AC Repair in North Charleston, SC

Facility will insource production of key security products and bring new jobs to the region

RESTON, Va., July 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE:LDOS), a FORTUNE^® 500 science and technology leader, today announced plans to establish a new security systems manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina. This will be the company's third security systems manufacturing location in the U.S., expanding its presence and support to customers. Leidos will invest $31.7 million in the new facility, creating up to 170 new jobs in the region over time.

"This facility brings more manufacturing back into the U.S. and expands Leidos' global security capabilities for the aviation and critical infrastructure markets," said Jim Moos, Leidos Civil Group president. "We're thrilled to expand into the North Charleston area and look forward to making a positive impact in the community."

The new facility will produce security systems for Leidos' Security Enterprise Solutions (SES) operation. SES offers a comprehensive suite of fully automated and integrated products for aviation, shipping ports, border crossings and critical infrastructure customers. These systems provide threat detection by screening baggage, cargo and people at checkpoints around the world.

"Leidos' $31.7 million investment in their new facility here in the Lowcountry will lead to significant job growth and economic development," said Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC-1). "We congratulate them on their expanding operation and thank them for putting their faith in South Carolina."

Located in Ladson Industrial Park, the new 150,000-square-foot facility will enable Leidos to onshore more manufacturing increasing the company's critical capacity to support its growing customer base. The new plant will optimize manufacturing efficiency, quality and safety through application of best-in-class manufacturing processes. The facility is currently under construction and is expected to be fully operational by the first half of 2024.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500^® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 46,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

SOURCE Leidos

North Charleston may soon have a grand new park on the Ashley River, with walking and biking trails, open spaces and water access.

Or it may not.

See, for the past year there have been competing plans for the former Baker Hospital site, which sits on the riverbank just a mile south of the North Bridge. Alas, neither plan may pan out because … well, politics.

The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission recently approved a long-term lease with Sea Fox Boats as part of a $50 million deal to build a manufacturing plant and dry dock storage on part of the property … along with a 35-acre park that would include docks, kayak and canoe launches, nearly 2 miles of walking trails, picnic areas, an adventure playground, a BMX track, sports fields and an amphitheater.

Out of five proposals, that was the one PRC commissioners found most appealing. But in doing so, they turned down a similar idea from the College of Charleston and the city of North Charleston.

Which, not insignificantly, controls zoning of the site. See where this is going?

The city proposal included three soccer fields, a baseball/softball field — for both community use and intramural play — as well as walking trails tying into the Lowcountry Lowline. Plans suggest the city eventually could add facilities for the College of Charleston’s women’s NCAA beach volleyball team, as well as a ropes course, kayak launch, picnic area and fishing pier.

Most importantly, Mayor Keith Summey says, the city and college’s plan did not include a manufacturing plant in the middle of Union Heights.

“That’s just not the right plan,” Summey says. “We feel like this is an opportunity to get waterfront access to an area that needs some help. City residents don’t want to see any more industry in that area. Let ’em try to move south and put it in the city of Charleston, see how that goes.”

Yeah, North Charleston is playing rough. The city and college eventually partnered with Azalea Green — a nonprofit that had submitted a separate proposal to the park commission, and was set up by the philanthropists who donated the land to the PRC in 2014.

That didn’t move the commission, which said combining proposals wouldn’t be fair to the other applicants.

As that played out, City Council rezoned the Baker Hospital property from general business and light industrial to single-family residential against the recommendation of the city’s Planning Commission. Critics call it a “spot rezoning” ripe for litigation.

The meeting’s minutes say council decided the property would eventually be used “as community and College of Charleston practice fields.”

So, for the moment anyway, Sea Fox can’t build its manufacturing plant … or the park.

Summey says North Charleston — one of South Carolina’s premier hubs for industry and retail — most certainly isn’t anti-business. But the city opposes the PRC’s plan because residents don’t want any more industry in that area. The mayor says various interests are now lobbying City Council, and mayoral candidates, to change the zoning again come January — when he retires.

Of course, the Park and Recreation Commission is unaccustomed to such bare-knuckled local politics. Folks with the commission say Sea Fox simply offered a fully — and privately — funded development plan that costs taxpayers nothing … and includes more money for environmental clean-up needed at the site. And it has design input from Tom O’Rourke, who ran the PRC for nearly two decades.

The commission has been sitting on this strategic land — 12 miles from James Island County Park, 18 miles from Mount Pleasant’s Palmetto Islands and 17 miles from Wannamaker — for a decade. For years, it was tied up in a lease option with a sports training company that never got its funding.

Kevin Bowie, executive director of Charleston County PRC, concedes the Sea Fox proposal can’t work without a zoning change from North Charleston — but it would’ve needed one anyway, as the previous zoning didn’t allow for boat manufacturing.

“We do want to work with the city,” Bowie says. “This is just the first step, and there are partnerships that need to be defined.”

Bowie says the next step is for the public to review and possibly recommend changes before Sea Fox and the Park and Recreation Commission settle on final plans. But there’s still the not-insignificant hurdle of the zoning.

Freddy Renken, president of Sea Fox Boats, says he’s not going to let this stop plans for what he calls a “live, work, play” lifestyle. Not only would the park provide recreation for all county residents, but the plant would bring jobs to local residents.

“I can give your grandmother a job in our upholstery shop, and also give your grandchild a job welding in the aluminum shop or assembling boats in our finishing department,” Renken says. “I think this would help people in the community.”

Most folks, particularly county officials, say a park in that underserved area would be awesome. And they hope this gets settled sooner rather than later, and without a lawsuit.

If that doesn’t happen, the real losers here will be the people of Charleston County.

NORTH CHARLESTON — When the 545 apartments at South Carolina’s largest public housing project were turned to rubble 20 years ago, the stage was set for a new community blending subsidized apartments with homes to own.

The grim, barracks-style North Park Village housing project was one of several that North Charleston and its housing authority set out to demolish and redevelop in the mid-2000s.

Mayor Keith Summey called them “cancers to the community.”

Part of the cure was to be Horizon Village, a 68-acre development that would have a mix of incomes and ages, renters and homeowners.

Hundreds of apartments and 31 homes for sale were soon built, but most of the planned new homes were still just empty lots six years ago.

Those 99 lots are no longer empty, now occupied by homeowners, many of whom were first-time buyers seeking homes at affordable prices.

“We feel really fortunate,” said Joanie Borders, who lives with her boyfriend in a home he bought in 2020. “It’s really close to Park Circle, with all of its amenities, and has access to the water.”

Horizon Village sits just over a mile south of Park Circle at the end of South Rhett Avenue and between Spruill and Rivers avenues. At its northeast end is Four Poles Park, which has a disc golf course and a fishing pier on Noisette Creek, across from the Firefly Distillery that hosts live music on weekends.

“We have really liked it, as first-time home buyers,” said Natalie Giecek, who lives near the park.

Husband Nick Giecek said the couple relocated from Atlanta in 2020 so that he could help his dad manage a Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise in Mount Pleasant, but they quickly realized East Cooper housing was too expensive. They became first-time home buyers that year, in Horizon Village.

“These homes were very affordable,” said Natalie.

The houses are a mix of single-family and attached homes. In 2019 they were selling in the low $200,000s.

Home prices have soared since then across the greater Charleston area, and Horizon Village was no exception. This year, in June, a house there sold for more than $400,000.

Getting those homes built did not go as originally planned.

A Maryland developer that had partnered with the North Charleston Housing Authority failed, and the land was returned to the authority. Streets and utilities were already in place, but 99 lots sat empty and the authority put the land up for auction in 2017.

Hunter Quinn Homes of Mount Pleasant put in the highest of two bids for the home sites, about $1.65 million according to the housing authority.

“That area of the Lowcountry is in need of affordable homes,” Hunter Quinn President Will Herring said at the time.

Buying home sites with roads and utilities in place for less than $17,000 each helped make that possible. By early 2019, Hunter Quinn had a model home open and was advertising prices starting in the $190,000s.

The land sold by the housing authority had no restrictions on home prices or the income level of potential buyers. The authority set aside the money from the sale, to potentially buy more land in the future.

“It’s worked out really well,” said Jeremy Erling, executive director of the housing authority. “Hunter Quinn quickly built those good houses and sold them.”

Erling said that driving through Horizon Village, it’s hard to tell which buildings are individually-owned homes that were sold on the open market, and which are subsidized rental properties. The owned homes do tend to have more landscaping, and they don’t have unit numbers on the doors like the subsidized rentals.

Horizon Village is really five developments in one, serving different groups of renters and home owners.

The Creekside homes were all sold in the last four years, and many of the homeowners are in the same, younger age range.

“This neighborhood is very tight,” said Natalie Giecek. “We have our own kickball team.”

While the Creekside homes are relatively new, most of the small apartment houses in Horizon Village are nearing 15 years. That means the federal tax credits tied to their construction will be phasing out, and the housing authority will become the full owner.

Erling said the authority could then potentially “be seeking a new development partner and a new round of financing to go back through these units and bring them back to new condition.”

In the two decades since North Park Village was torn down, the surrounding area has changed considerably, making it a more desirable location.

The collection of neighborhoods generally called Park Circle has continued to grow, including new developments such as Mixon and Oak Terrace Preserve.

The Firefly Distillery and music venue across Noisette Creek from Horizon Village is among several new businesses that have set up shop on Spruill Avenue, between Park Circle and Horizon Village.

Nearby, the former Navy base is in the early stages of a 70-acre redevelopment where housing, shopping and destination entertainment are planned. And the Lowcountry Rapid Transit high-speed bus line is planned for Rivers Avenue, with a transit hub at Rivers and McMillan avenues where Charleston County recently opened a new public services building.

An 85,000-square-foot building combining office and “flex” space in North Charleston has landed its first tenant after being fully renovated.

RXO, a transportation and logistics company, recently leased about 8,500 square feet in Port 26 at 2155 Eagle Drive next to Interstate 26.

Charlotte-based Redline Property Partners bought the building for $6.2 million in 2021 and recently completed its makeover.

The renovation included the exterior, common areas and restrooms. Also the entrances and lobby areas were redesigned, while lounges, outdoor patios and a dog park were added.

Changing hands

A West Ashley pub and grill is now under new ownership.

Robert Hills recently bought Trayce’s Too at 2578 Ashley River Road from Rejean Gregorie, according to Jim Moring with restaurantbrokers.info. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Strip center sale

A 9,000-square-foot strip retail center in southern Moncks Corner recently sold for $3.7 million.

Belle Oaks 4425 LLC bought the property at 116 Foxbank Plantation Blvd. that houses Mexican restaurant Cinco de Mayo, Roper St. Francis ATI Physical Therapy and the salon iNails. The previous owner of the nearly 0.99-acre site was Foxbank Retail I LLC.

The property is near the rapidly developing juncture of U.S. Highway 52 and Cypress Gardens Road, where several new businesses, homes and apartments have been built.

Designs on Charleston

A Houston-based architecture and engineering firm now has 20 offices across the U.S., Mexico and Middle East after opening an office in Charleston.

Page Southerland Page, commonly called Page, recently opened in the 22 WestEdge office building in the WestEdge development near Lockwood Drive on the peninsula.

The company cites its design expertise in fields of academic, health care and historic preservation.

Sarah Walter, a Charleston native and Clemson University graduate, moved from Atlanta to lead the new downtown office as managing director.

“Charleston is growing at such an incredible pace, and I’m excited to be practicing in my home state and to have the opportunity to help shape that growth in a positive way,” Walter said.

Some of Page’s local projects include a seismic evaluation for the historic Charleston Customhouse, the North Charleston VA Clinic and the Medical University of South Carolina emergency department for children.

The North Charleston Fire Department says Ashley Phosphate Road is partially open as crews remain on scene of a fire involving multiple mobile homes.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The North Charleston Fire Department provided updated information Wednesday on a fire that damaged several mobile homes and required the temporary closure of a major roadway late Tuesday afternoon.

A total of nine adults and three children have been displaced by the fire, which damaged five homes on Beret Street, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Rainey said. EMS took one North Charleston firefighter to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The fire department responded to a 911 call at 4:48 p.m. The first crews to arrive at the scene reported heavy smoke and flames coming from a single-family home.

“Crews made entry to extinguish the fire,” Rainey said. “Firefighters encountered heavy fire and heat inside the home. All residents had evacuated the home.”

They spotted fire extending to a second home and Rainey said high-wind conditions hampered efforts to put out the fires and caused flames to spread to three additional homes.

“This fire has been a wind-driven fire,” North Charleston Fire Safety Coordinator Laura Kondor said at the scene Tuesday night.

Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to a sixth home, Rainey said.

Kondor said the homes affected by the fire were either a complete loss or partially damaged.

John Marlowe lives across the street from where the fire broke out. He said he was doing yard work when he looked up and saw his neighbor’s home engulfed in flames.

“I was just weed-eating the yard and I looked across the street and saw a bunch of flames coming out of a house,” Marlowe said.

He said he ran over and grabbed a water hose, trying to put out the fire, but there wasn’t enough pressure in the hose to help.

“A bunch of houses went on fire; six houses went down and all of them my friends. All of them are without a home now,” Marlowe said.

Officials with the North Charleston Fire Department said there was not enough water supply in the area to support the amount of fire trucks on scene.

Officials said several power lines were also affected.

The fire forced officials to shut down a portion of Ashley Phosphate Road near the Cathedral of Praise to extend fire hoses for several hours, Rainey said.

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.

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