Mini-city Magnolia plan gets approval

Neck Area project to cover 216 acres

Charleston's Planning Commission on Wednesday approved the concept plan for Magnolia, a 216-acre development that aims to transform a polluted section of the Neck Area into a mini-city with up to 4,400 homes.

Building the new community could take many years, and some environmental cleanup work remains to be done, but the plan has received broad support from city officials and community groups.

"We see this growth as something critical," Joseph Watson of the Greater Charleston Empowerment Corporation told city planners.

The nonprofit organization administers the Renewal Community Program, a federal tax incentive to encourage job creation, and helped the city develop the 2003 Charleston Neck Plan, which encouraged large-scale redevelopment.

Magnolia is redevelopment on a large scale.

The developers propose to build new roads, parks, bike trails, thousands of homes and as much as 2.55 million square feet of office, retail and hotel space.

The new community will be modeled after downtown Charleston, with densely built city blocks meant to encourage walking rather than driving, according to the concept plan.

Energy-saving "green buildings" are planned, and the entire development is meant to be an environmental plus for the city.

The Magnolia land sits between Interstate 26 and the Ashley River, between the Rosemont community and Wagener Terrace and was for many decades home to fertilizer factories and a wood treatment plant.

Most of the properties to be developed, if not all, are now under state or federal environmental cleanup plans.

Despite the size of the development, the largest in the city after Daniel Island, it was approved quickly and with few questions at the Planning Commission meeting.

The Magnolia plan had been closely reviewed for the last eight months by city staff and has been presented at a num- ber of community meetings as well.

All five commissioners present at the meeting voted to approve the concept plan: Sunday Lempesis, Francis McCann, Susan Legare, Valerie Perry and Keith Waring.

Magnolia Development hopes to start work on roads later this year and begin building construction next year.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postand courier.com.