Growth factors: The Clements Ferry Road corridor continues to draw new business and residential developments

Another day gone and another day closer to the completion of the Clements Ferry Road widening project. While many residents lament what feels like a crawling pace on the expansion, business owners are excited about the prospects provided by the area.

Optometrist Joanna Corbit decided to open All Eyes Vision Care because of the increasing density of people along the corridor.

“As this area is growing and expanding, more homes being built, there’s definitely going to be the population to warrant having an optometry office,” said Corbit.

In addition, she wanted to work in her own neighborhood community.

“I also live nearby and my kids go to the school,” Corbit added. “So for this community, I think that there is going to be a lot more services.”

And, while she feels optimistic about her business’ future, she mentioned that her biggest concern at the moment is finding clients.

“Marketing has been a little bit challenging, being a cold startup, not having a lot of funds to spend on marketing, but needing to get the word out to patients,” Corbit stated. “The road construction on Clements Ferry Road (CFR) has been a challenge. People like to avoid this area sometimes if they can.”

Veterinarian Damon Padgett of Clements Ferry Veterinary agrees that traffic on the busy thoroughfare is one of the biggest concerns.

“Traffic is a beast,” he said. “Until they get the road widened, it takes them about an hour to get home, when it should take 15 minutes.”

Ironically, Padgett believes that the hard traffic halts outside of his roadside business are free advertising because motorists see the sign for his business while in traffic snarls.

The growth that Clements Ferry is experiencing “was everything” when making the decision to open Clements Ferry Veterinary in this location, according to Padgett.

“The growth is crazy out here. I’ve had my eye on this for a few years, and nobody was out here yet,” he said. “I wasn’t even aware of how many neighborhoods were already out here.”

Although Padgett was surprised at the ease he’s had finding clients, he said that he and his office’s architect designed the building with the intent of adding on to it.

“The sky’s the limit for how far I can expand,” he said.

The CFR area’s growth has made it a hot commodity for relocating businesses, as well. King’s Cross Church is moving from their Sunday meet-up spot of Philip Simmons Middle School to a permanent location, currently in construction.

“We are about two and a half years old,” explains Lead Pastor Chip Robinson. “Our goal was always to launch on Clements Ferry.”

Robinson believes that King’s Cross can aid the ever-expanding community in several ways. “We felt like the corridor was growing faster than what some of those churches were growing,” said Robinson. “We felt like there was an existing community that was potentially underserved.”

Aside from the sermons given, King’s Cross hopes that their space can provide a meeting area for residential gatherings.

“There aren’t places where people can gather for stuff, other than schools,” said Robinson. “We really hope the building that we’re working on can be a space that’s used by the community for whatever.”

The challenges that the new church faces are focused on two different issues that are cut from the same cloth: development.

“There aren’t empty spaces or spaces that were formerly something else,” Robinson stated. “It’s very much like Mt. Pleasant in that way. The cost of entry is really high.”

Along with the new building that King’s Cross had to put together, Robinson said that his church does not want to see the “existing community” pushed out in an example of rural gentrification. “I hope that the people who move in, and we’re part of that—that we value and respect and treasure the existing community that’s there, and we learn from it,” he added.

One new site in the Clements Ferry area will be its first brewery, named Indigo Reef Brewing.

Originally, head brewer and owner Christopher Ranere wanted to put his business closer to Highway 41, but decided to put it on CFR after seeing how much money was going into its infrastructure.

“We wanted to be decently close to major freeways and highways so that people can easily get to us,” said Ranere. “There are a handful of breweries in town that are pretty hard to get to, so we wanted to make it easier for our customers to find us.”

Ranere believes that the main challenges for Indigo Reef Brewing are the lack of other restaurants in the area and the construction, but also believes there are some advantages in this. “We’re kind of getting in on the ground floor of the Clements Ferry area from a business standpoint,” he said. “There’s a handful of business up there, but in terms of food and bev, it’s pretty limited.”

Indigo Reef Brewing is expected to open in late spring.

On the residential side of things, apartment complex Sweetwater said that the location was the biggest asset to opening their doors off of Clements Ferry Road.

“What’s going to come into play is once they’re done with Publix, they’re going to start work more on the surrounding area around Publix,” said Sweetwater development team member Creighton Kassinger. “You’re going to see property value just shoot up.”

Kassinger added that they purchased the property in 2013 with the Cainhoy Plantation area’s development in mind. Paxton Point Hope, another apartment community, is also coming to the area and will contain 274 residential units.

The new Publix on Hopewell Drive, near the entrance to the Philip Simmons schools, will be approximately 45,000 square feet. There is no confirmed opening date, but the target is for some time in the third quarter of this year.

According to Publix Media and Community Relations Manager Kim Reynolds, the new store will have everything people expect from the business.

“The store will have the traditional departments our customers know and love including a Publix scratch bakery, Publix Deli, fresh produce delivered daily, full-service meat & seafood department, and sushi among other services including online ordering of sliced meats & cheeses, platters, and bakery cakes,” she said. “The store will also have a Publix Pharmacy.”

Reynolds added that Publix decided to move out to this region because of public interest.

“We are continually looking at potential new store sites in effort to better serve our customers,” she said. “The Charleston region continues to experience growth particularly within this corridor. Additionally, we received requests from customers to open a store here. We are excited to expand our footprint across the region and bring Publix’s premier service and quality to customers in Clements Ferry.”

To prepare for the growth that the area is seeing, the Berkeley County Planning Commission is reevaluating their long running plan for the area.

“Currently, we have a comprehensive plan in place that I think they implemented…back in the ‘90s,” said Planning Commission member Marion Turner. “Normally what occurs is we review the comprehensive plan, limited scope review every five years, and then a full review every 10 years.”

The next full review will take place later this year.

As the growth of the area continues, Turner was unsure about everything that would happen, but stated that an open dialogue between the City of Charleston and Berkeley County will be the best way to pull through successfully.

“The communication between the county and the city is going to be key for the development of that area,” he said.