Workin' on the railroad

  • Posted: Monday, July 12, 2010 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Friday, March 23, 2012 2:43 p.m.
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In front of a big crowd at the Felix C. Davis Community Center at Park Circle, North Charleston officials unveil a proposal to reconfigure rail lines to serve a new terminal being built at the former Navy base. Rail service was not included in the origin
Wade Spees /In front of a big crowd at the Felix C. Davis Community Center at Park Circle, North Charleston officials unveil a proposal to reconfigure rail lines to serve a new terminal being built at the former Navy base. Rail service was not included in the origin

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey spelled out details of a partnership with CSX Transportation and developer Shipyard Creek Associates for rail lines that would provide access the port terminal being built on the old Navy base, at the city's south end.

The plan follows three key steps: closing about 3.2 miles of current CSX track that bisects several neighborhoods, while creating half a mile of new track elsewhere and rebuilding another half a mile of track that had been left mostly dormant.

The proposal would create a new service loop into the port terminal area that would eliminate the need for rail coming into the port from the north end of the former base, which has been targeted for residential development.

City officials say the rerouting can be done in about a five-year period but that the cost also is a moving target, potentially as much as $100 million.

Changing drivers

Local automobile mogul Gene Reed has lined up another industry mogul to be the purchaser of his two Charleston-area dealerships.

Rick Hendricks's Charlotte-based Hendrick Automotive Group will buy Gene Reed Toyota & Scion in North Charleston and Lexus of Charleston in West Ashley for more than $80 million, Reed said. In an interview with The Post and Courier, Hendrick confirmed the deal.

Reed said last month that he would sell the dealerships to Houston-based Group 1 Automotive, but that sale hit a snag when Toyota, which owns both car brands, filed a lawsuit to block the proposed transaction.

Separately, another Charleston-area Toyota dealership is changing drivers.

West Ashley Toyota owner Wayne Gregory recently sold his Savannah Highway store to Anderson Automotive Group of Raleigh for an undisclosed sum, an executive for the buyer said.

Michael Anderson, vice president of Anderson Automotive, said his company expects to take over operations at the dealership in August and plans to pump some money into the 2.58-acre site with a new facility within 18 months.