Greening Charleston, South Carolina

Enlarge Image Image Gallery

Can a derelict community be transformed into a sustainable utopia? A visionary development company believes it can. And a $200 million building boom has ensued.

Charleston, South Carolina, is a colonial city steeped in tradition. Its narrow, winding cobblestone streets have been well worn by centuries of traffic; nearly every building in the historic district boasts a ghost or two. Charleston’s charm lies in its densely packed, architecturally significant houses; its made-for-pedestrian byways; its accessible harbor. Yuppies pay six figures for newer waterfront condos, and if you have to ask about the price of an eighteenth-century townhouse—well, chances are you can’t afford it.

Just seven miles to the north—and a world away—in North Charleston, bland, inefficient tract houses surrounding the former Charleston Naval Base can be had for less than $100,000. Here lies evidence of the mid-twentieth-century building boom at its worst: blocks upon blocks of single-story houses along wide, forbidding streets. There are few professional services, and access to the Cooper River—which drew lots of folks here in the first place—has been choked off by industry and a petroleum tank farm.

This patch of fifty-eight square miles is a tale of booms and busts—and evidence of the glory days remains. Liberty Hill, established in 1871 by freed slaves, is a walkable community of narrow streets and historic homes, many with front porches. Small churches dot the neighborhood. Unfortunately though, much of this infrastructure is crumbling; the area is badly in need of historic preservation.

In the late nineteenth century, the city of Charleston bought a chunk of land along the Cooper River to build a grand public park designed by the famed Olmsted Brothers. However, in 1901, when the U.S. Navy came calling, the park was sacrificed to build the base. Much of North Charleston sprang up around this epicenter; the base employed tens of thousands at the height of World War II, but in 1993 the entire Charleston Naval Base was closed. Gov. Carroll Campbell called it a “nuclear” hit.