From cotton to cigars to condos

Grace Beahm

The Cigar Factory on East Bay Street.

The Cigar Factory, a former cotton mill that has become a prominent Charleston landmark, has changed hands and will change uses under its new ownership.

The Simpson Organization Inc., an Atlanta-based real estate firm, has purchased the iconic property at East Bay and Columbus streets for about $20 million.

The company proposes to transform the building into a mix of condominiums, shops and offices, company President Boyd Simpson said.

Simpson said his firm is planning to develop 77 residential loft-style condos on the upper floors. The ground-floor commercial space would be a mix, with 26,000 square feet of offices and 37,000 square feet for retail uses that could include a gourmet food store and a "signature" restaurant, he said.

Simpson estimated that the first residents could start moving in around mid-2009. Pricing for the condos will likely start around $380,000 and top out around $1.4 million.

He said the residential units would take advantage of the building's oversized architectural features. The condos will feature 15-foot ceilings and expansive windows that once shed sunlight onto crowded factory floors.

"You have a space that has terrific volume in it and wonderful natural light from these large, attractive windows," he said.

The corner property sits on about four acres near the base of the Ravenel Bridge. It was previously owned by a company that included Chicago-based Jupiter Realty Corp. and several of its partners, who split from the firm after their $14.7 million purchase of the Cigar Factory in 2005.

"It just made sense to sell," said J. Luzuriaga, a former Jupiter executive who is now a partner in Charleston-based J.L. Woode Ltd.

In recent years, the space in the Cigar Factory had been about 100 percent occupied. It lost its biggest single tenant in 2006, when culinary school Johnson and Wales University completed the shutdown of its Charleston campus.

Simpson's real estate firm owns 36 properties throughout the Southeast, many of them old buildings that were given a modern makeover.

For example, the company recently converted a former corn syrup manufacturing plant in downtown Atlanta into a 85,000-square-foot office building for artists.

The Cigar Factory is one of several Simpson-owned properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The developer said he's not overly concerned about the slowing demand for condos in Charleston. He thinks the peninsula is a unique market that will continue to attract a steady stream of buyers.

"We don't think we have to have 'boom' conditions to succeed with the project — just normalcy," Simpson said.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.