Upcoming Planning Commission Meeting on Courier Square Phase III
The city’s Planning Commission will meet on Wednesday, October 18th at 5:00 pm to consider redevelopment plans for Courier Square Phase III. This huge project is the third and final stage of the redevelopment of the Evening Post properties in midtown Charleston and is located on the site of the Post & Courier’s former office and printing facilities on upper King Street, bounded by Line and Columbus Streets. The development team is proposing a mixed-use project on the roughly 3.7-acre site with a creative urban design strategy to accommodate generous public realm improvements, placemaking amenities, open space, and connectivity to the future Lowcountry Lowline. Proposed uses include: retail/restaurant, residential, continuing care for seniors, office, and accommodations with commitments to affordable and workforce housing and the peninsula’s first “attainable” retail spaces. However, this project also proposes buildings up to 12 stories in order to reallocate density to accommodate significant open space through the block. The site is currently zoned for 8 stories, with the possibility of 9 with architectural merit.
The former headquarters of the Post & Courier on the corner of King and Columbus Streets - the future site of Courier Square.
Plans for the site of The Post and Courier's former building show a mix of uses and open space that connect the planned Lowcountry Lowline linear park (bottom), with King Street (top). Building renderings have not been developed. Site rendering/Sottile & Sottile
HCF is grateful to the development team for ample opportunity to meet and review this project over the course of its development. It is very evident that significant time, thought, and effort have been applied to this project, and we applaud the team for the public engagement and creative approach to redevelopment of this significant site in Charleston’s rising midtown, as well as for their commitment to affordable and workforce housing and attainable retail space. Over the past several months, HCF has been working with the applicant on their PUD submission to find concrete ways to ensure that this major rezoning process will result in what has been described and promised.
Together we have been working on:
- Enhanced and expanded design principles;
- Clarification on the programming for the open space to ensure that it truly feels public and provides unfettered access to the Lowcountry Lowline;
- Clarification on the purview and powers of the BAR in reviewing this project; and
- Narrowing eligibility for rezoning into the proposed 8-12 height district.
However, we remain concerned about the height proposed for the project, the deviation from the recently created Old City Height District that allows for up to nine stories already, and the precedent this project sets for future proposals. At up to twelve stories, portions of Courier Square III would be among the tallest buildings on the peninsula, and we continue to work with the applicant to understand their proposal in the context of the surrounding blocks and if the project’s significant contributions to the public realm and open space justify the intensification of height and density in this part of the peninsula.
-Cashion Drolet, Chief Advocacy Officer, October 9, 2023Stay connected with Historic Charleston Foundation on Instagram, Facebook and by subscribing to our Email Correspondence for the most up-to-date information about current advocacy issues.