Central Mount Pleasant

If you ask local Mount Pleasant residents where downtown is, you would most likely get a number of different answers – the Old Village, Mount Pleasant Towne Centre, Coleman Boulevard, even downtown Charleston.

Now there is another contender for “the heart of the village” and that is Central Mount Pleasant.

In a special meeting this past Thursday, the Town Council approved plans for the 110-acre development between Rifle Range Road and Hungryneck Boulevard.

The property is owned by McAlister Development Company - a Mount Pleasant based company led by Anthony McAlister. Mills Buxton is the project manager for McAlister Development. Anthony and Mills are Mount Pleasant residents.

Keane and Co. leads the design team. Keane and Co. is an urban design and planning company located in “downtown” Charleston and led by Tim Keane. Jacob Lindsey is the Director of Design. Jacki Martin will be the Charrette Manager. I had the pleasure of meeting Tim Keane at a recent Town Council meeting, and he described the development as an “archetypical Main Street.” Hats off to entire team for an extremely thorough planning process. They obviously did their homework and learned from other recent projects that were shot down.

The development calls for 719 residential units, 405 of which will be concentrated in a 35-acre mixed-use tract with 350,000 square feet of office, retail space and a signature hotel. The plan also includes the location of the much-needed new Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary School, which will become the first LEED (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) school in Mount Pleasant.

As a Mount Pleasant resident I look forward to having a place with a real Main Street and public places to gather, workplaces for knowledge based companies, shops, restaurants and a state of the art school that is healthy for students, comfortable for teachers, and cost-effective.

Please check back for future updates