Roofing Contractor inMoncks Corner, SC.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – (Tuesday, March 14, 2023) – Berkeley County, in partnership with the City of Hanahan, will celebrate the completion of Railroad Avenue Extension in Hanahan with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, March 17 at 10 a.m. The event will take place in front of the Hanahan Recreation Center ballfields across from Mabeline Road in Hanahan.

This critical road project, which was managed by the S.C. Department of Transportation, has been in the works since the 1990s. The County celebrated the project’s groundbreaking in spring 2021.

Kiewit Infrastructure South constructed the project, which consisted of extending Railroad Avenue from Mabeline Road to Eagle Landing Boulevard and adding a two-lane roadway along the eastern side of the existing CSX rail line, with a sidewalk along one side of the road.

The project provides a safer connection between North and South Hanahan. Specifically, drivers will no longer have to enter Rivers Avenue and cross the railroad twice; and first responder vehicles will also have a better and safer access to those communities, overall improving emergency response times.

This project cost an estimated $20.1 million, including approximately $16 million from Berkeley County’s One-Cent Sales Tax Program—specifically from the referendum voters passed in 2014—and $4 million from federal funds.

“This road extension project, which has been decades in the making, is a gamechanger for the Hanahan community and public safety. We are thankful to Berkeley County voters for approving the County’s One-Cent Sales Tax referendum and to Congressman Henry Brown for securing federal funds to pay for this long-awaited infrastructure project. We are confident the result will be faster emergency response times and safer travel for all.” -Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb

“Thanks to the perseverance and hard work of so many who have passed the torch of this much needed project, we are finally celebrating the infrastructure connectivity of Hanahan through Railroad Avenue Extension. I am grateful for the collaboration of many different agencies to make this happen. Hanahan is now safer, transportation is easier, and quality of life is better.” -Hanahan Mayor Christie Rainwater

The City of Hanahan will also host a “Meet in the Street Block Party” event at 5:30 p.m. on Friday to commemorate the road project’s completion. There will be a food truck and other festivities. For more information, go HERE.

###

-Prepared by the Berkeley County Public Information Office-

The Berkeley County Family YMCA is closing its doors after nearly 30 years.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) - The Berkeley County Family YMCA is closing its doors after nearly 30 years.

The YMCA of Greater Charleston sent a notice out to members on Jan. 30. The email cited the building as being “in need of substantial improvement.” The notice says the YMCA cannot provide that work and the efforts to operate in Berkeley County have “seriously challenged the financial capabilities” of the local YMCA.

Therefore, the YMCA of Greater Charleston Board of Directors and staff management have decided to close and sell the 210 Rembert C. Dennis Blvd. location in Moncks Corner.

President and CEO of the Charleston area operations, Paul Stoney, signed the email notification.

Stoney says the building was costing more than $100,000 a year to keep its doors open and still needed costly repairs, like a potentially $300,000 new roof. When the building is officially sold and closed, members are invited to use the Cane Bay location, and participate in continuing leagues and services.

“Physically, that YMCA does not meet the expectations of a YMCA, it is rapidly deteriorating,” Stoney says.

Stoney says the decision was based on being a good steward of community money, and the facility didn’t make sense anymore. But he says there are future options to collaborate with the help of land donations or developer deals.

“And as it relates to developers, if they’re able to, and it makes good business sense, then we would love to maintain a new presence in that community with a new facility. So that is being taken into consideration,” Stoney said.

The notice says all current members will be grandfathered in to the YMCA facility in Cane Bay, which is about a 20-minute drive across the county. The membership will last one year from the closing date of the Moncks Corner location, which has not been announced.

Kenneth Owens, a member since 1998, says he will miss the location.

“I’m sad it’s closing down because I’ve always enjoyed the people I work out with and the people who run the facility here are very nice people. But going to Cane Bay isn’t really going to be an option for me that’s a little bit further to travel,” Owens says.

The Cane Bay facility opened in April of 2019 and boasts 54,000-square-feet of new construction and assets.

Stoney says in the email that YMCA youth sports, fitness and programming will continue at satellite locations across the county and the non-profit will make every effort for current staff members to continue with the organization.

“Our programs, just like programs that we operate downtown, although we don’t have a physical presence, that is part of our service area. And we still operate programs downtown without having a physical presence. We intend to do the same thing in the Moncks Corner Berkeley County community,” Stoney says.

Stoney says he values the Moncks Corner members and is happy to field any question going forward with the process.

“This is part of a longer vision to continue to deliver a high caliber of programs throughout Charleston and Berkeley counties. And we take that very seriously. We also have to recognize when a facility is not up to our standards, and yes, tough decisions need to be made,” Stoney says.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) - For the first time in seven years, homeowners and landowners in Moncks Corner will see a 15 percent property tax increase starting on October 1.

At the Moncks Corner Town Council meeting Thursday evening, the vote for a new budget was passed unanimously with only one member of the public providing input.

The economy, fuel prices and labor costs are all contributing factors according to Mayor Michael Lockliear, but the main reason for the increase is to afford and pay public employees.

“Retention has been very tough over the last year keeping employees,” Lockliear said. “Since other people are paying more around us, we had to step up and do the same thing.”

The tax hike means a homeowner with a property valued at $250,000 will have to pay $100 more per year on property taxes. Statistically, it is normal to increase taxes by about two-percent each year.

Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office Special Prosecutor Tyler Jenkins was the only one who asked a question during the public input portion of the meeting.

“My real question as far as the millage rate, 15 percent in one year seems like a pretty high number,” Jenkins said. “Was there any discussion about why that wasn’t incrementally put into place?”

In response, Lockliear said this is the first time in seven years that the city has had to increase property tax, which he is very proud of.

“We did it so we wouldn’t have to come back in two years and do it again,” Lockliear said. “As a resident of Moncks Corner, I’d much rather be taxed one time now and then another time in 10 years or so, but not every two years.”

Every year, the city government meets for a budget workshop where they go through the department by department and cut what is needed for a balanced budget. This year, Lockliear said they were short about $325,000 with the more expensive costs coming from health care and retirement benefits to public employees

“With that being done, it put a big dent in our budget,” Lockliear said. “That’s why the millage increase came and hopefully it will take us through the next six to seven-eight years.”

The new budget takes place from Oct. 1, 2022, until Sept. 30, 2023. Operating revenues will increase from $12,417,159 to $15,622,744 and operating expenditures will increase from $14,151,802 to $15,363,175.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Berkeley County Council has voted to approve a 30-year deal with a battery recycling plant to bring a multi-billion-dollar investment to an area near I-26.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) - Berkeley County Council has voted to approve a 30-year deal with a battery recycling plant to bring a multi-billion-dollar investment to just off Interstate 26 near Volvo’s plant.

Council voted 6-0, with Councilmember Steve Davis absent and Councilmember Philip Obie II abstaining, on the agreement with Redwood Materials.

“With this vote tonight, they cannot go out there and push dirt tomorrow,” Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb said. “They’ve got a lot of things they got to do before they can do that.”

The total investment from the company will be an estimated $3.5 billion, which is double the previous state record of $1.7 billion announced by BMW earlier this year. The company expects to create around 1,500 jobs and bring improvements to Highway 176.

Redwood Materials is a company based out of Nevada that recycles batteries to make new components and has previously partnered with Volvo, according to their website.

As part of the agreement, around $125 million will be allocated to widen parts of Highway 176 to four lanes and enlarge some intersections.

“The additional funds paid are a lack of incentive in the first 10 years to where until that road is paid for, the incentive doesn’t kick in,” Cribb said, “so the county is not paying for the road. The company coming in is actually paying for the road.”

Mike Fitzgerald lives nearby and outlined concerns he has with batteries and its potential environmental impacts.

“I mean, if it gets into the water supply, most of the people that live around there are on wells,” he said. “It’s not like I can throw a valve and get county water. We ain’t got it.”

Cribb said as of Monday, Redwood Materials would be the sole company on Camp Hall’s Campus 3 and would take up to 200 acres of land, with the other 400 acres still available.

The supervisor said the company will bring high-paying entry level jobs to the county once operational, and they would like to get going as early as late next year.

“It sounds like the company wants to move pretty quick, so once real property gets in place and once equipment gets in place, it begins to get taxed just like anything else,” Cribb said.

The land will be taxed at 4% for 30 years and would require a minimum investment of $400 million under the agreement.

Redwood Materials has not yet responded to requests for comment on their future plans for the site.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

A fully leased shopping center in a small but fast-growing Lowcountry town has been sold just weeks after it made its debut.

An affiliate of Stockbridge Capital Group recently bought the Publix-anchored Moncks Corner Marketplace for $29.15 million, according to Berkeley County land records.

The deal worked out to about $400 a square foot.

The seller was Branch Properties, which began developing the 9-acre retail site along U.S. Highway 52 at Cypress Gardens Road in mid-2021. The Atlanta-based real estate investment firm is still handling the marketing and leasing of the property.

David Nix, managing director for acquisitions at Stockbridge, said Moncks Corner is “one of the fastest-growing submarkets” in the Charleston region. Several thousand homes are planned for areas in and around the county seat in developments such as Foxbank Plantation.

“Given its optimal location within a short distance to many of Charleston’s job centers and several surrounding master-planned residential communities, the area poses strong demographics,” Nix said.

He also described the fully occupied Moncks Corner Marketplace and other strategically located grocery store centers as “further proof of the demand for this type of e-commerce-resistant retail.”

The 72,300-square-foot property opened in September. About six months earlier, Stockbridge announced a deal to buy a dozen Southeast retail centers from Branch Properties that include Publix and rival supermarket chain Harris Teeter as their primary traffic draws.

The San Francisco-based private equity firm has been investing in commercial real estate in the Charleston area since at least 2013, when it paid $24.6 million for the Whole Foods-anchored Patriots Plaza in Mount Pleasant. The deal was one of the region’s first big retail acquisitions in the aftermath of the so-called Great Recession.

In 2018, Stockbridge added an industrial property to its portfolio when it bought the nearly 351,000-square-foot North Pointe Business Campus on North Rhett Avenue for $30.5 million.

The following year, the firm acquired the historic S.H. Kress & Co. on King Street, in the heart of the downtown Charleston shopping district. Stockbridge paid $19.5 million for the roughly 91-year-old mixed-use art-deco structure that includes “fast fashion” clothing retailer H&M and a law firm as its main tenants.

Nix said the Charleston region “continues to be an attractive market for Stockbridge,” citing the area’s population growth, expanding port and other favorable real estate investment attributes.