SC Biz News Briefs

The Six Apartments, a 92-unit, three-story building in Mount Pleasant was sold to Baltimore-based Continental Realty Corp. for $28.25 million. (Photo/Provided) CHARLESTON

Teri Errico Griffis, Charleston Regional Business Journal

Baltimore-based investors purchase Mount Pleasant apartments for $28M

A Baltimore-based company has acquired its third Charleston-area property with the $28.25 million acquisition of The Six apartments in Mount Pleasant.

Continental Realty Corp., owner of Mount Pleasant Towne Centre, purchased the three-story building located at 2170 Snyder Circle. Of the 92 units in the garden community, 97% were occupied at the time of the off-market transaction.

“The Six offers a boutique-style residential living experience and is indicative of the institutional-quality asset we traditionally target in our acquisition strategy. The property’s differentiated location adjacent to Six Mile Marketplace, anchored by Harris Teeter and Hobby Lobby, allows for walkability to a variety of retail amenities,” Continental Realty Corp.’s Vice President of Acquisitions Ari Abramson said in a statement.

CRC is a commercial real estate and investment company that focuses on acquiring and operating retail and multifamily properties. The Six was purchased on behalf of Continental Realty Fund V, L.P., a $210.8 million private equity fund focused on acquiring value-add retail and multifamily properties in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.

COLUMBIA

Melinda Waldrop, Columbia Regional Business Report

Biotechnology company based in Irmo earns almost $1M grant for research

Irmo-based biotechnology company Integrated Micro-Chromatography Systems Inc. has been awarded $1.8 million for the second phase of a research grant from the National Institutes of Health.

In January 2021, the company received a $900,000 Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research grant to fund research into the production of affordable gangliosides, biomolecules that contain sugars and a type of lipid called ceramides and play critical roles in various biological processes.

IMCS is using the research grants to synthesize and modify gangliosides to increase researchers’ understanding of how the biomolecules affect neurological functions and can be used to diagnose and treat neurological diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

IMCS was also awarded a four-year, $2.56 million Fast-Track Small Business Technology Transfer grant to build an array of sialoglycans, sugar-carrying glycans which are aberrantly expressed on many tumor cells. The sialoglycans advance glycobiology, which is the study of the biological impact of sugars.

With publications in the Upstate, Columbia and Charleston, as well as a statewide magazine, SC Biz News covers the pulse of business across South Carolina. Above are excerpts from our other publications.

VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1 ■ COLUMBIABUSINESSREPORT.COM

Lasting legacy

University of South Carolina names dorm for educator. Page 2

Top chefs

Trio selected to serve as ambassadors for state. Page 4

Part of the network JANUARY 24-FEBRUARY 13, 2022 ■ $2.25

Second location

Popular Five Points spot to open BullStreet site. Page 9

Full speed ahead

S.C. Ports says it’s poised to navigate uncertain future. Page 11 THE ROAD AHEAD

Members of the S.C. Legislature and the S.C. Chamber of Commerce say tax reform and workforce development are top priorities for 2022. (Photo/Melinda Waldrop)

Businesses, leaders set sights on post-pandemic priorities

By Melinda Waldrop

mwaldrop@scbiznews.com of a nationwide aluminum shortage, nitrile gloves and at-home COVID-19 tests coveted by retail customers and wholesale clients such as pharmacies.

“We ship out all over the country, but we’ve gotten a heavy response from the state of South Carolina and local folks in the Columbia and Midlands area that are just doing pickups,” Brown said. “Literally, about every 10 minutes, we have somebody come and do a pickup. … ere’s somebody coming in now.”

Brown’s small business-success is what S.C. legislators and business leaders want to see more of as the state and the nation navigate a post-pandemic future. e S.C. Chamber of Commerce released its 2022 Competitiveness Agenda earlier this month, calling for lawmakers to reduce both personal and property tax burdens and to inject investment into workforce development initiatives, among other priorities.

“Our No. 1 priority is tax reform and tax cuts,” Bob Morgan, president and CEO of the chamber, said before the organization’s Business Speaks dinner Jan. 12 at the Pastides Alumni Center in Columbia. “ e state is ush with a $3 billion surplus, and we’d like to see cuts in the personal income tax rate. We’d like to see commercial property tax rates addressed, and we’re hopeful that that will

VOLUME 28 NUMBER 2 ■ CHARLESTONBUSINESS.COM

Part of the network

TAMMY CONNOR

Owner, Tammy Connor Interior Design PAGE 4

FEBRUARY 7-20, 2022 ■ $2.25

Refined taste

Reimagined commercial space opens on the peninsula. Page 13

Special delivery

S.C. Ports Authority receives its first chassis for pool to help alleviate gridlock. Page 9

Capital investment

MUSC approves fundraising for a new academic building. Page 14

Economic boost

Gov. Henry McMaster allocates $17 million for training state’s workforce. Page 11 INSIDE

Retailer adds e-commerce distribution center

By Jenny Peterson

Contributing Writer

Hampden Clothing, a Charleston clothing boutique at 314 King St., has leased a 7,200-square-foot distribution center on north Meeting Street to keep up with demand from shoppers both in person and online.

“In-store sales have increased at a pace of 107% over the past year while our e-commerce sales have increased 48% compared to last year. Online sales have grown to be 30% of our current business,” said Stacy Smallwood, founder and owner of Hampden Clothing. “During the pandemic, many of our clients began to utilize our website for the first time and have not looked back.”

Opening a 1,500-square-foot boutique in 2007, Hampden Clothing now occupies more than 10,000 square feet of retail space in adjoining buildings on King Street that includes its designer shoe store, James, along with 5,000 square feet of office space above its storefront where an in-house e-commerce team works.

Sarah Shelley, with NAI Charleston, represented Hampden Clothing in the lease of 747 Meeting St.

Day-to-day life at the distribution center reveals the inner workings of how to keep a thriving boutique and e-commerce site going.

It’s a long and tedious process that includes receiving and processing up to 40 boxes of new clothing every day, carefully photographing

See E-COMMERCE, Page 10

SEA ISLAND SALE

The sale of 55-acre Hoopstick Island to developers serves as another push against lagging inventory and development opportunities across the region. Page 8 Boeing hopes 787 inventory takes off soon

By Teri Errico Griffis

tgriffis@scbiznews.com

Last year was a rebuilding year for Boeing — there’s just not a whole lot of building new 787 jets here in South Carolina.

Deliveries of the jet have been halted since May when the Federal Aviation Authority requested to look into further production quality issues regarding tiny gaps found between the sections of the fuselage. About the width of a human hair, the gaps were not a safety of flight issue for the in-service fleet, but the company has been working since to address the problem.

Last year, Boeing only delivered a total of 14 jets manufactured in North Charleston, a far cry from the 53 recorded in 2020. Zero were delivered in the final quarter of last year.

After months of delivery delays caused by Federal Aviation Authority and zero deliveries in the fourth quarter, Boeing now has 110 airplanes in inventory as of

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