In the 25 years since Charleston County bought a former auto dealership on the Charleston peninsula, the property has soared in value, and now council members are debating whether to sell it all or use a portion for affordable housing.
The county already sold a 1.5-acre section of the 8-acre property at 995 Morrison Drive in a $6.2 million deal that included money to relocate some county offices. The strip of land will be used for road or bridge access to a massive development planned on Laurel Island.
At issue now is what to do with the remaining 6.5 acres still on Morrison Drive, which the county believes is worth about $30 million. The county bought the entire 8 acres for $1.45 million in 1996. It sits in a part of the upper Charleston peninsula that's become home to new luxury apartments, restaurants and a technology business center — a part of the city where housing has become increasingly unaffordable.
At a County Council Housing Committee meeting Sept. 23, the differences of opinion were stark.
Several council members said selling the property is the best way to financially make up for the debacle of the former Charleston Naval Hospital — a redevelopment project gone awry that the county paid $33 million to settle.
Council members Jenny Honeycutt, Brantley Moody and Herb Sass all said 995 Morrison should be sold for that reason.
“I was on this council when the Naval Hospital property happened, and I believe we owe it to the taxpayers to try to make them whole," Sass said.
Meanwhile, the county has been making efforts to address the lack of affordable housing in the county. Just this month they hired a consultant. With the cost of land being a huge issue, some council members see the 995 Morrison property as an opportunity.
Council Chairman Teddie Pryor called for putting a deed restriction on a 3.3 acres of the property, which is about half the land the county still owns, requiring that affordable housing be included in any development there.
With support from Housing Committee members on council Anna Johnson and Rob Wehrman, and opposed by Dickie Schweers, Pryor's recommendation will go forward to the full council when the Finance Committee meets next.
“I’m thinking about the people who work downtown" but can't afford to live there, Pryor said.
Honeycutt, Moody and Sass weren't able to vote on the recommendation because they aren't on the Housing Committee. Neither could Councilman Kylon Middleton, who was also at the meeting where several committees met.
If the eight council members present had all been able to vote — Henry Darby was absent — their comments indicated a 4-4 tie would have been the result.
Charleston County has been working for years to clear the way for a potential sale of the 995 Morrison property, working with the city of Charleston on zoning rules and relocating the Disabilities Board and magistrate offices that had been housed there.
In 2019, the county agreed to sell the 1.5 acres of 995 Morrison Drive and also sold the former recycling center site on Romney Street for $3 million. At about the same time, the county bought an entire shopping center in North Charleston for $4 million and moved the Disabilities Board there.
Middleton said the county has few opportunities to create affordable housing on the Charleston peninsula, and using part of 995 Morrison for that purpose would be "visionary."
“If we give this piece of property up, where else on the peninsula could we develop anything else of this scale?” he said.
Schweers, who cast the "no" vote in the Housing Committee's 3-1 recommendation, said the idea of a deed restriction on the property was unclear and needed more details and discussion.
That will likely come when the full council takes up the recommendation when the Finance Committee meets Oct. 7.
