Major development coming to peninsula donating land for affordable housing

The leaders behind a major development coming to the Charleston peninsula are hoping to add more affordable housing to the area ahead of schedule.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The leaders behind a major development coming to the Charleston peninsula are hoping to add more affordable housing to the area ahead of schedule.

Developers of the Magnolia Project said it will be a mixed-use development that blends seamlessly with the surrounding Charleston Community.

The Magnolia Project is an 81-acre project off Milford Street, along the Ashley River, in the “neck” of the peninsula. While the development itself is years out from being completed, developers have recently donated land to the City of Charleston to be used exclusively for affordable housing.

Clark Davis, the CEO and President of the development company that owns the Magnolia Project, said the development will include parks, multifamily housing, hotels, restaurants, offices and retail space.

He tells me there will be about 4,000 total housing units. Six hundred of those units will be considered affordable housing.

According to Clark, they’ve donated one acre to the city for more affordable housing. He said the site already has the infrastructure and is ready to build on, which will allow the city to get housing to get up and running fast while the Magnolia Project developers work on building their infrastructure.

Clark said the city will use the donated land to build an additional 600 affordable units next to the Magnolia project.

“Because this is a long-term project and it’s going to take a long time to develop, we wanted to try to help as much as we can in this area so we recently donated some land right next to magnolia that allows the city to proceed forward with some affordable housing project at this point, even prior to us starting construction,” Clark said.

City of Charleston Director of Housing and Community Development Geona Shaw Johnson provided a statement on the donation:

“The city of Charleston is grateful to have a donation of land from HR Charleston, LLC Developers. The Heriot Street property provides the city an opportunity to continue developing workforce and affordable housing. The city’s Civic Design Center has conducted a study of the land, and, over the next several months, the city will engage a team of professionals to plan the project. The groundbreaking will likely occur in 2024.”

Clark said they plan to start working on the infrastructure late next year and then start building vertically in the first quarter of 2024.

For more project details, click here.