Charleston: America's most rapidly gentrifying city

[Metro Jacksonville]

Charleston: America's most rapidly gentrifying city



Ever wonder what a rapid gentrification process resembles? Look no further than Charleston, South Carolina.

Read More: https://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2017-dec-charleston-americas-most-rapidly-gentrifying-city

[vicupstate]

Latest on West Edge:

https://www.postandcourier.com/business/first-of-three-buildings-in-initial-million-westedge-project-to/article_6647a2da-bf13-11e7-a153-0f11ff01f5c0.html

[jaxnyc79]

"Sanmarcomatt" - Thank you for that insight.  I had not considered the impact of the new economy on the "livability" of these recently refreshed in-town communities.  People want to live among community and some sort of stability, and not just among a collection of REIT holdings and transients.  Tourism and the experiential economy are at the heart of future value-add, but it's important to accomplish outsiders' appreciation of our history and heritage, without turning it into too much of a theme park or museum piece, with no solid connection to who we are today.

I, too, thoroughly enjoy my visits to Charleston, and feel it is an example of urban revitalization without high-rises.  Density without "verticality."  Jax would be well-served borrowing some of that while charting its own path to downtown/urban core revitalization.   

[thelakelander]

Charleston is unique in that it never lost its built density. The place was in the dumps while the growing sunbelt cities were attempting to out urban renew each other with autocentric development. With that said, it appears that there are zones where you can get some DC style midrise infill. Particularly along the old rail corridor between King and Meeting Streets. Another area that's booming with new larger than expected infill is the Medical District on the west side of the Peninsula. There had to be at least 10 to 15 cranes throughout these areas that I came across this past weekend.

[ProjectMaximus]

I know a medium-large developer who is currently active in about 25 markets in the country and probably has had experience in 2 or 3 times that number over the years. He has talked nonstop about Charleston for the past 2 years or so...that's apparently where he's doing the most business currently. A lot of real estate investing chatter about Charleston in that same time span from others as well, so this has been my impression all along.

Yeah, airbnb-ification does not surprise me. New Orleans is having the same issue.

[vicupstate]

http://mapping.cbre.com/maps/SEOR/Cascade/index.html
Market comparison for 15 SE metros including Charleston, and all teh major FL ones.

[jaxlongtimer]

We have vacationed several times in Charleston over the years.  Interestingly, our take is it is booming without a "Shipyards," "Healthy Town" or Amazon mega project and in spite of, per local residents and personal observation, a lack of major infrastructure investment in its nearly 300 year old streets, sidewalks, and lighting.  Instead, Charleston appears to have focused on reliably exploiting historic preservation, street facing interaction, a relatively low rise skyline, significant green space on its waterfront and in its historic core, and fostering one of the best culinary scenes in the country (on one visit, we couldn't find a single "chain" food outlet in the historic district).  [In some ways, it looks like Charleston is rivaling New Orleans as a favorite for travelers in the South.]  Charleston shows me that major public investment is not as important as a consistent long term vision and plan that the community can count on to be adhered to in protecting their investments.

It seems to me that if Jax would follow the more low-key Charleston model, we would be far better served than bending over for "overnight success" schemes going back to the 1980's such as the "do-over" of Hemming Plaza, Rouse's Jacksonville Landing Project, the Skyway Express, the Osborne Convention Center, the Better Jacksonville Plan, LaVilla's demolition and the new Courthouse, among other big ticket projects/giveaways, hoping they would be the saviors of downtown.  Billions of dollars spent and very little to show for it going back to the 1950's while so many tiny to big communities around the country have regularly figured out how to revitalize their urban cores.  When will we learn?

[vicupstate]

It is not that Charleston or any other city has not invested in infrastructure and public facilities. It is that they invested wisely and utilized time tested successful urban development tools and models. It has done so for many decades. I would agree that they have not relied on 'white knights' and supposedly 'game changing' projects that never live up to their hype.   

Waterfront park, the Baseball field, the $140 million Guillard Center, the Septima Clark (Hwy 17) expressway streetscaping, King Street streetscaping, the Maritime Center, the Aquarium, a revamped Colonial Lake and Marion Square parks are some of the notable Charleston investments. Soon you will be able to add a 100+ million Museum of African-American History to that list too.  All of these projects were done in such a way to create spin off private investment and create snergy between them. The principals of urban development being adhered to was also very important.     

[thelakelander]

Yes, Charleston has spent billions of public dollars in bringing its core back. The parks, the museums, retrofitting the market, pedestrian lighting, the visitors center, the reconstruction of the Ravenel Bridge are a few of several examples. From my understanding, it may have taken some public dollars to attract the Omni to town (now Charleston Place) years ago as well. As Vicupstate has stated, these investments were wise and built upon time tested urban revitalization tools and techniques. Quite frankly, Jax has pretty spent just as much money on gimmicks and horrible models over the same time frame.

[jaxnyc79]

We have vacationed several times in Charleston over the years.  Interestingly, our take is it is booming without a "Shipyards," "Healthy Town" or Amazon mega project and in spite of, per local residents and personal observation, a lack of major infrastructure investment in its nearly 300 year old streets, sidewalks, and lighting.  Instead, Charleston appears to have focused on reliably exploiting historic preservation, street facing interaction, a relatively low rise skyline, significant green space on its waterfront and in its historic core, and fostering one of the best culinary scenes in the country (on one visit, we couldn't find a single "chain" food outlet in the historic district).  [In some ways, it looks like Charleston is rivaling New Orleans as a favorite for travelers in the South.]  Charleston shows me that major public investment is not as important as a consistent long term vision and plan that the community can count on to be adhered to in protecting their investments.

It seems to me that if Jax would follow the more low-key Charleston model, we would be far better served than bending over for "overnight success" schemes going back to the 1980's such as the "do-over" of Hemming Plaza, Rouse's Jacksonville Landing Project, the Skyway Express, the Osborne Convention Center, the Better Jacksonville Plan, LaVilla's demolition and the new Courthouse, among other big ticket projects/giveaways, hoping they would be the saviors of downtown.  Billions of dollars spent and very little to show for it going back to the 1950's while so many tiny to big communities around the country have regularly figured out how to revitalize their urban cores.  When will we learn?

Well stated.  Street facing interaction and accessible green-space along the waterfront are key in my book.  No more massive expenditures of scarce resources for overnight gimmicks.  Having said that, keeping up the infrastructure is also critical, i.e. evening out the sidewalks, water and sewage upgrades, making sure the lamp posts work, street cleaning, trimming shrubs, improving overall pedestrian comfort, etc.  I'd honestly be content with historic, low-rise, street-fronting, single family homes and townhomes on all the empty lots in much of downtown - as long as it feels like an improvement over the urban desert.  Maybe that's all the density that downtown Jax can absorb for now. 

Just slap grid-patterned streets on the JEA property, require new urbanist designs, and let that space be a low-rise, walkable residential district with neighborhood restaurants and bakeries on the corner.  It's proximal to waterfront, so I'm sure it would do well.

[Tacachale]

Charleston benefited from what my dad calls the "Charleston model of historic preservation", in which the peninsula declined so much for 60 years that no one invested in it, and therefore didn't demolish much until the preservation movement really took hold. Now it's a major tourist attraction.

It also benefited from having a very strong sense of its own identity. Unfortunately, most of that identity was based on horrible things: the Old South and Lost Cause of the Confederacy myths, the subjugation of African-Americans. The city's true history is extraordinarily ugly, and they've only recently made attempts to present it in the public sphere.

[vicupstate]

Charleston benefited from what my dad calls the "Charleston model of historic preservation", in which the peninsula declined so much for 60 years that no one invested in it, and therefore didn't demolish much until the preservation movement really took hold. Now it's a major tourist attraction.

It also benefited from having a very strong sense of its own identity. Unfortunately, most of that identity was based on horrible things: the Old South and Lost Cause of the Confederacy myths, the subjugation of African-Americans. The city's true history is extraordinarily ugly, and they've only recently made attempts to present it in the public sphere.

This is about 90% false.  If the 60 years you are referring to is 1865-1935 then you would be right. In modern times, Charleston has not fared any differently than any other comparable Southern city in terms of economic development. Like all cities it saw population move from the core to the suburbs after WW2.  Jacksonville or really any other city was no different.  Efforts in other cities to 'renew' the core, which priamrily failed through the 1980's were not possible in Charleston because of the preservation ordinance. These were enacted in the 1930's and dramatically strengthened and expanded terrritorially in the 1960s.  New construction simply happened elsewhere, primarily other sections of the city such as West Ashley, and suburb cities like North Charleston and Mount Pleasant. Again that is no different than other US cities.

For Charleston urban renewal involved renovation moreso than demolition and new construction. This pretty much guranteed that a pedestrian-centric dennse environment was mantained on the peninsula rather than falling victim to an auto-centric orientation.   

Yes, the first shots of the Civil War were shot in the harbor. But Richmond and Birmingham were the capitols of the Confederacy and NC supplied the greatest percentage of troops. Local resistance to integration was not comparabe to the well known events in other cities and states during that period. Slavery, the Confederacy, and Jim Crow were on the whole South.   

I have been to many of the Museums in Charleston and slavery is not whitewashed or ignored that I have seen. The Slave Market museum has been in operation since the 1930's and on the National Register since the 1970's.  Freedmen's cottages have been preserved as well as antebellum mansions.   

In terms of representation of African-Americans in govenment, observance of the MLK holiday and other local civil rights laws, few Southern cities could match Charleston's record in the last 40-50 years.           

[jaxnyc79]

Charleston benefited from what my dad calls the "Charleston model of historic preservation", in which the peninsula declined so much for 60 years that no one invested in it, and therefore didn't demolish much until the preservation movement really took hold. Now it's a major tourist attraction.

It also benefited from having a very strong sense of its own identity. Unfortunately, most of that identity was based on horrible things: the Old South and Lost Cause of the Confederacy myths, the subjugation of African-Americans. The city's true history is extraordinarily ugly, and they've only recently made attempts to present it in the public sphere.

I'm confused - are you meaning to link racial oppression and Charleston's current pedestrian-scale vibrancy?

[Tacachale]

Charleston benefited from what my dad calls the "Charleston model of historic preservation", in which the peninsula declined so much for 60 years that no one invested in it, and therefore didn't demolish much until the preservation movement really took hold. Now it's a major tourist attraction.

It also benefited from having a very strong sense of its own identity. Unfortunately, most of that identity was based on horrible things: the Old South and Lost Cause of the Confederacy myths, the subjugation of African-Americans. The city's true history is extraordinarily ugly, and they've only recently made attempts to present it in the public sphere.

I'm confused - are you meaning to link racial oppression and Charleston's current pedestrian-scale vibrancy?

I'm saying that Charleston's strong sense of identity, which has been a big factor in its success, is tied in very large part to a sanitized and one-sided version of its history, based on the Old South/Lost Cause myth, which was a tool of racial oppression.

[vicupstate]

Charleston's identity is as the most histortic and historically preserved city in the country. You can see what the built environment looked like stretching back tot he 1600's and continuing through to today. The ambience and uniqueness is what draws people there. It is not the same as Richmond or Gettysburg.