Carolina Park project shows signs of life: Development, caught up in litigation, soon may get 'fresh start'

  • David Slade
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  • Posted: Monday, July 18, 2011 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Friday, March 23, 2012 10:45 p.m.
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Danny and Wendy Mulqueen didn't expect quite so much peace and quiet when they bought the first home in the Carolina Park development in Mount Pleasant, in 2009. Today they live in one of just four homes on the 1,600-acre site, but that could soon change. Development is expected to resume later this year, and there could eventually be more than 2,000 homes and apartments at Carolina Park.
Grace Beahm /Danny and Wendy Mulqueen didn't expect quite so much peace and quiet when they bought the first home in the Carolina Park development in Mount Pleasant, in 2009. Today they live in one of just four homes on the 1,600-acre site, but that could soon change. Development is expected to resume later this year, and there could eventually be more than 2,000 homes and apartments at Carolina Park.

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Wendy and Danny Mulqueen were the first residents to move in to the Carolina Park subdivision, a huge master-planned development where more than 2,000 homes are proposed.

That was in early 2009, before Carolina Park became a casualty of the housing meltdown and the development went into foreclosure. Today, the Mulqueen's home is one of just four, all on the only occupied residential street in the 1,600-acre property.

"I didn't go out there with the understanding that I'd be one of four. None of us did," Wendy Mulqueen said. "Hopefully, it will get going again."

Danny Mulqueen said they picked Carolina Park because they wanted to live where Mount Pleasant was growing, with new schools, shopping and amenities. Much of that is nearby already, and he said they don't regret their decision, but they'll be glad to see the development's clubhouse and pool constructed.

A year after a contentious foreclosure and sale of the property to new investors and some of the former partners in the development -- the circumstance are the subject of ongoing litigation -- Carolina Park's owners are laying the groundwork to resume work by year's end.

Due to the size of the development and a phone-book-thick agreement with the town, the fate of Carolina Park is linked to plans for new public amenities.

In a way, for Mount Pleasant residents, it's been a great development so far -- new revenue for the town and new public amenities yet little actual development to create traffic and demands for public services.

The development has so far yielded $3 million in impact fees for the town, land for new town-owned baseball and soccer fields that could open this fall and land set aside for an expansion of Wando High School, a new elementary school, a town fire station and a county library. The town is scheduled to receive an additional $3 million in impact fees over the next six years, plus up to $750,000 to reimburse half the cost of building the fire station, with another $2.25 going to the county for construction of the library.

A small portion of the site along U.S. Highway 17 was sold to what is now Mount Pleasant Hospital. The Children's Center at Carolina Park is nearby, and Palmetto Presbyterian Church was built within the development site, but most interior roads lead to little but vacant lots, forest and wetlands.

Fresh start

Now, Mount Pleasant officials have been asked to approve a revised development agreement for Carolina Park, replacing one signed in 2004 that's based on county zoning rules, and laying out the path for 15 to 20 years of future development.

"They would like to get a new start, and a fresh start here," said Christiane Farrell, the town's director of planning and development.

One public hearing already has been held (no members of the public offered comments), and council could consider the agreement next month.

The next hearing is scheduled Aug. 9.

"What's proposed out there is not all that different than before," Farrell said.

The proposal calls for extending the development agreement timeline, revising some building height limits in commercial and multifamily areas, applying the town's zoning rules, and allowing the developers to add 280 apartments to the plan.

A total of 2,030 dwellings are proposed, up from 1,750 in the current plan. Both call for up to 4.2 million square feet of industrial and commercial space.

The town and the developer, CDM of Charleston LLC, also are discussing the timing of widening Faison Road (formerly Airport Road) to four lanes, the extension of Park Avenue Boulevard to provide another route to the public school complex and the addition of sidewalks on Park Avenue Boulevard.

The developers declined to comment on their plans.

Year of litigation

The CDM of Charleston group, with Grove Properties Fund LLC, bought the property at a court-ordered foreclosure auction one year ago last week for $50.1 million, over the objections of Virginia-based Republic-Charleston LLC and Carolina Park Associates, which shared an equal interest in the property with MDC, LLC.

CDM is the namesake of John Chalsty, Douglas Dittrick and Ben Marino. Litigation related to the foreclosure sale is ongoing, but last month, CDM won a court ruling canceling a claim on the property by Republic and Carolina Park Associates.

Had the former partners succeeded, that could have posed a roadblock to moving forward with development.

"Plaintiffs have no legal or equitable interest in the property because defendant CDM acquired the property through an uncontested and unappealed foreclosure action," Judge Roger M. Young wrote in the order.

The order leaves open the issue of Republic and Carolina Park Associates' claims for a share of profits from future sales that exceed the foreclosure bid.

Long road

The Carolina Park development saga has been unfolding for at least 13 years.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552.