Winslow's Word: October 2024

The last few weeks have served as a powerful reminder of the threat of hurricanes and the level of devastation they can inflict well beyond their landfall. Our hearts go out to the communities in the upstate, and especially in Western North Carolina, that are digging themselves out of terrifying flooding and storm damage, and we’re still assessing the impacts of Milton on central Florida. Thus far, the Lowcountry has been spared, thankfully, but we have many more weeks of hurricane season to endure.

A large apartment project that we’ve been fighting against and has been in the design review pipeline for several years—295 Calhoun—recently received conceptual approval at the BAR, much to our chagrin. While this recent design was a huge improvement over previous iterations, it serves as yet another example of a massive, block-sized building that does not fit into the urban fabric of downtown Charleston.

‍There are many factors at play: the cost of the land, our urgent need for housing, city parking requirements, and, most importantly, the underlying zoning that ultimately drives the form of these monstrosities. The project site, on the north side of Alberta Long Lake near the James Island Connector, was initially zoned for 70 feet, which would accommodate a 6-story building. After purchasing the land, the developer got approval from City Council to rezone the site to seven stories, with the unfortunate ability to get an additional floor for “architectural merit,” which they, of course, proposed in order to then get an 8-story building on the edge of the Harleston Village neighborhood! We have always struggled with the “architectural merit” bonus story concept because we strongly believe that the whole purpose of the BAR is to ensure that high quality, contextual architecture is built in the historic district. Shouldn’t all new buildings downtown be architecturally meritorious?
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Ever since the Sergeant Jasper litigation, the BAR has had its authority to reduce building sizes severely constrained. If zoning allows seven stories, all they can do is reduce the building height by half a story to address concerns over height, scale, and mass. With these limitations imposed on the BAR, the base zoning governing all property in the historic district is so incredibly important. This is why we are so focused on the update to the Peninsula Plan and the subsequent citywide rezoning effort. We must make sure the zoning is calibrated just right so that we can clearly delineate where taller buildings and increased density should be allowed on the peninsula. We very much look forward to engaging with City Hall and the Planning Department on these critical issues.

As we consider the future of the complex ecosystem that is the Charleston peninsula, we are excited to share a new Development Map feature on our brand-new website! While still a work in progress, this map allows you to learn more about all the new, larger-scale projects that are in the review process, under construction, or already built on the peninsula. Please take a look and let us know what additional features would be helpful for you to stay abreast of major projects downtown.