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Rising tide
Ashley Bridge District attracting affluent residential growth
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Will people pay more than $1 million to live beside an expressway on the site of a former concrete manufacturer?
They already have.
That is because the north end of the city’s Ashley Bridge District has become an up-and-coming residential hot spot at the gateway to West Ashley. It is two minutes from downtown Charleston and situated along the banks of the Ashley River, where marinas and restaurants abound.
The hospitals, entertainment venues, art galleries and restaurants that downtown Charleston offers are just a short hop over the river. Hotels and offices have also settled on the banks of the Ashley, where they can be part of the city but the parking is free.
Once a semi-industrial area diagonally across the river from the city’s former garbage dump, this edge of the Ashley Bridge District now is luring condominium developments catering to boat owners and is becoming a new residential neighborhood on its own.
Redevelopment started with The Albemarle, a 63-unit luxury condominium development completed by Applegate & Co. in 2004. The complex set a precedent for residential development in this area wedged between Albemarle Road and the Ashley River and bisected by the Herbert Fielding Connector, which runs between West Ashley and James Island. In spite of its snug position next to an expressway, The Albemarle is just a stone’s throw from scenic Ripley Light Marina and the waterfront California Dreaming restaurant.
Nearby and closer to the water, The Townhomes at Ripley Cove will have 18 units when the development is completed later this year. Coastland Enterprises has completed the first two of three buildings and has closed on all initial sales. The townhomes originally sold in the mid-$600,000s and are now ranging from $700,000 to $850,000. They are built atop garages, crowned with rooftop terraces and come with boat slips.
Developer Jeff Woodman, owner of Coastland Enterprises, said development potential in the area had been overlooked in spite of some high-profile tenants such as California Dreaming and Porter-Gaud School.
“We are excited to start contributing to the area, which was kind of neglected,” Woodman said. “The city mandated a mixed-use for the neighborhood. They wanted townhomes, single-family (homes) and condos.”
New residents of the area say it’s almost like living downtown, but with a peaceful, resort-like feel.
“I just feel like I’m on vacation all the time,” said Sunny Steinberg, who has lived at The Townhomes at Ripley Cove for six months. She and her husband Samuel Steinberg, both retired, moved from just five miles away in Parkshore III. They will soon have more neighbors as other projects take hold in the area, including 12 single-family homes to be built across the street. One home, costing $2.5 million, is nearly complete.
Sintra Development Corp. is building three of the homes, which come with deeded deep-water boat slips. The area was once home to Pre-Stress Concrete, a concrete manufacturer that shipped its products out of the area on barges.
“I think our buyers are obviously individuals with a large boat or yacht and probably somebody looking for everything Charleston has to offer, but probably with a little more seclusion and a little more privacy,” said Rebecca Boone, Sintra’s director of marketing. “It’s like a perfect little gem of a place and I don’t think a lot of people in Charleston know about it yet.”
More boat slips are on the way, as are more condos. Ashley River Properties II is developing the nearby Ripley Light Yacht Club and marketing 24 units in its first phase. The three-bedroom units will range in price from more than $1.4 million to nearly $1.9 million and should break ground this spring. Most of the development’s marina is built, with 80 out of 94 slips operable. Two of the condos at Ripley Light Yacht Club are under contract.
“We’re going after the boater,” said Clay Cunningham, broker-in-charge with Frank Guarino Properties. “That’s kind of a niche market. We’re selling more of a lifestyle than just a condo.”
Ryan Black, project manager for Ashley River Properties II, said buyers would probably be people who have million-dollar yachts and are either moving north from Florida or south from the Northeast.
“They are probably net-worth individuals in the $5 million-plus range,” Black said.
Not far away, Stonebridge Development Group has 42 units planned for another luxury condominium complex with a pool and hot tub. Half of the upscale residences to be built at Westwind Landing are already sold and the project will probably break ground within six months. Laura Hart, an agent with Stonebridge Realty, said the least expensive unit left is nearly $800,000 and others range up to $1.2 million.
Mark Caldwell, president of Stonebridge Companies, said the development’s average sale has been right at $1 million for units that include boat slips across the street. The company paid $5 million for the 1.68-acre tract, which is not waterfront property.
“I think the area has taken a dramatic turn toward the higher-end residential product,” Caldwell said. “I can’t think of another site that has those river views and is as close to downtown.”
Stonebridge also plans 40 more condominium units in the area on the site of the former Landry’s Seafood restaurant, which closed several years ago.
As the area nestled at the foot of the Ashley River bridges continues to be transformed, it is beginning to better fit the ideals of city planners and area residents.
A plan for the Ashley Bridge District, which includes eight West Ashley neighborhoods, was adopted by the city in 1997. Bill Wallace, chairman of the Ashley Bridge District’s board, said residents of the area felt the district had some unique concerns and wanted to maintain it primarily as a high-quality residential district.
While the area around Ripley Light Marina had once been industrial, it was also adjacent to some of Charleston’s oldest and most exclusive suburbs, including Windermere, The Crescent and Wappoo Heights, which was started in 1924.
“We saw a lot of encroachment into our neighborhood by commercial development and traffic that was passing through these neighborhoods,” Wallace said. “We wanted to preserve the residential character of the neighborhoods and promote the quality of life that had existed here and attract development we thought would be suitable and complementary to the residential units that were here.”
A good example of that is Beazer Homes’ purchase of a 71¼2-acre parcel once occupied by a concrete products company. The national home-building giant plans a 181-unit condominium complex, called Station West, at the corner of Folly and Albemarle roads that will include 18,000 square feet of retail space at the corner of the two roads. Residences at Station West will be priced from $399,000 to around $560,000 for units of less than 1,000 square feet to a little more than 1,800 square feet.
Matt Hornberger, director of mid-rise construction for Beazer’s Charleston division, said he has worked on other mixed-use projects that Beazer has done in south Florida and described Station West as an urban infill project.
“More people are interested in living close to where they work, living in downtown urban areas, and they like the convenience of having a supermarket or a coffee shop right downstairs or close by,” Hornberger said.
Next door, behind Gold’s Gym, Howell & Associates plans a four-story, 49,000-square-foot office building called Albemarle Place, which will include eight rooftop condominiums.
“Somebody could buy a unit up there and actually work down below,” company President Sean Howell said.
Such urban infill projects also suit city officials’ ideas for the Ashley Bridge District.
“What’s happening there with the residential development is very positive and does implement that Ashley Bridge District plan, because the plan did envision more
residential there and more mixed-use and a phasing out of the industrial activities,” said Yvonne Fortenberry, deputy director of the city’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Economic Innovation.
Some of the development around Ripley Light Marina has brought more positive uses along the waterfront while still attracting some commercial use, such as a new corporate headquarters for Piggly Wiggly supermarkets, Fortenberry said.
Christopher Morgan, planning division director for the city’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Economic Innovation, said there are a lot of things going on in the neighborhood, including efforts to connect the West Ashley Greenway bicycle path to the Ashley River Bridges via a separate bicycle and pedestrian lane.
“It’s a beautiful area, with the little inlet and views of downtown,” Morgan said. “What has come along has not been exactly what’s been envisioned, but it’s a dynamic redevelopment of the area.”
Wallace, the Ashley Bridge District chairman, thinks most of the new uses that have moved into the Ripley marina section of the district are supportive of the neighborhood.
“I think we’ve been successful, with the city’s help, to maintain this as a residential area and not to let commercial and industrial encroach upon it, but at the same time we’ve allowed new uses like condos replace other things that were a detriment to our area,” Wallace said. “I think quality of life has changed dramatically.”
Most of the area around Ripley Light Marina is now planned, and development is underway on most of the property, Fortenberry said.
One holdout is Turky’s Towing, a long-established tow-truck operation whose owner, Werner Burky, also uses a portion of his property along Folly Road as a car lot for collectible European cars. There is a boat ramp at the rear of the property and the river can be accessed at mid-tide.
If someone made him an offer, Burky said, he would be happy to relocate.
“I will sell,” Burky said. “All they have to do is show me the money. It’s definitely for sale at my price.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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