Project is part of bigger plan to move north

Industry being directed toward Cooper River

The Magnolia project is part of a greater push to move industry toward the Cooper River and bridge older downtown neighborhoods with ones further north. One day, a network of communities could extend from the Hampton Park Terrace neighborhood to North Charleston.

Eighteen companies used to be located on land included in the Magnolia plan. Several of them have agreed to relocate to the 135-acre Macalloy site near Shipyard Creek, which Magnolia partner Robert L. Clement III also partially owns.

To the north of its flagship community, Magnolia Development LLC is working on a similar 102-acre project in North Charleston called the Ashley River Center. That plan calls for as many as 2,800 homes, a public pier and a biotech facility that could serve as a hub for the tech-based business community.

Project organizers hope that the community will start to take shape with commercial and home construction by next year, once a massive lead and arsenic cleanup is complete.

Between the Magnolia company's two massive developments are the Rosemont neighborhood and a chemical plant owned by Rhodia Inc., a French company that makes ingredients used in flame retardants and water-treatment systems.

Rhodia is one of few industrial companies that are expected to remain on the western side of the peninsula.