NEWS MAKERS 2013
From the 12.16.13 Issue
December 16
- 29, 2013 •
Changing of the dog
Landowners plan massive project on Cainhoy
Citadel retires two mascots and adds new ambassado two rs with fur. Page 2
Statewide expansion
The Lowcountry Housing Trust has a new name and a wider reach. Page 4
Boeing land
deal
Could an effort to 267 acres help secure lure the 777X to S.C.? Page 5
www.charle
stonbusines
s.com
Venture capital fund By Liz Segrist
lsegrist@scb iznews.com
L
launches for tech sector Volume 19, No.
ExECutIV
E SummAry ocals with tech A new venture capital group to spare could expertise and $250,000 aims to funnel funding to Charleston’s become investors more Charleston’s growing tech in newest venture scene. fund. capital panies in the Charleston Charleston-based area and to Silicon Harbor much-needed launched a fund bring capital to the earlier this month Ventures tech scene, region’s growing early and said Mike to target ner growth-stage for Silicon Harbor Knox, managing parttechnology comVentures. The initial $1 million that launched the
CHANGING CAINHOY A mixed-use community is planned for more Cainhoy Plantation’s than half of 9,000 acres. Developers hope Daniel Island’s to mirror success; conservatio nists are concerned the developmen about t’s density and proximity to the Francis marion National Forest. Full Story. Page
CHARLESTON UNDER
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CONSTRUCTION Page 28
INSIDE Upfront .................... ........ 2 In Focus: Architecture , Engineering & Construction ............. 25 List: Professiona l Staffing Companies At Work .................... ..... 41 ..... 43 People in the News Business Digest ........ 43 Hot Properties ............. 43 ................ Viewpoint.................... 46 ... 47
The Cainhoy
peninsula, part of which sits along the Wando is poised for major development. River (Photo/Liz Segrist) (above),
See VENTURE
By Liz Segrist
Looking to the right of Cainhoy Road, plans call for industrial developments. The Francis Marion National Forest sits directly across the road. Inset photo: Clements Ferry Road, already a commercial and residential area, is zoned for mixed-use and commercial developments. (Photos/Liz Segrist)
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ainhoy Plantation in Charleston could become the next Daniel Island — but bigger. More than half of the 9,000-acre plantation is on track to become a massive, mixed-use development. The land sits between Daniel Island and the Francis Marion National Forest, and Clements Ferry Road runs through it. Industrial sites, offices and suburban neighborhoods are already developed along the Clements Ferry thoroughfare, but much of the area remains forestland. The development’s density limit is set at 2.1 units per acre for up to 4,300 residences. An estimated 20,000 people could call it home over the next two decades. Family members of the late Harry Frank Guggenheim have owned the plantation for more than 80 years and were among the original Daniel Island developers. They plan to create a community where residents can walk to places where they work, live, play and learn. “The basic design elements here are similar to Daniel Island in that they incorporate integrated mixed uses at a variety of price points,” said Matt Sloan, who represents the landowners, Cainhoy Land & Timber. Historic Charleston Foundation and the Coastal Conser-
vation League have expressed concerns about the density of the development and its proximity to the national forest. “I think what’s being proposed and what’s going to the planning commission is a little scary. It’s so huge and it’s not clear how it’s going to be phased,” said Winslow Hastie, chief preservation officer for Historic Charleston Foundation. Development plans for Cainhoy Plantation call for commercial, retail, industrial and green spaces, as well as residential components, according to planning documents submitted to the city of Charleston. Sloan, who is also president of the Daniel Island Co., is seeing the landowners through the entitlement approval process, which covers the plantation’s entire 9,000 acres. Development of the land will be limited to 5,000 acres, since the remaining acreage is designated as wetlands or set aside for recreational use for the owners, Sloan said. Roughly 800 acres, all of which are on the south side of Clements Ferry Road, are being considered for development at this time, Sloan said. It could take more than 30 years to build out the entire master plan. “This is a large place and an important piece of property,” Sloan said. “There’s no urgency or rush to do it quickly.” cr bj
otherNewsmakers Trident Technical College and The Citadel Graduate College launched academic programs to focus on manufacturing and engineering. Trident Tech also began work on an expanded aerospace program that includes a $79 million aeronautical center with space for open bays, classrooms, labs and a 100,000-square-foot aircraft ramp. Photo/Mic Smith, Trident Tech
60 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers
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By Ashley Barker
abarker@scb iznews.com
wo Lowcountry new programs colleges are offering to develop a of talent local pool growing defense,to support the needs of the turing industries. technology and manufacThe Citadel Graduate College offering a mechanical will begin uate degree beginningengineering undergradwith a in May, and Trident Technicalsummer session new manufactur College starts ing certification in January. track classes In October, the S.C. Commissio er Education n on Highapproved a request from Citadel to build The a Bachelor in mechanical of engineering. Science degree to full-time It will be offered members of the Corps of and non-cadet Cadets of Engineering students, according to School Dean Ronald tracks include Welch. Available power and turing, aeronautica energy, manufacl systems, materials mechatronics. and Welch said the program established 50 years ago, should have been mechanical but engineers became the need for when he met clear to him with officials from the Boeing
of this year’s group of honorees. Page 15
Cainhoy Plantation’s history runs deep
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CAPITAL, Page
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College programs designed to build industrial labor
See PROGRAMS,
Read profiles
26 • $2.00
fund came from Johns Island-based Ridge Asset Managemen t, where Knox Gold as president. serves Using the Charleston Digital Corridor’s network, the fund’s leaders will invite roughly 20 investors to will be required join the team. Each member least $250,000 to make an investment of at to join the venture capital fund.
n the 1700s, the Wando River and Cooper River that bound the Cainhoy and Daniel Island areas played a huge role in the region’s economy. The rivers transported residents, visitors and the region’s major crops, according to Suzannah Smith Miles’ historical analysis of Cainhoy and Daniel Island. Rice plantations lined the rivers on the Cainhoy Plantation. Timber and bricks were harvested for construction purposes, said Winslow Hastie, chief preservation officer for Historic Charleston Foundation. Originally, two Cainhoy villages existed, Miles wrote. Today, the original area is known as the Beresford Bounty tract off Cainhoy Village Road. In the 1800s, the second Cainhoy settlement, and the site of the existing plantation today, served as a summer resort and a transportation hub between the plantations and Charles Town, Miles wrote in her 1999 analysis of the area. In the 1980s, Berkeley County began discussing putting a high school on the site, said Jake Libaire with the Coastal Conservation League. In the 1990s, Charleston annexed Daniel Island and the Cainhoy Plantation into its jurisdiction, and the mostly rural area was transformed when Interstate 526 was built. “The annexation of Cainhoy came in on the coattails of Daniel Island’s annexation into the city of Charleston, but it didn’t really catch the public’s attention,” Libaire said. The property has not had extensive archaeological or historical surveys performed to document the area’s significance, said Hastie, who would like to perform a historical study before development takes place. “There is still an abundance to be learned through research and exploration,” Miles wrote. “Progress, however, is rapidly changing the physical and societal landscape of the area. Hopefully, this will be the first of many works which promote a continued desire to understand and respect this land, its history and its people.”
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