hornstein estimated.

The plan also includes space for an institution of higher education, a police department, a fire department, a library and an Emergency Medical Service facility. Medical offices will be built near the new Roper hospital.

The development’s retail area will occupy more than 185 acres. Retailers most likely will start building after the first phase of residential development is completed, Hornstein said. He added that the retail segment will take about 15 years to build out.

Carolina Park’s residential segment will include apartment units in addition to single-family homes. A 545-acre low-density housing area will limit homebuilding to one house per acre. The remaining single-family homes will be built in higher-density areas.

Finally, the development will have 14 miles of biking and walking trails and 78 acres of park space.

Holstein said he believes Carolina Park captures the essence of smart growth: working, living, playing, exercising, shopping, receiving health care and going to school all in the same community.

Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.

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