Quartz Countertops in West Ashley, SC

CHARLESTON — A local couple has found a treasure in a rundown building that was trashed for years on a busy West Ashley thoroughfare.

The tiny spot at 2177 Ashley River Road formerly housed a dry cleaner business and has since languished without a tenant as vandals covered it in graffiti and homeless camped out in the back.

But Jessica and Russell Luzier, owners of the family-run Stone Castings of Charleston, saw promise in it.

The couple are doing their best to revive the heavily trafficked property — though the project is taking much longer than expected. Jessica Luzier said they were hoping to open their storefront and manufacturing warehouse for custom-made stone products, such as fireplaces, countertops and fountains, this time last year. But extensive damage to the building and permit roadblocks have dragged the timeline out.

“When we took it over it was an abandoned property at that time and people had broken down the door to live inside and out back,” Luzier said. “There’s been a lot of neglect through the years, but also the people who moved in, they stripped the wiring out of the building and all that kind of stuff.”

Further hold-ups included adding a fire hydrant, which Luzier said she never anticipated to be their financial responsibility; coordinating to remove the garbage, such as rubber tires and drug paraphernalia dumped on the property over the years; and “emergency repairs” to water seal the building.

Luzier said she pleaded with Charleston County to allow her and her husband to jump a few steps ahead to stop water — and people — from getting in and wrecking the property further. She hopes those concerned about the condition and status of the site now can understand the timeline better.

Feeling at times as though they have taken one step forward and another step back, Luzier noted that the building was vandalized again a few weeks ago. She arrived to find the storefront’s newly installed $20,000 windows shattered.

As a small business owner, she said that’s not the kind of cash they have on hand for a quick fix.

The Luziers purchased the property for $515,000 in 2024, according to county records. It’s sandwiched between the large West Chase Apartment complex and the Interstate-526 overpass.

While the street frontage is narrow, the parcel spans almost an acre backward. The Luziers are using the extra space to constructing a manufacturing warehouse where they can hand-make their products on-site.

“We were really looking for something to make our home and outfit the space and we saw this would be a good fit for our business,” Luzier said.

She noted the store, expected to open in February or March, is a prime location for Stone Casting’s customers, which span all the way to Kiawah Island and Isle of Palms.

Stone Castings of Charleston has been in business for 20 years, though the Luziers bought out the company four years ago. They currently lease their nearby operational space at 1708 Pineview Road.

Future plans for the commercial site include adding a second floor to the main building and incorporating home décor items, as well as complementary pots and stone corbels, to their shoppable inventory.

“A lot of Charleston still doesn’t know that we’re here and people stumble upon us all the time,” Luzier said. “We’re really excited about the new spot because we’re going to try and use it as a reintroduction to the area and show people what we do.”

CHARLESTON — A city board was unable to decide on a development group’s request for conceptual approval to build a six-structure multifamily development in West Ashley, but the discussion made clear that the plans need to go back to the drawing board.

An exchange by Charleston’s Design Review Board on Jan. 5, in addition to 81 submitted public comments and several residents who spoke out in opposition, touched on concerns over the proposed Mosby Bees Ferry’s height, design and land use.

The project is proposed at 350 Grand Oaks Blvd., off Bees Ferry Road and behind a Harris Teeter supermarket and other businesses in the West Ashley Circle Center shopping complex. It calls for 380 units with 36 townhouses, along with separate garages, a clubhouse and a pool.

“I think even at a height scale and massing, I struggle to support it…,” board member David Meeks said.

No decision was made at Monday’s meeting because developer Middleburg Communities first needs approval from a city zoning board to cut down a number of protected grand trees on the 28-acre property. That determination would impact site design and only then could the project go before the Design Review Board.

But given how many residents weighed in — the applicants waited more than two hours to speak — the city panel was open to discussing the project.

The property has been owned by Bees Resources LP since 1994, according to county land records, and it includes eight acres of wetlands. The site zoned as miscellaneous commercial area.

Middleburg’s proposed apartment buildings would have a maximum height of 55 feet. Plans also call for 589 parking spaces and 25 garages.

Katie Burke, an architect with Cline Design, presented details of the project at the meeting on behalf of the developer. She noted that the “street edge is meant to feel as residential as possible,” with heights increasing inward.

She added the idea is to make a walkable community that will “echo some kind of Lowcountry vernacular” with its design.

Mosby Bees Ferry would back up to Long Savannah Road, the future main thoroughfare for 4,500 homes planned for the neighboring Long Savanna development. More than 20 years in the making, Long Savanna will be broken up into three main parts: a city park, a county park and a 1,200-acre residential area spread over 10 neighborhoods.

Several hundred more homes are planned along a 5-mile stretch of Bees Ferry Road. While traffic was a major feedback theme, the Design Review board said its oversight is limited to the design elements only.

Of the 81 public comments submitted, most focused on concerns that fall outside the panel’s purview. These included land use, stormwater and flooding.

But some noted the buildings felt too tall, and others requested more trees be preserved to serve as buffers. One comment requested better screens for garages and trash cans from the public roadway while another asked the palette of the apartments match the rainbow-hued townhomes nearby.

Frank Ricker, a retired doctor who lives in Grand Oaks, said he moved into the neighborhood because of its “modest” one- and two-level homes and winding roads around ponds and trees.

The Mosby project would require clearing out a huge swath of forest.

“What concerns me is what happens to Charleston. Developers come in … and they just dump these big buildings on us, and these buildings are out of context with the architecture of the rest of the community,” he said.

While congestion was not up for consideration, Ricker said it’s hard to overlook the 400 cars that would add to the already brutal traffic on roads in and around Grand Oaks.

“It’s overdevelopment,” he said.

Charlie Strickland, another resident of Grand Oaks, said he passes by the proposed site almost daily. His said the design does not match the rest of the community that he’s lived in for 20 years.

He asked that the board consider the residents who have to view the project daily, not the developers.

“They don’t live here,” he said.

The board recommended that before returning, the developer review a number of aspects, including strengthening the base of the apartment buildings with a brick water table, adjusting the colors of the pool house, pushing the pickleball courts away from the parking lot to allow for more greenspace and walking paths, and adding more details to the townhome entrances.

Burke did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the timeline on the project.

Vienna, Va.-based Middleburg said on its website that it has acquired, developed and financed more than 32,000 multifamily housing units since 2004 with a total value exceeding $4.5 billion.

Locally, the company built the Mosby Ingleside apartment complex near Interstate 26 and U.S. Highway 78 North Charleston and Hamlet Maybank, a single-family rental community on Johns Island.

New development aims to reduce traffic by bringing retail closer to growing residential areas

WEST ASHLEY, S.C. (WCSC) — City officials are moving forward with plans to expand commercial development in outer West Ashley, targeting an area between Bees Ferry Road and Glenn McConnell Parkway.

The Charleston City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance Tuesday night for a planned unit development in what developers call “The Wedge” area of outer West Ashley.

“The city has really been trying to focus on bringing more commercial development into that area because with Grand Oaks, Carolina Bay, and the Bees Ferry corridor, we feel like there’s enough heads in beds to finally really have a nice commercial component for outer West Ashley,” Karl Brady, Charleston City Councilmember for District 5, said.

Documents show there are 85,000 residential units within a five-mile radius of West Ashley Circle. The area currently has an established Walmart and other services, but Brady said the development aims to fill the remaining section with additional retail and commercial purposes.

The planned unit development proposes three land use districts: the Outparcel District, the Financial District, and the Commercial District. The plan combines general offices and businesses with walkability to existing locations.

Brady said the development addresses the city’s goal of creating work nodes where people can live, shop and potentially work in the same area.

City officials said traffic complaints are the top concern they receive from residents. The commercial expansion aims to reduce traffic along Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and other main West Ashley arteries by bringing grocery stores and other services closer to residential areas.

“The traffic is just getting worse and worse by the day,” West Ashley resident Carter Souris said.

Some residents said they welcome the convenience of closer commercial options despite concerns about rapid development.

“It’s a lot better because then it’s quicker to drive through down here, even though the distanc,e because of how long you’d have to sit in traffic,” Max Lee, another West Ashley resident, said.

The ordinance must complete the regular approval process before moving forward.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — A homeless encampment located about a hundred yards off Ashley Hall Road is now being cleared, as outreach workers say it’s part of a growing homelessness trend across the Lowcountry.

Personal belongings remain scattered throughout the area, including clothing, shoes, and bedding. Crews with the HOPE Resource Center say the site is currently in the process of being addressed through outreach efforts.

The encampment is one of six her organization has worked to address so far this year, reflecting what she describes as a broader rise in homelessness across the region, according to Executive Director LaTosha Jenkins-Fludd.

The encampment is located off North Woodmere Drive. Jenkins-Fludd says sites like this often form so people can remain together, particularly families or couples who want to avoid being separated.

A recent state report shows more than 450 people are experiencing homelessness across the Lowcountry, representing an estimated 14 percent increase from last year.

Jenkins-Fludd says those numbers align with what the HOPE Resource Center is seeing firsthand, including noticeable increases in unhoused seniors, women, and children. She says many people living in encampments are dealing with a range of challenges, including eviction, mental health struggles, terminal illness, or transitioning out of foster care.

“Usually when we’re made aware of an encampment, we engage with it using our own outreach specialists here in the City of Charleston,” Jenkins-Fludd said. “We go out and ask people how we can help — whether that’s access to showers, a hot meal, laundry services or case management for housing.”

She added that not everyone is immediately receptive to help, and that the organization works closely with mental health partners to address deeper needs.

The HOPE Resource Center is open four days a week and offers hot showers, a hot breakfast, and case management services. Those in need of assistance are encouraged to reach out for help.

WEST ASHLEY — Two years after an Indian restaurant that was a favorite of locals shut down for a complete remodel and rebuild, it’s finally eyeing a reopening date.

The only hold up? The building still needs interior walls and equipment.

Balvinder Banga originally expected the overhaul of Nirlep at 908 Savannah Highway to take about seven months. Instead, the project is nearing the two-year mark.

She’s now hopeful the fully rebuilt space will be ready by early 2026, ideally in January.

As part of the refresh, Banga unveiled a new logo on the outside of the Charleston building featuring an Indian man wearing sunglasses — a visual cue, the owner said, to clearly signal that Nirlep serves Indian cuisine.

The logo and the refreshed interior will be the most notable changes to the dining experience.

“It will be the same menu, same everything,” Banga said. That includes Nirlep’s popular lunch buffet.

Nirlep closed at the end of 2023 after persistent issues with the aging structure, particularly its plumbing, Banga said.

What followed was a full demolition down to the slab. The new building will feature a larger kitchen, two clay ovens — one for the restaurant’s variety of tandoori-roti breads and another for chicken — as well as a bar with seating and a semi-private dining room that can hold about 20 guests.

Banga is also considering adding outdoor seating behind the building.

Many longtime staff members plan to return, and Banga will remain in the kitchen cooking her secret-sauce chicken tandoori, spicy Krahi chicken and chicken tikki masala.

She and her husband, Dilawar Banga, first opened Nirlep in 2002, naming it after their son. They purchased the building in 2008 for $485,000, according to county records.

Despite construction delays, customer demand hasn’t waned. Banga said diners as far as Summerville continue to ask when Nirlep will reopen. All of the restaurant’s new furniture is sitting in a warehouse, ready to be moved in once the renovations are complete.

Nirlep’s return comes as Charleston’s Indian dining scene continues to grow.

In recent years the Lowcountry area has welcomed Spice Palette in Mount Pleasant, Ma’am Saab, the Pakistani restaurant and cocktail bar from the owners of the more casual Malika Canteen in Mount Pleasant, and most recently, Riviat, a higher-end Indian restaurant which opened in the Cannonborough/Elliotborough neighborhood in September.