kitchen countertopsNear Ravenel, SC

RAVENEL — This small town of 2,700 people southwest of Charleston could double in population within 10 years to the current size of neighboring Hollywood as more than 1,100 new homes are built in two previously annexed large tracts and another one vote away from being added.

At the same time, officials are considering annexing another parcel for more new residences, its fourth tract in two years.

Ravenel’s planning board will consider a request March 23 to annex 20 acres on New Road adjacent to a 24-acre parcel already in the town for a new housing development called The Stables on the combined 44-acre tract.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton plans to build 52 single-family houses on 19 acres, according to site plans. The company also wants to set aside just over 1 acre for commercial space, about 8 acres for a water feature and 16 acres for green space. Part of the property is undevelopable wetlands.

The development, south of U.S. Highway 17 at 5823 and 5827 New Road, would have public water but be served by septic systems.

The pending annexation comes as the town considers a proposal to annex 755 acres on Davison and County Line roads for a new housing project called The Preserve. Augusta-based developer Southeastern wants to build 350 homes and set aside 25 acres for commercial space across from the firm’s Poplar Grove development.

During a recent public hearing for The Preserve tract, residents expressed concerns over the planned number of homes, increased traffic, the amount of acreage set aside for commercial use and whether 336 acres designated for agricultural use would see a limited number of houses in the future or have a permanent restriction on development.

Southeastern CEO Vic Mills said he has no current plans to develop the agriculturally zoned land on the backside of the proposed Preserve. Town Council is expected to address residents’ concerns at a future meeting.

The move to annex both parcels on opposite sides of the town comes after the municipality grew by 3,600 acres two years ago.

The municipality, which stretches along Savannah Highway from near Rantowles Creek to New Road, annexed the nearly 3,000-acre Tea Farm tract off Old Jacksonboro Road in 2021.

About 400 homes are planned for 397 acres closest to Old Jacksonboro Road within the Tea Farm parcel, which abuts the 755-acre Preserve tract.

That same year, the town annexed another 600-acre tract near Old Jacksonboro and New roads where 381 homes are planned in the Golden Grove development.

Mayor Steve Tumbleston said the wave of annexations during the past two years comes after the town placed a moratorium on new subdivisions with more than five lots about five years ago while town leaders updated the comprehensive plan to guide future growth.

“We had some pent-up demand,” Tumbleston said. “West Ashley is filling up, and there is nowhere else for people to go on this side of Charleston.”

The Stables parcel will be the last in the current flurry of annexations, according to the mayor.

“We don’t have any pending that I know of,” he said.

RAVENEL, S.C. (WCSC) - A 350-unit housing development in the Town of Ravenel is one step closer to being built.

For some background, the proposed 350-unit development sits on 755 acres of land on Davidson Road, right across the street from Poplar Grove Equestrian Center.

According to the developer’s plans, 131 acres will be preserved as wetlands, 145 acres will be dedicated to green space and park and 25 acres will be for commercial use.

On Tuesday night, the town’s council unanimously approved the development during its first reading with contingencies, including adding a 100-foot buffer for residential areas and restricting gasoline sales, big box stores and boat stacking in the development’s commercial portion.

Some residents who attended Tuesday’s meeting said they are concerned about the impacts the development will have on the town’s infrastructure.

Angela Brown said she has lived in Ravenel her entire life. Brown said she’s not entirely against development in the town, but thinks 350 units will disturb the community.

“I’ve always known it as a rural area-- country. Walking bare feet on a dirt road, watching the birds in the trees, we used to play in the woods,” Brown said. “You’re coming through our village, this is our village, and you’re wanting to force something down our throats”

David Baird lives on Davidson Street-- the same street where the 350-unit development is proposed. He said people live and move to Ravenel for a reason, because it is rural.

“We’re not ready for that. It’s a rural area. It’s meant to be that way,” Baird said. “The road is small, there’s not really a way to expand the road without covering up current sewer lines.”

Mayor Stephen Tumbleston said the development will benefit the community financially and believes it will be noninvasive to the surrounding community.

“The entire Tri-County area is changing, and I don’t particularly like it. I grew up right down the road. I’ve seen the changes; we’re trying to manage that with the developments that we have approved,” Tumbleston said. “All the traffic that you see on Savannah Highway and all of our secondary roads, aren’t from anything that we’ve done in the last couple of years. It’s just the natural progression of the traffic that’s flowing through our town.”

The Costal Conservation League provided one of the comment letters that they sent to Mayor Tumbleston regarding the proposed development.

Although Tuesday’s approval was unanimous, it was just the first reading. The second reading will be held at next week’s town council meeting.

We’ve reached out to the developer for comment and have not heard back at this time.

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RAVENEL, S.C. (WCBD) – Ravenel leaders discussed Tuesday night plans for a proposed development that has some community members upset.

The proposed development is the Preserve at Ravenel, and community members voiced their opinions on the development before town council voted on the first reading.

Ravenel neighbors gathered in front of Ravenel Town Hall prior to Tuesday’s council meeting to discuss the proposed Preserve at Ravenel development.

“It’s been a very confusing process to all of us as concerned citizens,” Ravenel resident Melissa Barfield said. “So, now we’re just trying to figure out exactly what is going to happen.”

Some residents worry that the 755-acre development that would be located on Davison Road, and include 350 dwelling units and 25 acres of commercial space, would overwhelm the town’s roads.

“It’s traffic,” Barfield said. “Its traffic is what it is, and that’s our concern. We travel this road every day, not just me, but everybody who lives off or on Davison Road travel it every day and we see the traffic we sit in every morning. And it’s just going to create more.”

For neighbors like Angela Brown who grew up in Ravenel, she fears this development could be the start of transforming her home into a place seemingly unrecognizable.

“We have a history there,” Brown said. “I want to know, ‘What’s in it for us?’ You’re coming through our village. This is our village, and you’re just wanting to force something down our throats. I’m very disappointed that this is happening.”

During the meeting, council voted on the project’s first reading, and it passed unanimously.

After residents received a letter from Ravenel Mayor Stephen Tumbleston early Tuesday stating they would not be allowed to comment on the development at the meeting, they were permitted to do so.

“I just think there’s so many little things that can be changed to make this more palatable to the community,” one Ravenel resident said. “And we would probably say, ‘Yes, okay,’ if some of those changes were implemented. Otherwise, I think it’s a terrible idea.”

Mayor Tumbleston says the town has seen steady growth through the years, and he’s confident if this development is approved, it will be a major benefit to the community.

“Dorchester County using 165 now as a beltway around has had a huge impact on the traffic in our town,” Tumbleston said. “So, why can’t we grow a little bit, too? To reap some of the benefits, where we’re not just a speed bump for everybody else traveling through.”

The second reading will be voted on at next Tuesday’s (3/28) town council meeting.

RAVENEL — For the third time in less than two years, this small suburban Charleston County town is poised to annex another sizable tract and expand its residential and commercial base.

Ravenel’s Planning Commission will hold the first of two public hearings Feb. 23 to consider adding 755 acres along County Line Road for the creation of The Preserve at Ravenel where Augusta-based Southeastern plans to build up to 350 residences across the street from its Poplar Grove development.

An affiliate of the Georgia builder bought the land in 2004 from MeadWestvaco Forestry LLC for $2.04 million, according to Charleston County property records.

Construction on houses and townhomes in The Preserve is planned to occur over five to 10 years on nearly 300 acres, according to Vic Mills, Southeastern’s CEO. Roughly half of that acreage is slated for parks, trails and open space around the planned residences.

Another 25 acres near a bend of Davison and County Line roads is set aside as a business node. About 130 acres, or 17 percent of the larger tract, is undevelopable wetlands.

Nearly half of the land set to be annexed, about 336 acres along the backside of The Preserve tract, is designated as agricultural land and not slated for development, according to Mills.

Ravenel Mayor Steve Tumbleston said he’s in favor of “some version” of the planned development, but he wants more input from the Planning Commission and the public.

“I think there is going to be some negotiations,” he said.

He noted the biggest concern he hears from residents is that the annexation will lead to an explosion of growth within the town’s limits.

“That just can’t happen,” Tumbleston said. “We don’t have the sewer capacity.”

The town has a new sewer system with a limit of about 2,000 taps for residential and commercial development. More than half of the taps have been set aside for already-approved ventures. The rest is committed to commercial projects, future affordable housing and infill development along U.S. Highway 17.

“The good thing is we don’t have to make real hard decisions in the future because the sewer capacity isn’t there,” Tumbleston said. “We can’t do another big development.”

The Preserve, which is not near the town’s main sewer line along U.S. Highway 17, is slated to tie into a Dorchester County sewer line that is treated by Charleston Water System, which handles all of Ravenel’s water and sewer service.

The new community will target active retirees as the principal homeowners and will add more amenities such as pickleball courts as the development builds out, Mills said.

If the town approves the annexation and development plan, Mills expects land clearing to begin by late this year or early next year, with the first houses completed in about two years.

The Preserve tract abuts Ravenel’s incorporated limits after the town annexed the nearly 3,000-acre Tea Farm tract off Old Jacksonboro Road in 2021. About 400 homes are planned for 397 acres closest to Old Jacksonboro Road within the Tea Farm parcel.

The town, which stretches along Savannah Highway and has a population of about 2,700, annexed another 600-acre tract, also in 2021, near Old Jacksonboro and New roads where 381 homes are planned in the Golden Grove development.

A second public hearing on the proposed annexation and development plan is set for Feb. 28 during the Ravenel Town Council meeting.

The Charleston-area industrial real estate market proved resilient in the first quarter despite rising interest rates and a cooling economy, with tenants absorbing 2.2 million square feet, according to a new report.

All told, according to Colliers, 3.7 million square feet of new space came online in the first three months of the year. Vacancy rates ticked up as well, but they remained near historic lows at 3.74 percent despite all the new construction.

“Since the beginning of 2021, the market has absorbed an average of 1.6 million square feet per quarter,” the commercial real estate firm said in its analysis. “This was largely driven by warehousing to support the advanced manufacturing sector, particularly internal combustion and electric vehicle manufacturing, and expansion of third-party logistics activity.”

Over the coming months, those business sectors will continue to drive demand for additional real estate, according to the report. About 11.8 million square feet of industrial space is under construction in the three-county region.

The Port of Charleston is still the main driver, even though cargo levels have fallen in recent months as post-pandemic consumers spend more money on services and experiences than on imported goods. Inflation has also tamed what had been a frenetic spending spree last year on items like furniture and electronics.

A plan by ZEB Metals to build an aluminum recycling plant on 32 acres along U.S. Highway 52 in the Goose Creek area was the largest industrial announcement dollar-wise during the quarter, Colliers said. The $80 million project is expected to create 28 jobs.

Second to that project was a $49.9 million cold-storage warehouse that Charleston-based FlexCold plans to build along Patriot Boulevard in Dorchester County. The 151,600-square-foot building on roughly 51 acres is expected to create 59 jobs.

A separate report by Avison Young shows average annual base rents for Charleston-area industrial properties hit $8.89 per square foot in the first quarter and are expected to continue rising on the back of strong demand.

“As larger tenants relocate to the Charleston market, demand has increased for industrial space,” the firm’s local office said. “The projected average building size for deliveries in 2023 is 346,000 square feet. Based on construction activity, this number is expected to rise to 540,000 square feet in 2024.”

The Palmetto Commerce Park area in North Charleston and the Summerville region along Interstate 26 continue to be the hottest spots for industrial construction, with a combined 42.7 million square feet of space — nearly two-thirds of the market’s total.

Up a notch

An economic development trade publication reports South Carolina is the nation’s seventh-best state for attracting industrial investment.

The ranking is included in Site Selection’s annual Prosperity Cup list, which measures the effectiveness of each state’s economic development efforts.

The Palmetto State moved up one spot in the magazine’s 2023 rankings. Neighboring states Georgia and North Carolina placed first and second, respectively.

A focus on electric vehicles and the batteries that power them helped the S.C. Department of Commerce recruit 120 businesses and expansions representing investments topping $10.27 billion in 2022 — a record year for economic development in South Carolina and an 80 percent increase over the previous mark set in 2021.

The new deals promise to create 14,083 jobs over time, with most of the activity centered around plants in the Charleston region and the Upstate.

Bottled up

South Atlantic Canners is spending $28.7 million on a multiyear expansion at its Lee County site that will create 15 jobs over the next five years.

The company is managed by Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States with production of more than 300 beverage brands and distribution to 14 states and Washington, D.C.

South Atlantic Canners plans to renovate its existing Bishopville facility and add new, state-of-the-art equipment. The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

RAVENEL, S.C. (WCIV) — A new development could be breaking ground in the Town of Ravenel.

On Thursday, a public meeting was held for developers to share their plans with the community. But for some, Ravenel is home.

Read more: West Ashley Publix to be relocated, 280-unit apartment complex to take its spot: Proposal

“I grew up here as a child and live right down this dirt road, my father still lives there and I’m with him, and he’s soon to be 80 years old and I remember this area being quaint, being cool, being pristine, I used to play in the woods," said Angela Brown who has grown up in Ravenel her entire life.

For Brown and many others, there may be change coming soon to the area.

"We've had a request of annexation and a planned development of roughly 350 new homes or residential units," Ravenel Mayor Stephen Tumbleston said. "Single family homes with a few town houses as well and it's got a commercial element to it as well."

But for residents like Angela Brown, this means more room for trouble.

A new development could be breaking ground in the Town of Ravenel. (WCIV)

"I'm thinking about the traffic, the increase in traffic," Brown said. "Right now, I can barely get out to check the mail, go across the street and check the mail. It's a two lane road. If you tear up everything, if you uproot everything that God put here, eventually we’ll have no trees, beautiful birds flying, animals, deer. We'll have none of that."

Officials hope residents know their concerns are being heard as they continue to move forward in the process.

"We're going to take the recommendation from council and consider those next Tuesday night, our first reading," Tumbleston said. "We'll have a public hearing before that meeting as well, so we can hear any additionally comments or concerns. We'll continue to try to do what’s best for our area while considering the future impacts of everything around us."

Read more: Large development on Calhoun Street has 4th meeting with BAR for approval

Whether these plans get approved or denied, people like Brown will continue fighting for the town that they love.

"This is not the place, I'm not saying this isn't the time, but this is not the place," Brown said. "As long as I have the breath in my body, I'm going to fight for the community that I love."

The next public hearing will be on Tuesday, Feb. 28.