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In NYC you have Greenpointe, in Chicago you have Wicker Park, in Philadelphia you have Northern Liberties, etc. Most cities have that neighborhood(s) where working people get priced out of the main downtown area and move slightly outward, start businesses and create a real sense of neighborhood. Call it hipster or bohemian or whatever, the reality is the value of these neighborhoods skyrocket. Now obviously all of the aforementioned cities are super dense and have pretty good transportation unlike Charleston which is surrounded by water and has CARTA. Nonetheless more and more people are moving here everyday, and they still expect to live in a place that has amenities within walking distance. Currently downtown is the only place that fits that description.
So my question for everyone is, once people decide that's just not worth the cost to live downtown anymore, where do you think that neighborhood will spring up in Charleston? In Park Circle you have E. Montague which has been brought a lot of attention to the area, there's the BLVD on Coleman which is one of those hybrid town center/apartment building things which is kind of Anytown, USA looking but has room to grow, and you have Avondale which already has a good little scene but I'm not sure how much room it has to grow.
I personally believe that Charleston can be way more than a food/bev/hospitality town, and I think Charleston having an alternative to downtown would be an ENORMOUS benefit in both attracting talented individuals who are considering moving here and keeping people from leaving after college. I'm very interested to see where everyone sees Charleston's neighborhoods going.
I think downtown will always be "sacred" and nothing will ever top it. But if I were to invest my money and pull out the crystal ball, the next BIG THING would be the West Side of the Peninsula. Plans to remodel Hampton Park, Billion dollar development (WestEdge), and redevelopment with a boardwalk.
I don't think people come here expecting to have amenities within walking distance. Once you get outside of downtown, it is readily apparent that this is a "car city" and you will need to drive to what you need. Unless you are moving here from NYC/CA, that is how a lot of people live. Even in a major metro area like Atlanta, everyone gets around by car and the mass transit is terrible.
I think there's probably a slight age gap in terms of desirability/affordability. I'm under 35 and just moved to Mount Pleasant after visiting downtown and eventually exploring other areas once I got the sticker shock of buying a house south of Broad (lol). We were interested in starting a family and buying a house and all that, so we had to take into account school ratings and resale values and all that boring stuff. If I was a decade younger and looking for a cheap place where I could work an entry-level job and safely walk to all the hot spots, I don't know that Charleston would be a good fit. Does that exist anywhere in reality? Something has to give.
A lot of these "hipsters" are what we used to refer to as trustafarians and have access to some major cash to come in and gentrify previously rundown places. Upper King Street? Maybe that's what you are looking for in terms of walkability with big growth potential. It's hard to create that in suburbia. To afford housing, you need to generally have an office-type job. Whenever they build these live-work things, the work portion is a nail salon and the live portion is luxury $3k/month apartments or some such thing. No one is living and working in these things.
Unfortunately, I feel that James Island is going to be an area ripe for overdevelopment. There has been growth there, but I'm surprised it hasn't been as aggressive as other parts of the Charleston region considering it's gem of a location (basically 10 minutes to Folly or the peninsula).
I don't know what's worse - hipsterification or urban sprawl. On one hand we have a bunch of trust fund babies buying up real estate from poor people and building luxury condos and on the other hand we have a bunch of gargantuan SUV-driving, road clogging suburbanites who live in bedroom communities that are nothing more than suburbs of Wal-Mart.
Best place IMO will be the neck area (above Mt. Pleasant St. to Cosgrove Ave.) in 15 to 20 years.
Still on the peninsular, only a mile or two from the middle of downtown.
That area was never really developed for residences, but will be great.
Only need a good bus route and leave the car at home if you work downtown.
Would be good for single family, mid raise condos, hotels, super markets, offices and you name it.
If I had the money and younger I'd invest in doing it myself. It's coming, just a matter of time.
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^lol!!!!
