Daniel Island - Does it feel like a small town? (Charleston: real estate, apartments)

[phynyrd]

Hi

Though not originally from SC, we lived in Charleston (downtown & on JI) for 7 years in our pre-family days. My husband's job has since relocated us to OR and now AZ. We're in the midst of our first summer in AZ and I'm already scrambling to get out.

We are now living in a city (giant suburb) of 300k+ and our oldest daughter just started Kindergarten here. Our neighborhood is fine, the school district is good - there's nothing really *wrong* with it. But now that she's in school it's really starting to make us think about where we want our kids to grow up. I am originally from a small coastal suburb of Boston, and my husband grew up in SC, TN, PA, and Toronto.

We didn't really spend a lot of time on DI when we lived there, and it was changing a lot when we left about 5 years ago, so I'm sure it's plenty different than what we even remember.

This will likely be a ramble, but what I really want for our family is a small town that feels like a small town. Where the sense of community isn't specific to your particular subdivision - but the whole town. Where community members are involved and there is a strong sense of town pride. A place with character. Where there's a 4th of July Parade, door to door trick or treating, Christmas tree lightings. You know, just that traditional small town.

I know from living there that JI is not that. The small town-ness is sort of there because of the population size, and I think the community was trying to come together more, but it just didn't really feel cohesive. We liked living there fine enough when we were younger, but it's not really what we're looking for now. I didn't spend a lot of time in Mt P but it seemed too big and subdivision-y.

We are coming back to visit in a couple of months and are planning on spending some time checking out DI for the future. The houses are expensive so we couldn't make a move for a while. But I'm getting really antsy here and trying to sort out some of the directions we're thinking of ultimately heading.

Anyway, I was just hoping to get some input on the vibe of Daniel Island. Does it have that small town feel to it?

[WiseManOnceSaid]

Originally Posted by phynyrd

Hi

Though not originally from SC, we lived in Charleston (downtown & on JI) for 7 years in our pre-family days. My husband's job has since relocated us to OR and now AZ. We're in the midst of our first summer in AZ and I'm already scrambling to get out.

We are now living in a city (giant suburb) of 300k+ and our oldest daughter just started Kindergarten here. Our neighborhood is fine, the school district is good - there's nothing really *wrong* with it. But now that she's in school it's really starting to make us think about where we want our kids to grow up. I am originally from a small coastal suburb of Boston, and my husband grew up in SC, TN, PA, and Toronto.

We didn't really spend a lot of time on DI when we lived there, and it was changing a lot when we left about 5 years ago, so I'm sure it's plenty different than what we even remember.

This will likely be a ramble, but what I really want for our family is a small town that feels like a small town. Where the sense of community isn't specific to your particular subdivision - but the whole town. Where community members are involved and there is a strong sense of town pride. A place with character. Where there's a 4th of July Parade, door to door trick or treating, Christmas tree lightings. You know, just that traditional small town.

I know from living there that JI is not that. The small town-ness is sort of there because of the population size, and I think the community was trying to come together more, but it just didn't really feel cohesive. We liked living there fine enough when we were younger, but it's not really what we're looking for now. I didn't spend a lot of time in Mt P but it seemed too big and subdivision-y.

We are coming back to visit in a couple of months and are planning on spending some time checking out DI for the future. The houses are expensive so we couldn't make a move for a while. But I'm getting really antsy here and trying to sort out some of the directions we're thinking of ultimately heading.

Anyway, I was just hoping to get some input on the vibe of Daniel Island. Does it have that small town feel to it?

In a lot of ways it has the perception of a small town or community. It's a very image centered Island, you will find golf carts and joggers and loads of luxury auto nameplates. They are starting to fill in the real estate with multi-family condos and trying to squeeze as much as they can onto the remaining real estate, but it's a lot calmer there growth wise than other areas of town. Certainly still "feels" like a smaller community.

[Ziggy100]

I think the vibe you're going for can be found at any master planned community in the Charleston area. Daniel Island is definately going for the small town vibe (going so far as to have one tiny grocery store for over 10K people and only two gas stations). It's also less than 2 miles from the paper mill.

Mount Pleasant being as large as it is, has a lot of what you're looking for and the preplanned developments are all chock full of people searching for the same thing.
Summerville's historic district definately has a small town vibe but it's real and not artificial like DI. DI feels a bit like a movie set.
Then there's Summer's Corner who's trying to get in on the "small town" market. They even grow their own vegetables and stuff.

[macalan]

Phynyrd - I know exactly the feel you are looking for, and yes, Daniel Island has it.

We are also from a small coastal "city" north of Boston (Newburyport) and Daniel Island is the closest we have found in this area to that same sort of vibe.

When we first moved here, we rented on Daniel Island for almost 2 years. We loved how compact DI was, all the walking trails that interconnect the neighborhoods, the downtown, Smythe Park and Lake, the multitude of festivals, and overall great sense of community. We also loved the location - 15 min to the airport, 15 min to Sullivan's Island, 15 min to the ER vet, 15 to the people hospital, and 15 min to Mount Pleasant for all the big box shopping one needs.

People who have never lived on DI will tell you it feels like a movie set, that it's Stepford, that it's just snobby, rich people. We almost didn't rent there because of that. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's a close knit community of caring people, with everything we needed for day to day living - banks, restaurants, grocery store (which is more than sufficient for the population and where the staff carry your groceries to the car), vet, dentist, doctors, gas stations, UPS store (for stamps, mailing packages, etc.), liquor store, excellent schools, churches, library, fire station, dog park, etc.

There's also the Volvo Tennis Stadium that holds lots of events and has great concerts in the summer and the woman's pro tournament in April. They are in the process of also building a new performance center, and completing an addition to downtown, on Daniel Island Drive that will have more shops, restaurants, parks, and offices.

Lots of organized sports for the kids, lots of community things going on.

I don't know the details, but have heard they are doing something on the waterfront at Children's Park to make it more "open".

Yes, there's been more building since you left, but DI's master plan is planned down to the nth degree, which keeps everything there pristine and well thought out. DI is also the safest part of the Charleston area.

We live in Mt Pleasant now - Carolina Park - because prices on DI got away from us, but it's a much different feel. The convenience is nice, but it's got a "big" feel and is growing rapidly. Your "community" will be your subdivision. The town itself doesn't have that community feel you say you want with parades, etc. Daniel Island does. DI is not a subdivision, it's a town.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[LocalHero]

If you go into the archives of the forum, you'll see that people have strong feelings about DI with some loving it and some not so much. I think you will find the sense of a small town there more than anywhere else around Charleston. If you remember DI from 5 years ago and liked it, I think you'll like it now too. It's been built up more but the essential "vibe" hasn't changed in my opinion.

[macalan]

Most (maybe all?) of the people, also, who don't like DI have never lived there.

[Ziggy100]

Originally Posted by macalan

Most (maybe all?) of the people, also, who don't like DI have never lived there.

I seriously considered Daniel Island because I actually like the artificial movie set feel. It's like a Chrsleston version of Celebration, FL. However my downers were:

1) Cost - for what I wanted to spend on a newer home in Mt P got me an elevated home on 1/5 of an acre. There's no fence tall enough that can give you any privacy and walking up 1 story just to get to the 1st floor sounds miserable.

2) outdated homes- a lot of the older more established neighborhoods in DI had homes that haven't been updated since they were built 15 years ago. Outside looked great, but interiors looked like a track home from th early 2000's.

3) Jurisdictional mess. It's in Berkeley County but it's the City of Charleston (even though you can't get to Charleston without going through another city and county). They were having an identity crises over their county when I was in the market a couple years ago and were trying to secede to Charleston County. A few things struck me as odd: a) what's so wrong with Berkeley County to warrant all that drama and b) what kind of upheaval would that leave when Berekely County's school and road projects are suddenly serving another county? Perhaps that's settled down now and people are now ok with Berkeley County again.

4) schools. The K-8 school is good but crowded and the new schools are off the island in rural Berkeley County. A lot of unknowns there. Back when they were trying to get into Charleston County, there was a strong possibility North Charleston would be their high school.

5) way too close to the paper mill (this is huge for me).

6) all the waterfront views are looking at container ports.

7) there's an elevated highway shooting across the island which you must take to do anything else. Usually an interstate cutting through your neighborhood is a bad thing.

8) only one pathetically undersized grocery store. The next closest one requires and interstate drive into Mount Pleasant. For all the forward looking planning DI pulled off, this seems like a huge oversight.

9) it's in Charleston, but if you actually work on the Penninsula (medical district) it's still a 30-40 minute drive.

Some issues were more deal breaker than others (papermill and uncertain school situation, overall value) but it is an overall nice place for people without those reservations.

I do think everything from Carnes Crossroads/and Tom to Summer's Corner to Carolina Park/Park West, Oyster Point etc are all going for the same vibe. JI is radically different type of neighborhood and Daniel Island is far from the only option if you want something different.

Summerville's historic district I think pulls off the actual small town vibe the best if you're going for a cross between James Island and an actual small town.

[Serenity2019]

I never lived there, but have gone there for many events, stadium , etc. I would never live there. Yes, it is a small town , separated from everything and you have to drive far to go downtown or other places on dreaded 526. It's clean with low crime and nice houses, but too small and isolated you have to leave for everything via the interstate. It's set far out and isolated, and too small.

[moneill]

It's a master planned community. Each phase has been planned from the get go. It's not like a real small town with a cute main street with homes that spread from the core outwards and develops haphazardly...there is a method to the madness and a plan. Multi-family, apartments, businesses, etc...all planned. It's a bedroom community of Charleston SC.

For me there is not much on the island proper and I would spend most of my time on 526 but I also wouldn't live past Six Mile Road off of 17. That's my choice.

For others it has all that they need and more.

[moneill]

Originally Posted by macalan

Most (maybe all?) of the people, also, who don't like DI have never lived there.

Well that makes sense. Many of us who looked and explored didn't like what we see or we would have bought there.