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To the person who said MP is all strip malls, highways and subdivisions, that's really not a fair assessment. If you were here for a short time, breezed in and out you'd likely get that impression.
As big as it is, even with no core "downtown" there is still somehow a smaller town feel. There's a great farmer's market, a beautiful historic area - Old Village - Shem Creek for kayak rental, drinks, boat rentals and dinner on the water, Boone Hall Plantation that has events year round and is a working plantation, and great parks like Waterfront Park.
Just a personal take, but we love the area around Coleman the best. To us it has more of a homey feel to it than the stretch of 17 heading North that seems busier and has more traffic. Not traffic jams, just traffic. There's a difference.
You're right, it's not an entirely fair assessment.
Mt. Pleasant does actually have 2 parts: the older, original part of Mt. Pleasant around Coleman blvd and Old Village, the newer Mt. Pleasant north of 526.
I would say that Coleman Blvd could actually be considered the downtown of Mt. Pleasant. It is part of the older, original part of the 'city' and is really the only part of town that you actually see people walking around to the locally-owned restaurants and bars that are around as opposed to driving. It's also close to Old Village which is an older dense neighborhood. It also where a lot of the proposed denser, mixed-use and commercial space is proposed to be built. Definitely the most desirable part of the Mt. Pleasant and I believe the most expensive. There's also I'On on the other side of 17, which is sort of a new-construction pseudo-downtown neighborhood type of thing which is a lot of young professionals and I from what I hear very pricey.
Mt. Pleasant north of 526 is more the town center/strip mall and subdivision part of town. Home to a lot of national chain stores and cookie cutter HOA developments. It reminds me a lot of Northern Virginia. This area is extremely car dependent with a ton of new construction, therefor more affordable though I'm not sure to what extent. Pretty much the definition of suburbs.
I suppose you can count the annexed part of Awendaw as a third part of Mt. Pleasant, but I'm not sure if that really counts.
It's funny, going down Coleman and you'll see several strip malls. Seems to me there's more compressed strip mall and businesses on Coleman than on 17 past IOP. 17 to the bridge is a different story. The main reason the Old Village is more desirable is due to location more than anything else.
thcecchi is partially correct on the subdivision statement North of 526. There are subdivisions that are 'cookie cutter', but there are many many custom home subdivisions as well. They tend to follow more modern architectural designs as they were built more recently, but they are no more cookie cutter than the Old Village is (unless you count the Old Village as cookie cutter because a vast majority of the homes are single story ranch with 8' ceilings).
It's funny, going down Coleman and you'll see several strip malls. Seems to me there's more compressed strip mall and businesses on Coleman than on 17 past IOP. 17 to the bridge is a different story. The main reason the Old Village is more desirable is due to location more than anything else.
thcecchi is partially correct on the subdivision statement North of 526. There are subdivisions that are 'cookie cutter', but there are many many custom home subdivisions as well. They tend to follow more modern architectural designs as they were built more recently, but they are no more cookie cutter than the Old Village is (unless you count the Old Village as cookie cutter because a vast majority of the homes are single story ranch with 8' ceilings).
I don't really find old village to be cookie cutter, but I don't exactly find it charming either. Just a bunch of 70's and 80's ranches you can find anywhere in the country But much more expensive.
Coleman is a beautiful street but the houses surrounding it are nothing to write home about. Aside from the Boulevard, I don't really find the area that walkable either. It's no Downtown Charleston. Maybe I've just been on the wrong streets but I kinda find most of old village kinda of dumpy looking.
There's a big difference between Old Village and Old Mount Pleasant.
Old Mount Pleasant has the small brick ranch homes you are talking about, and yes, some of the area isn't that attractive.
Old Village is gorgeous. Beautiful old homes that are architecturally stunning, and "smaller" adorable homes. Pitt Street is a really cute street with the Rexall Drug Store - reminds me of when I was a kid and we had one in town - and some other little shops, the Village Bakery which has very good food, The Old Village Post House - great place to sleep/eat, and the surrounding streets.
Pitt Street bridge is a great place for views, Alhambra Hall is a beautiful spot, and there's another park off of Pitt St with some old really interesting original buildings.
Old Village isn't huge, but it's very charming and quaint and a great place to walk after dinner at the Post House - you can walk to the water and sit on one of the benches.
I like Coleman a lot, and some of the businesses on Coleman - Southern Season, Bottles, Nadeau, Steven Shell. It's not really that walkable, and not sure how they will make a "Main Street" out of it since it's mostly strip malls. But it's a great central area. Love that part of Mount Pleasant.
I always see old mount pleasant and old village interchanged with other, but I agree there's a huge difference. Old village usually has nothing for sale and when they are its $$$$.
When I got a speeding ticket for doing 38 in a 25 on McCants right after I crossed Coleman, the police office was kind enough to tell me that the speed limit in all of the Old Village was 25. So it went from 35 on Rifle Range to 25 crossing Coleman. I later found out this was happy hunting grounds for MtP PD.
Anyway, he told me the Old Village zone ran all the way to Center Street.
What Macalan said makes sense though. Certainly the homes around Pitt and the historic original portions of MtP are more 'custom', but the prices in this area are more than most can afford. But, this is a very small area over all.
Yes - prices are extremely high in Old Village for the historic homes, and from what I have heard, flood insurance in that area is out of sight. The area was under 6 feet of water during Hugo.
Old Mt. Pleasant is the village -- or that's what all my friends who live in the Old Mt. Pleasant say. And they all don't live in a stately home that has deep water access. Most live in an average sized bungalow and have been there for years.
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