Chiropractic Care in North Charleston, SC

NORTH CHARLESTON — The city of North Charleston plans to sell its old City Hall building to Roper St. Francis Healthcare for around $10 million, a final step needed for the company to relocate its downtown hospital to the state’s third-largest municipality, sources close to the negotiations told The Post and Courier.

North Charleston will hold a Finance Committee meeting at 5 p.m. Nov. 15 at the current City Hall on Mall Drive, where City Council members are expected to vote in favor of the decision to sell to Roper Hospital the city’s former municipal building, located nearby at 4900 Lacross Road, the sources confirmed.

The full City Council will meet following the committee meeting to finalize the sale.

Roper is expected to make a formal announcement at 10 a.m. Nov. 16 across the street at the old Verizon Wireless call center, which Roper purchased in April, about its plans to build a hospital in North Charleston, sources confirmed.

This major development comes a year after Roper announced that it would relocate its flagship site from downtown Charleston after having provided medical services to patients on the peninsula for more than 165 years. Roper said at the time it had to move its Calhoun Street building because it needs an operation that can better handle flooding, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Roper’s downtown building is located in the flood-prone medical district on Calhoun Street between Jonathan Lucas Street and Courtenay Drive, an area that has repeatedly seen tidal events and heavy rainstorms. Additionally, Charleston is also located near a major East Coast fault line, though it has not been hit with a significant earthquake in more than 100 years.

Roper has purchased several properties near the old North Charleston City Hall building, fueling speculation about the hospital’s new home. In April, Roper bought the old Verizon call center for $22 million and an old corporate office building on Lacross Road for $5.5 million. In May, the hospital bought two more lots off Lacross Road for $13 million a piece.

In 2009, North Charleston’s government moved to a new City Hall just across Mall Drive from its old site. The city maintained ownership of the old building, leasing it tenants. Most recently, the space was occupied by Amazon.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- A cold wind blowing through cloudy skies on Rivers Avenue doesn’t stop Allison Dunavant’s day at work.

The Lowcountry muralist is painting the side of an historic building in North Charleston and needs to finish before a tropical storm comes through.

She spends most of her day on a boom lift, with her co-worker Christine Crawford, painting what will be a parrot taking flight and a woman surrounded by leaves of different colors.

“This is a very community based piece,” said Dunavant. “We wanted to bring some color to this area and have something that the residents can really be proud of.”

But, having a slab of brick or concrete as her office for days on end was not Dunavant’s original plan even though a paint brush has always been her best friend.

“I always loved doing portraits,” said Dunavant.

After graduating from college, Dunavant decided that she wanted to teach art at a university.

“I started doing that and didn’t like it. I went into banking and insurance,” said Dunavant.

One dead end became two.

“I was miserable. I would always sit at my desk and look out the window and want to be outside,” said Dunavant. “I randomly quit my job during my lunch break and decided that I wanted to be self employed. It was kind of terrifying to make that decision.”

Alli began painting murals among smaller forms of art, but she wasn’t making large scale projects her full time job until the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Now would be a great time to start growing bigger,” said Dunavant. “It’s taken off with word of mouth and referrals. It’s been quite a learning process going from painting small to painting large.”

Dunavant has painted murals at Low Tide Brewing, The Medical University of South Carolina, Red’s Ice House, Saltwater Cowboys and an Airbnb in Park Circle among other projects.

“A lot of times I’m in shock that this is what I get to do everyday, that this is my actual job. We’re doing at least a mural per week. That there’s a demand for it is amazing,” said Dunavant. “Every time that you’re out painting it’s a very public thing. People are coming up and talking to you. You’re getting to know different people.”

Dunavant’s brush strokes have been noticed by many, but the most important connection has been with Crawford over Instagram. Their joint business venture, ‘Girls Who Paint Murals,’ was formed shortly after they met.

“We’ve painted over 50 murals so far in a year’s span,” said Crawford. “We’re just a team of muralists. We travel all over. It kind of comes naturally to us and I think that’s why we work so well together.”

The two women are also trailblazers in their field.

“I think it’s a very male dominated business and that’s where I think we stand out,” said Crawford. “I think having to operate boom lifts or scissor lifts and climbing on ladders you have to have a lot of stamina for that.”

“We’re on construction sites. We’re on equipment. We’re going in paint stores. We’re up on ladders,” said Dunavant. “We’re basically like contractors as well.”

The group wants to break down the stigma of women getting intimidated by the male dominated industry. They see every mural as a sign to women that they can follow their artistic dreams.

“I’m so happy when I see a female artist come through,” said Crawford. “If you don’t take a risk then what is life? Even if you fail it’s a learning curve of getting back up and going again.”

“No matter what the medium is I think women should recognize that it’s something they can do full time,” said Dunavant.

As the sun peaks out over the Lowcountry and the mural’s finishing touches are painted on, both women take a moment to admire their work that could inspire the next artist.

“Finally seeing (a mural) some to fruition is like Christmas morning. You get very excited and then you start thinking about what can I do next,” said Dunavant.

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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — North Charleston hosted a grand opening on Wednesday for a new structure designed to lead pedestrians into the city’s future.

The Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge is officially open.

The close-to-$8-million project took two years of construction and design.

"When it's lit up at night, it's absolutely gorgeous," said North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey. "There's not another one like it in the world. It's just been named by a magazine of designers, the seventh most beautiful walking bridge in the world. And so we're very pleased with that."

The Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge connects Riverfront Park to the north side of Noisette Creek.

"You can have family parties. You can have a wedding ceremony."

Mayor Summey says this is part of the city’s overall vision for the development of the former Navy base.

"This will not be industrial within the next five to 10 years. It will be high-rise apartments, hotels, and shopping events. It’s going to be great for the community, but yet we will have the park right here next to parking garages, and it connects to the other side where we're starting within the next six months or so selling lots, selling the old houses to be restored and open that housing area back up that hasn’t been open in 25, 26 years," Mayor Summey said.

Ray Anderson, special assistant to the mayor, helped lead the effort to finish this bridge.

Mayor Summey says the city will name the span after him.

"Ray Anderson was one of my assistants in charge of this project for me, and he passed away about two months ago unexpectedly, so it's wonderful to be out here tonight. I just feel like he's with us as well," Mayor Summey said.

Now that the bridge is open, the mayor says it's for everyone in North Charleston and visitors to enjoy.

"It will start and it will eventually transfer into something that I may not be here when it's all finished, but I can tell you my heart's in it. My wife has been in it, and I'll be recovering it somewhere and enjoying it." Mayor Summey said.

NORTH CHARLESTON — There was a seismic shift as elected officials and hospital executives declared the new home of Roper Hospital would become part of the central footprint of the Lowcountry.

But even as plans are being drawn, the health care system must still get through the tricky process of state licensing.

After more than 150 years in downtown Charleston, the replacement hospital for Roper and a new medical campus that will include greater outpatient offerings was announced Nov. 16 for a 27-acre parcel that includes the former North Charleston City Hall.

The sale of the last part of that property for $9.2 million received approval on first reading by the North Charleston City Council a day earlier; final approval is expected Nov. 22.

The new site in North Charleston sits close to Interstates 26 and 526, which are the crossroads of the Charleston area, Charleston County Council Chairman Teddie E. Pryor said.

“This is the center of transit,” he said. “This is the hub that makes things turn.”

After the Roper St. Francis Healthcare board voted in October 2021 to search for a replacement hospital outside its location on the peninsula, Roper was pretty quickly focused on the North Charleston area, said Roper CEO Jeffrey DiLisi. It would be the fourth location for Roper.

When the first space opened in 1856 at the corner of Queen and Logan streets, that “was the center of Charleston,” he said. The geographic focal point of the region is now in North Charleston, DiLisi said.

“I don’t think we could have picked a more central location that will be easier for our patients to access,” he said. “We’re meeting our patients where they are by building this new medical campus.”

That corridor is “the center point of our universe called the Lowcountry,” North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey declared.

Roper is calling it a $1 billion project, though DiLisi said it is unclear how that cost will break down between a replacement hospital and an unspecified number of outpatient and clinical care buildings on the new medical campus.

It will take 18 to 24 months of planning and design before Roper can break ground on the new site, he said. The hospital will be the same 332 beds as its current inpatient unit, but there should be room now for increased options for other care, DiLisi said.

“That means we can expand our services, we can care for more patients and we can make it easier for our patients to access us,” he said.

The parcel, which is currently bifurcated by Mall Drive, has a major selling points similar to other retail centers:

“It’s going to have a great parking lot,” DiLisi said, to knowing laughs from the event audience aware of the shortages around the current Hospital District.

But first, Roper must obtain a Certificate of Need from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, and its application for that license can be challenged by its competitors. An effort to amend that law would have allowed a health care facility to move without a new license as long as it stayed within the same county, which would have smoothed the way for Roper. That special provision passed in the South Carolina state budget approved by the House of Representatives but failed to make it into the final budget.

DeLisi acknowledged Roper would need to get the state license but stressed it is “a replacement hospital, so we are hopeful that our competitors will be supportive of this.”

One reason Roper would like to move is to get away from its current flood-prone area on Calhoun Street and to build a facility more able to withstand hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Should another devastating hurricane hit, “it’s going to be really hard for patients to be seen downtown,” DiLisi said.

“This facility will be there for this community in a time of greatest need,” he added. “We’d be really disappointed if any of our competitors protested. It would be really disappointing.”

Fights over that approval have delayed hospital projects for years.

The Roper campus could be “one of the most significant projects across the East Coast,” said architect Jeremy Bartz, a partner in E4H Environments for Health Architecture, which is helping to design it. The new facilities should provide “a sense of place” by integrating into the community as opposed to being an imposing “fortress” that some hospital buildings appear to be, he said.

“It will not only be a hospital, it will be a central hub of the community,” Bartz said, with multiple points of access and wayfinding signs that interact with technology to help people navigate it.

The economic impact of the move will go beyond Roper, Pryor said.

“The spinoffs and the jobs that are going to come from this are going to be amazing,” he said.

That will include employees, said North Charleston Councilman Ron Brinson.

“Workers want to be closer to where they work,” he said.

Roper will continue to “have a presence on the peninsula,” DiLisi said, though he did not provide specifics. The old hospital building, nestled among buildings at Medical University of South Carolina, will likely continue to be used. MUSC is interested in the property, spokeswoman Heather Woolwine said.

“We would need to perform due diligence and receive board approval to move forward with any sort of acquisition of the facility,” she said.

Reach Tom Corwin at 843-214-6584. Follow him on Twitter at @AUG_SciMed.

NORTH CHARLESTON — Elizabeth and Chris Fisher moved their glass recycling company into an old warehouse on the former Charleston Naval Base around 2006. They were expecting to be an integral part in the city’s plan for transforming the old military complex into a vibrant, mixed-use community along the Cooper River.

“We were going to be the place where Noisette people were going to bring their recycling,” said Elizabeth Fisher, referring to North Charleston’s massive Noisette master plan that sought to redevelop several hundred acres across the base. That plan, announced two decades ago, ended in foreclosure.

Now, more than 15 years since its arrival, Fisher Recycling is having to find a new home.

North Charleston is preparing to demolish the city-owned, 84,000-square-foot warehouse at 2750 Avenue B, home to Fisher and a handful of artisans and locally owned businesses, as part of a plan to transform the northern end of the base.

The Fishers, who relocated years ago from Mount Pleasant to Park Circle, have grown attached to the community, Elizabeth Fisher said. Additionally, the area is conveniently located near the bustling Interstate 526. The couple believes the city’s redevelopment plans will be a positive change for the community. They also acknowledged that the municipality has worked to help the recycling business find a new place to do business.

The couple just wishes they could stay in the neighborhood to be part of the upcoming change.

“It definitely is for the better for the city from a revenue standpoint,” Elizabeth Fisher said. “But I won’t sugarcoat it. I’d rather stay here.”

Fisher Recycling and several other locally owned businesses, including a bike shop, beverage and snack distributor, furniture maker and a carpenter, must vacate the warehouse by the end of January.

Locating a new space to do business has been challenging, particularly for those who want to remain in North Charleston, where rent and property values are becoming more expensive.

Property costs have risen dramatically over the past decade in the city’s Park Circle area, now a booming enclave of new apartments, restaurants, recreational spaces and single-family houses.

Additionally, industrial properties are becoming increasingly rare in North Charleston, long a haven for the manufacturing industry.

Near the former Navy complex the city is considering rezoning a handful of industrial parcels to general business, a decision that was met with opposition from several of the properties’ owners during the Oct. 10 Planning Commission meeting.

Chris Fisher said he plans to ask city officials at a committee meeting next month to allow one of the lots along Rivers Avenue to remain industrial so that the recycling business could use the site as its new home.

The city’s plans for the old base aren’t a surprise. Occupants on the northern end have known for years of the city’s intentions to revitalize that section of the complex.

Some companies have already moved. Others have remained, with some hoping that the Navy base redevelopment plans would continue to stall as they had for more than a decade.

But reality began to settle in last year when construction crews began installing the new, winding pedestrian bridge at Noisette Creek.

Businesses in the warehouse then received letters in June informing them of a Dec. 31 deadline, and that the city would not charge them rent for the remainder of the year, said city spokesman Ryan Johnson. The December deadline has since been extended to the end of January.

“It’s been no secret that the redevelopment was going to happen,” Johnson said.

The occupied warehouse sits beside an abandoned storage space that will also be demolished. Both are located at the foot of the bridge.

The city’s vision calls for the transformation of about 90 acres at the foot of the bridge to include a fishing pier along Noisette Creek, condos, restaurants, green space and possibly a water taxi. About 60 of those acres are owned by the city, while the rest is currently occupied by the federal government, a nonprofit and a brewery.