Daniel Island wins award for 'mixture of uses and incomes'

Daniel Island has garnered national recognition in the past, but its developers weren't banking on the award they won last week.

The Urban Land Institute, a prominent real estate think tank based in Washington, gave the island an award of excellence for its public areas and natural feel. It was one of 11 winners, which the ULI said exemplify successful urban land planning.

"It's a new community that feels like it's been here much longer," said Matt Sloan, president of The Daniel Island Co., which is the primary developer of Daniel Island.

As Sloan's company and city officials planned out the area in the early 1990s, they decided to use what was then an emerging concept called "mixed-use," blending residences with shops, offices, schools and recreational amenities.

"It's exciting to see that being recognized so quickly," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who won a national leadership award from the institute in 2000.

Judges at the ULI said the mixed-use design has made the 4,000-acre development between Mount Pleasant and North Charleston a natural extension of the city of Charleston, which annexed the former hunting preserve in 1991.

"This was an opportunity to do something special there, and not do what could have seemed to have been an obvious land planning solution: make it a gated resort," Riley said.

Now at roughly the halfway point in its development cycle, Daniel Island has about 6,000 residents, 2,500 homes, public and private schools, a downtown, corporate offices, two golf courses and the Family Circle Tennis Center. Plans are in the works for a 500-slip marina on the Wando River.

In a statement, the ULI commended the developers of the island for attracting "a diverse mixture of uses and incomes, giving the city an alternative residential submarket."

Riley said the ULI was referring to the three affordable housing projects that have been planned for the island. A 72-unit apartment complex called Seven Farms Apartments opened in December. Two other projects also are targeted at individuals and families in lower income brackets.

Market-rate homes, though, are far from affordable. The median prices so far this year for single-family homes and condominiums on Daniel Island are $642,000 and $274,400, respectively, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.

"We had no idea that land values would appreciate as much as they have," Riley said.

The institute's judges narrowed 170 applications down to the 11 winners.

The projects were selected based on a number of criteria, including the financial viability and sensitivity to the surrounding areas.

Other winners included an environmentally friendly office building in Atlanta and a corporate headquarters in Philadelphia built in a former Navy installation.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.