CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – A long-anticipated development project located in the neck of the Charleston peninsula officially broke ground on Friday morning.
Project members along with state and city officials all joined on the 192-acre property off Milford Street, overlooking the Ashley River, to celebrate this huge milestone.
The nearly $3 billion Magnolia Landing development will feature residential units, a hotel, office space, retail, restaurants, water access, and green space.
The original plan for the Magnolia development started two decades ago, however, city officials say land contamination and finding development investors delayed the timeline over the years.
The Magnolia site was previously an industrial site for the Koppers wood treatment facility, Columbia Nitrogen fertilizer plant and Ashepoo Phosphate superphosphate fertilizer plant since the late 80s. These sites polluted the soil and groundwater with lead, creosote and other toxins.
After all of this time, Clark Davis, the President and CEO of real estate development firm Highland Resources, says he is thrilled to get shovels in the ground and is honored to be doing it in the Charleston community.
“I think with 25 acres of parks, the longest stretch of continuous waterfront public walkway, and the amenities that we’re going to have here, it’s going to be a place where people want to come, they’re going to want to live, and they’re going to want to work, and they’re going to really enjoy it,” Davis says.
He says that they will be doing this project in phases. The first phase includes 600 multi-family housing units, a 100,000-square-foot office building, 158 townhomes, and park space. Davis says that infrastructure work, also part of the first phase, is already underway and must be completed before vertical construction begins, which is expected to start this summer.
He says the next phase would focus on constructing the hotel, an amenities based retail center, along with more residential and office space. Davis says that they will also have four high-end restaurants that will be accessible by the marina.
“There is nowhere in Charleston that you can go and access four high-end restaurants by pulling your boat up in front of them and we will have that here. So, this is going to be a really neat area that’s going to compliment Charleston and the history of Charleston, but also be something new and exciting,” Davis says.
Highland Resources Senior Managing Director Bill Neeson says that the Magnolia development is designed with sustainability in mind.
“We’re also very resilient, so we’re building the property up so that it doesn’t flood, so it’s resilient to some of the climate change that has happened and also it’s just going to be a really beautiful mixed use development,” Neeson says.
Neeson says that they are anticipating that in early 2028 people can expect to see some of the buildings begin to open from the first phase, but that the entire Magnolia Landing development will take about 20 years to complete.
Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.
