Project seeking bridge

Magnolia site asks to span marshland

Magnolia site asks to span marshland

The group that is proposing to create a new urban oasis along the Ashley River in the Charleston Neck Area is seeking approval for a bridge across a swath of marshland.

Officials from Magnolia Development LLC want to build the quarter-mile-long span roughly between Braswell and Mechanic streets. Plans also show a traffic circle on the Braswell side of the bridge and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle path that would link the residential areas north of Hampton Park with the Magnolia site.

If given the go-ahead by the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, the thoroughfare would mark one of the first tangible signs that change really is coming to the area in upper Charleston, between U.S. Interstate 26 and the Ashley River. Plans call for the 216-acre Magnolia property to be transformed in mixed-use urban neighborhood with offices, shops, hotels, a marina and thousands of residences.

The privately financed bridge and road project is projected to cost about $6 million and take a year to build, said Winthrop Allen, director of development for Magnolia Development, an affiliate of Raleigh-based Cherokee Investment Partners.

Construction could start as early as the fall, Allen said.

The public comment period for the permit request ends July 31.

Vehicular access to the proposed roadway and bridge to the Magnolia site would be via the Rutledge Avenue exit off eastbound Interstate 26. Motorists would have the option of turning right either on Mechanic Street at the foot of the off-ramp or on Heriot Street.

The road is an extension of Petty Street, Allen said. It's proximity to the freeway will help minimize traffic on surface roads.

"It's important to have direct access to Interstate 26," Allen said.

Unlike another major project in the Neck Area — an access road linking I-26 with a port terminal on the former Navy base — Magnolia's proposal has encountered almost no opposition, Charleston Councilman Jimmy Gallant said. Environmentalists and residents groups alike support it.

Gallant, whose district includes the site, said the developers, the city and neighborhood groups have worked as a tight-knit unit since the redevelopment plan was floated more than five years ago.

For the 31 years he's lived off Rutledge Avenue, many residents have wanted to see the former industrialized areas of the Neck revitalized, Gallant said.

"We had very little opposition to the progress of the Magnolia project," he said Friday.

The Coastal Conservation League also has lauded the project. The Charleston-based group has spoken out against the new port terminal and its access road. But the Magnolia project will breathe new life into a largely blighted area, said Nancy Vinson, a program manager with the league.

"Its the kind of development we support and promote," she said.

Reach Peter Hull at 937-5594 or phull@postandcourier.com.