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MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC)- The final site review for a food, entertainment, and public gathering space was approved by Mount Pleasant’s commercial design review board on Wednesday night.

The space is called Gather Mount Pleasant and will be located on Midtown Avenue right across from MUSC Midtown in Mount Pleasant and off of HungryNeck Boulevard.

The co-developer of Gather Mount Pleasant, Mack Cross, said that this project will cost $14 million. He said he wants it to serve as a place for friends and families to come and enjoy time together.

“Spend time, you know, ideally away from screens and have conversation, meet neighbors here, host out of town visitors,” Cross said. “A place that Preston, our other partner and co-developer, are really kind of planning for families like ours and a place where we would like to meet our community and spend time.”

Cross said Gather Mount Pleasant will have a similar atmosphere to the Gather location in Greenville, South Carolina but it will be bigger. Along with a variety of food and beverage options and live music like Gather Greenville, the Mount Pleasant location will have additional features like retail, office and salon space.

However, the site Gather Mount Pleasant will sit on has a residential community right next to it called Midtown Townes and Cross said they have had to modify their designs because of some residents’ concerns.

“We reduced the scale of the project. Originally we had a hotel component, but we have since gotten rid of that. The economy changed through the process, so that was a factor as well, you know, so just navigating all those different factors and really wanting to be thoughtful about the design and making sure that it’s a great fit for this site and this community,” Cross said.

One of the concerns previously expressed was noise, however, Cross said they have addressed this with the setup of the project and wouldn’t be having live music played late at night.

“So the scale of the building and where the stage is located within the project the buildings will provide some natural sound screening for that stage, but yes, we are sensitive that this is a residential area,” Cross said.

Many residents of the townhomes spoke during the public comment session of the meeting. One of their main concerns was about an entrance and exit point for commercial vehicles located on Fortier Drive which many of the residents said this road is essentially a driveway for them. They said with that road already being narrow and having commercial vehicles come through they worried about what congestion it could bring.

Mac Deford, a local politician, is one of those residents. He said that he thinks his community would be overall supportive of this project if they addressed this issue and found an alternative access point for commercial vehicles that doesn’t include Fortier Drive.

“I think as long as they are not using our private road, what is an alleyway, clogging it up with commercial traffic which you know would create a lot of safety concerns and hazards, I think they would have the overwhelming support of our community,” Deford said.

During the meeting, officials assured residents they examined various places to put this access point but that this was the best spot.

Cross said he believes the project they have designed now is the best concept they could be bringing to the area. Now that the commercial design review board has approved, Cross said the next steps would be for them to finish their construction drawings and then submit those to the Town of Mount Pleasant for building permit approval.

He said they hope to break ground in early spring or summer with construction expected to be completed in the middle of 2026.

“It is a place for many occasions, spontaneous occasions. It’s really hard to go out with a big family or multiple families and find a place to eat that’s welcoming and you know not too expensive and you know where you’re not disrupting people,” Cross said. “I can think of numerous occasions of times where you know we will end up here and hopefully others will too.”

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Published: Oct. 23, 2024 at 1:45 PM PDT|

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Mount Pleasant leaders and staff are nearing the finish line of a years-long process to update the town’s zoning codes in regards to approving new builds and protecting existing natural resources.

“I think it’s important to note that this is our first wholesale update of our zoning code since 1979. So a lot of things have changed in Mount Pleasant since that time,” Councilman Daniel Brownstein says.

Planning Director Michele Reed says staff and leaders reviewed the code and began this rewrite in 2020.

“Of course throughout the years we’ve seen a lot of amendments to it. So a lot of piecemeal changes which resulted in a lot of inconsistencies throughout the code,” Reed says.

Some of the major changes are considering allowing murals, updating the sign ordinance requiring neutral content, enacting new tree protections and updating approval standards for development.

“I think this will allow us to approve development that’s better suited for our sensitive environment. There’s a lot of enhanced tree protections. There’s certain areas of town that are more conducive to mixed-use with residential and commercial being on the same site, and so I think that as a result of this zoning code change, that will be sort of modernizing the pattern of development here in Mount Pleasant,” Brownstein says.

The code creates the opportunity for creating and approving “Hubs” referring to mixed-use or development centers.

“It’s really about focusing more on concentrating your higher intensity development around these certain hubs and these development centers as opposed to along the corridors which is what we had previously through the Urban Corridor Overlay District,” Reed says.

For reference, Mount Pleasant has had a ban on apartment and condo style builds for seven years that is set to expire Dec. 31, 2024. The emergency moratorium went into place to allow the town’s infrastructure to catch up. Brownstein says as that expires, it is good to have regulations on mixed-use development, so it goes in responsibly. He believes there is a need for some diverse housing to be built soon.

“My hope is that with the zoning code, we will have an additional tool to encourage some affordable, attainable housing in our community, which is super important,” Brownstein says.

The code has new tree protections, like protecting grand oaks and pine trees, requiring a replacement tree must be planted somewhere else on site for certain trees removed, and if not possible a fine will be paid into the tree bank. The pine tree rules are new, protecting trees 24 inches or greater from being cut. Grand Oaks are already protected and will continue to be so.

“I think equally important what you won’t see is nobody’s property is going to get re-zoned. This won’t change the use or zoning of anybody’s property. Any new districts are going to be overlays that town council would apply and so I think it’s important to note that,” Reed says.

The planning commission made a few tree recommendations to the code and it will go before the county council for two readings next.

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MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - A major Mount Pleasant road project is complete and the Town will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate.

The Patriots Point Gateway Intersection Improvements Project is a capital improvement project that went into construction in 2022. This project was intended to improve the capacity of the very busy intersection of Patriots Point Road, Coleman Boulevard and Magrath Darby Boulevard.

Crews added several additional turn lanes on these three roads. This project originated from a study that the Town did back in 2016.

The project is all about improving connectivity and proactively preparing for anticipated future growth in the area. The goal was to both alleviate traffic issues and improve safety, mobility and connectivity.

In addition to the new turn lanes, the town added new accommodations for bikers. These bike paths are a part of other pedestrian projects in the area, like the East Coast Greenway, the Mount Pleasant Way and the Battery to Beach projects.

The Patriots Point Gateway project, in total, cost $9,672,785.

Deputy Director of Capital Projects and the Transportation Department for the Town of Mount Pleasant James Aton shared their goals for the completion of this project.

“Both to anticipate the growth in the area and accommodate that additional vehicular traffic, improve bike and pedestrian safety and then, of course, do a sort of face lift to the entrance of - one of the primary entrances to the town of Mount Pleasant,” Aton said.

This area is right at the foot of the Ravenel Bridge, connecting Mount Pleasant to downtown making it a frequently traveled area for many people in the community. Aton believes this project will greatly benefit the community.

“I think it’s going to operate much more smoothly than it did previously and be able to accommodate that additional traffic, as well as provide... alternate infrastructure for non-vehicular modes, bikes, pedestrians,” he said.

Tuesday morning, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the completion of the Patriots Point Gateway project. It is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Aton said that the construction for this project is complete, and they anticipate they will finish all the closeout paperwork and officially complete the project by November.

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