Continental Tire plans distribution center on former Naval Base in North Charleston

In the first industrial development planned on the former Naval Base following the settlement of a intergovernmental dispute over rail access, Continental Tire will create a storage complex on the north end of the base.

The S.C. Department of Commerce Division of Public Railways owns the land, which the city has agreed to rezone for heavy industrial use. Continental manufactures tires in Sumter County and is expected to store raw materials and finished products at the base site, city officials have been told.

The 28-acre tract between Saint Johns Avenue and Noisette Boulevard has used for warehousing in the past and is served by rail sidings, but it is also bordered by residential development and historic sections of the former base.

The recent settlement of a long-running dispute between the state and the city, over the location and details of a planned rail yard that will serve a new container terminal planned on the base, gave the city much of the land at the north end of the base, but not the tract Continental Tire would use.

The West Yard Lofts apartments sits on the southern edge of that property, historic Navy officers’ housing is to the east, and historic naval hospital facilities are to the west.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or Twitter @DSladeNews.