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Proposed rendering of Ashley Landing site (Edens).

WEST ASHLEY, S.C. (WCIV) — In West Ashley, city leaders and developing company Edens, plan to break ground on the Ashley Landing Shopping Center revitalization project next week.

READ MORE| Charleston unveils $300M redevelopment plan for West Ashley's Sumar Street site

Construction fencing is now present around the old Big Lots building as the project prepares to go underway.

This development is years in the making, and was officially approved by the Charleston City Council in September 2024. Following approval, Edens obtained ownership of the approximately 35-acre parcel of land, included the lot on Sumar Street, where Piggly Wiggly once stood.

The development company now aims to build a new town center for the community to enjoy, with a variety of renderings public on its website.

Charleston City Councilmember for District 9, William Tinkler, says he thinks this is the largest investment in West Ashley's history, with the city pledging $45 million, and Edens contributing $300 million.

“It's really good that they're giving back to the community here in West Ashley," says Bubba Walkins, who grew up in the area.

READ MORE | Charleston City Council pushes forward with major redevelopment on Sumar Street

Tinkler says the public funds will be focused on infrastructure.

"The city's got some projects planned on Old Towne Road that are going to lead to some traffic infrastructure there that I think is going to benefit," he said.

Edens is required to conduct a traffic impact study for the project, and Charleston County will also be looking to make improvements on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Old Towne Road.

Nine acres of storm water retention will be built underneath the property to help with flooding in the area.

Tinkler says ensuring available affordable housing is also a focus.

"One of the benefits of this project is to be able to provide housing, and housing that those folks can afford." Tinkler says a certain portion of housing created will be workforce housing.

The public is invited to attend the ground-breaking on Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m.

A West Ashley gym will power down for good next month, leaving customers crushed.

O2 Fitness at 1119 Wappoo Road sent an email to members at 2 p.m. April 18, stating, "our lease terminates at the end of May and we have been unable to find a path forward to maintain."

The final day is May 31 with the closure time scheduled for 7 p.m.

The gym anchors the Ashley Oaks Plaza, situated in the middle of a group of tenants that include West Ashley Hardware/TrueValue, Los Reyes Mexican Restaurant, Kings Sushi, Lavish Nail Salon, Ultratan and newly added Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids.

"As a local company born and raised in the Carolinas, with roots in Charleston going back 25 years, this is a disappointing situation," the email said.

The Raleigh-based fitness chain first opened the West Ashley location in January 2019.

The gym was one of three workout centers, including Daniel Island and Moncks Corner, to replace existing facilities O2 inherited after its purchase of the former East Shore Athletic Club's Charleston-area operations in 2013.

"These three upgrades, along with the addition of our beautiful James Island club late last year, help showcase our commitment to providing the Charleston-area with first-class fitness facilities,” O2 Fitness founder and CEO Michael Olander previously told The Post and Courier.

Memberships to the West Ashley location remain active at O2 Fitness on Folly Road, with no action required, the company said.

The chain operates 19 fitness centers, mostly in North Carolina.

A sandwich chain that's operated in South Carolina for more than 80 years has added a West Ashley stop.

Groucho’s Deli, led by Max Miller — the great-grandson of founder Harold “Groucho” Miller — opened at 975 Savannah Highway in St. Andrews Shopping Center.

Miller has been working for the family business since growing up Columbia, where his grandfather opened the first restaurant in 1941 in the Five Points area.

“When I was 12 years old, I remember my dad used to pull a bar stool up and set me in front of the cash register,” Miller said.

After attending the College of Charleston, he opened his first Groucho’s Deli in Mount Pleasant in 2020.

The West Ashley outpost is Miller's second franchise, co-owned by Nick Basile, a lifelong friend and the former manager of the Five Points Groucho’s.

“He and I worked there almost every day in high school,” Miller said.

The West Ashley shop renews Groucho's presence in Charleston after the downtown location at 364A King St. closed in 2022 after 20 years. The franchise owner stated he had been priced out of the market.

Another Groucho’s Deli opened in Summerville in 2017 and is still going strong and another is in Mount Pleasant.

The deli, known for its “dipper” subs, large salads and signature “Formula 45 Sauce, was first franchised in the early 2000s by Bruce Miller, the third generation to operate the restaurant. The chain has grown to 32 locations in three states, with about three new stores added a year.

The count has come far since its namesake founder to Columbia in 1941 after spending his childhood in a Philadelphia orphanage with "a handful" of original recipes for potato salad coleslaw and dressings for salads and sandwiches.

The city of Charleston's long-established West Ashley suburb continues to be a draw for buyers and renters seeking a slice of Lowcountry living.

From 2020 to 2025, city officials estimate the area's population grew 6 percent to almost 72,000 — and that's only counting the incorporated sections. The boom is more than double the 2.8 percent population increase nationwide during the same time period.

On average, South Carolina has gained about 360,579 residents a year from April 2020 through July 2024, or about 90,000 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But the West Ashley rush isn't slowing down. An estimated 6,000 housing units are in the works, with many of them expected to come online within the next year. And all are within a 5-mile drive, led by the long-delayed Long Savanna development.

The projects come in addition to existing major multifamily developments along the same corridor, like the 1,400-home Grand Oaks Plantation, built in the late 1990s; Hunt Club, built in the early 2000s with about 500 residences; and the 1,800-home Carolina Bay development off Glenn McConnell Parkway.

There's also the recently wrapped Grand Bees and the 394 apartments at Aventon Bees Ferry.

Heading down Bees Ferry, along Glenn McConnell Parkway and right on Henry Tecklenburg Drive, here's where the bulk of new single-family, townhomes and apartments will be built.

Bellerose at Bees Ferry: 155

The Bellerose at Bees Ferry apartments are are almost wrapped at 3029 Stonecrest Drive, at the corner of Bees Ferry Road.

Plans for the new Storia neighborhood call for 155 three-bedroom townhomes, pool, on-site dog par, open-air pavilion and walking paths.

Charleston County is set to begin construction on a project that will alleviate traffic for West Ashley and Johns Island residents, officials told residents at the first quarterly update meeting for the road improvements March 13.

The project encompasses a number of improvements to help with traffic including construction of flyovers at the intersection of Main Road and U.S. Highway 17, an interchange at Main Road and Highway 17 for drivers who want to avoid the intersection, a bridge over CSX Railroad, a roundabout at the intersection of Main, Chisholm and River roads, and a widening of Main Road from River and Chisholm roads to the interchange ramps.

The improvements were originally part of a bigger project for Main Road, from Bees Ferry Road to Betsy Kerrison Parkway. The project was then split into three segments, with this segment first estimated to cost $130 million in 2020.

This now $354 million project — the largest infrastructure project in Charleston County history — is funded by the 2016 half-cent transportation sales tax.

Herb Nimz, county project manager, said during the county's quarterly project meeting on March 13 that they're still in the permitting process, but have worked on securing right-of-way acquisition. They're also currently doing test piles, or assessing the strength and stability of the columns that will support the interchange and flyovers. Plans are in the works to relocate utilities, like Charleston Water System and Dominion Energy, before construction starts in May, he said.

Most of the road work on Main Road and Highway 17 will take place at night, but residents should still expect some backup during construction, Nimz said.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better," Nimz said.

Residents in West Ashley and on Johns Island who live around the roads slated for changes have mixed feelings.

Jacob Andrew, a Johns Island resident, said he's excited about how the road project will help with traffic.

"It’s going to work," he said. "They could get it 50 percent right, and it would be better than the way it is now."

However, he worries about how traffic volume will only continue to increase around where he lives off Main Road as more people continue to move to the Lowcountry.

Census data shows the population of Johns Island's specifically surged from roughly 15,100 people in 2010 to almost 22,900 in 2021. More than 25,000 people are estimated to live on the island today.

The county will most likely be back to the drawing board in 10 years to come up with another solution, Andrew said.

Andrew is also unhappy the county cut plans for a bike and pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Limehouse Bridge that was previously included in the project. Nimz said he's met with the state Department of Transportation and is working to add at least a sidewalk to the bridge.

West Ashley resident Jamie Jacobs is looking forward to the changes, but worries congestion may remain as Main Road and Highway 17 are highly trafficked roads for people coming from West Ashley, Ravenel and Johns Island.

Ultimately, she said if the flyovers and interchange allow for commuters to no longer wait at the red light at the intersection of Main Road and Highway 17 for an hour, residents will be much happier.

Officials expect the project to be complete late September 2028.