Livestream Recording
Meeting Recap
We had a great turnout at Redux for our September meeting — full recap below, plus the video if you’d rather watch.
Highlights: Lt. Corey Taylor introduced himself as the new commander of CHSPD Team 1; Joey Worley was elected NCNA Vice President; and Kathryn Durst-Glenn was re-elected Treasurer. Congratulations, and thank you for your leadership!
Off to the races, Joey gave us a look at Charleston’s hotel boom and the Bloomberg tourism recommendations he’s helping shape on the Tourism Commission. Stuart Coleman updated us on Magnolia Landing, Buff Ross shared what’s coming up at Redux (including the November 6 fundraising auction), and the city’s Chloe Stuber and Amy Southerland previewed the Peninsula Plan and Charleston Standard, both open for public comment through October 8. Councilmember Aaron Polkey, now a proper North Central resident, spoke to his priorities for the district, emphasizing traffic safety.
Related Resources:
Joey Worley’s Hospitality Presentation HERE
Stuart Coleman’s Magnolia Landing Presentation HERE (building designs conceptual)
Chlue Stuber / Amy Southerland Presentation HERE
Minutes (pending approval)
Date: September 15, 2026
Location: Redux Contemporary Art Center
Time: 6:00 PM
Livestream: Yes
Call to Order & Welcome
Speaker: Stephen Rosenberg, President, NCNA
- Called meeting to order and welcomed attendees
- Noted the meeting was livestreamed
Treasurer’s Report
Speaker: Kathryn Durst-Glenn, Treasurer, NCNA
- Balance at beginning of June: $3,293.28
- Dues paid: $473.64
- Donation received: $125.01
- Subtotal: $3,891.93
- Expenses (June to present): $312.09
- Current balance: $3,579.84
- Membership remains $20/year; NCNA has moved to a Stripe-based membership platform to simplify dues collection
Approval of Prior Minutes
Speaker: Stephen Rosenberg, President, NCNA
- Minutes from the last meeting were already reviewed and approved at the school board candidate forum; no additional action needed
Officer Elections
Speaker: Stephen Rosenberg, President, NCNA
- Vice President: Joey Worley nominated from the floor (had been serving as acting VP). No other nominations received. Elected by acclamation.
- Treasurer: Kathryn Durst-Glenn agreed to run for another term. No other nominations received. Elected by acclamation.
Community Announcement – Preservation Society Home Tours
Speaker: Stephen Rosenberg, President, NCNA
- Preservation Society of Charleston will hold its first-ever home tour in North Central on October 10
- Tickets available online; a discount is being offered for the 29403 zip code – Get them HERE!
Community Police Update
Speaker: Lt. Corey Taylor, Charleston Police Department, Team 1 Area
- Introduced himself as the new commander of Team 1, succeeding Lt. Murray; a Charleston native with ~20 years on the force, including prior assignments in the Central Business District and on James Island
- Began his career in the Team 1 area in 2008 as a patrol officer
- Reviewed CHSPD patrol team boundaries: Team 1 covers downtown north of Calhoun Street up to the neck; Team 2 covers south of Calhoun; Team 9 (Central Business District) overlays King Street/Market area; other teams cover James/Johns Island, West Ashley, and Daniel Island
- Vehicle break-ins are trending up citywide (West Ashley, Daniel Island, and downtown); urged residents to keep valuables — including phones and chargers — out of sight
- Some theft of e-scooters/motorized bicycles reported, more concentrated toward the southern end of the peninsula
- Not yet familiar with the status of the Ring camera registration program; will follow up
- “Bridge to Nowhere” enforcement/trespassing status: will report back at the next meeting, as he is new to the post
- Loud exhaust/modified-vehicle complaints: officers must personally witness a violation to issue a citation. Residents should call the non-emergency line or submit a “calls for service” report through the online portal (faster than calling); a vehicle description or tag number helps significantly
- Encouraged residents to text him directly for time-sensitive issues
Tourism Commission Update & Bloomberg Recommendations Brief
Speaker: Joey Worley, Charleston Tourism Commission
- Noted today is National Voter Registration Day; he is a certified Voter Ambassador and offered to help any group host a voter registration event before October 3
- Reviewed recent Charleston-area hotel market data (source: Explore Charleston, Colliers):
- Occupancy: ~70% in 2024, holding roughly flat into 2025 and projected flat into 2026 — notably healthy versus a national average closer to 60–65%
- Average Daily Rate (ADR): $182 in 2024, $188 in 2025 — an unusually large year-over-year jump for the industry
- Average visitor spend: ~$1,100 per adult in 2024, up over $100 in 2025
- ADR is expected to keep climbing due to new luxury supply; cited The Cooper Hotel, which opened in March at roughly $1,300/night
- Active/recent hotel development pipeline discussed (partial list):
- Four Seasons on Meeting Street — ~139 keys plus residences
- The Limelight — ~50 keys
- Charleston Harbor Resorts — recently sold, ~271 keys planned for redevelopment
- Courier Square hotel (Columbus Street)
- Magnolia Landing — up to ~1,000 keys long-term (see Magnolia Landing update below)
- Earlier-stage/rumored: Jubilee Hotel (Johns Island), Bellinger Hotel (Daniel Island, currently on hold), a possible Drury Plaza (Mount Pleasant), and a possible second Hilton Curio-brand property downtown
- Three hotels delivered in 2026: The Cooper, The Low Line, and The Live Oak (Marriott Tribute Collection) — the latter two are rebrands of previously mid-scale properties into upscale lifestyle brands
- Charleston employs an estimated 55,000 people in hospitality
- Bloomberg Associates (Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic arm) was engaged by Mayor Cogswell to evaluate the city’s approach to tourism; delivered hundreds of recommendations spanning pedestrian access, marketing, and more
- As a newly appointed Tourism Commission member, Joey is helping distill those recommendations into a shorter priority list; encouraged residents to review and weigh in via the public survey (open through October 8; QR code provided) — see also the Charleston Standard update below
- NCNA priorities he flagged: promoting Black-owned and local businesses to visitors, and reducing tourism-related disruption to residents
Magnolia Landing Development Update & Q&A
Speaker: Stuart Coleman, Vice President of Development, Highland Resources
- Site background: former fertilizer-plant and wood-treatment site (contamination dating to the 1870s–1920s); the property changed hands multiple times, including a bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis, before Highland Resources acquired and completed cleanup to residential standards over roughly six years, bringing in about half a million cubic yards of clean fill
- Site totals 190 acres; after marsh, roads, and 24 acres of parks, about 90 net developable acres remain
- Zoning (developed with the city over roughly a decade) permits up to ~4,000 residential units — not all of which will necessarily be built — 1M+ sq. ft. of office space, 200,000 sq. ft. of retail, and 1,000+ hotel keys
- 15% of residential units will be workforce/affordable housing; additional land is being donated to the city for deed-restricted affordable housing (99-year restriction)
- Early plans envisioned mostly apartments; as Charleston’s for-sale housing market has grown more expensive, the first phase has shifted toward ~250 townhome units (158 along the I-26 side) rather than the ~1,500 apartment units originally planned
- Bridge to Nowhere is slated to reopen in spring, connecting to Rutledge Avenue and enabling a walking/running route
- First apartment building: 285 units with ground-floor retail, currently in city approvals, construction starting in May, ~3-year build
- Office building (~130,000 sq. ft., with ground-floor retail): construction starting in April
- Grocery store planned near the interstate (anchor not yet finalized), roughly three years out, pending demolition of existing city warehouses on the site
- For-sale townhomes (built by Toll Brothers) begin construction next summer
- No age-restricted (55+) community currently planned, though several groups have expressed interest
- Parks/waterfront: a waterfront park, public dock, and four restaurants are planned near the office/apartment area; three additional parks are planned, including a dog park and a more formal park; roughly a third of the overall site will remain undeveloped over the ~20-year build-out
- Traffic: roughly half of site traffic is projected to use I-26, and half King Street; the developer has purchased the former CSX rail right-of-way along King Street to support a future Low Line pedestrian connection and a Lowcountry Rapid Transit stop near Huger Street
- Q&A highlights:
- Workforce housing will comprise 15% of residential units, income-qualified at 80–120% of area median income (AMI); current AMI for a single-person household is approximately $85,000. Unlike an earlier downtown workforce-housing policy, there is no fee-in-lieu option — the housing must be built
- Bike infrastructure was developed in coordination with Charleston Moves; not every street has dedicated bike lanes, but most major streets do, plus a roughly 1.5-mile public multi-use path
- The developer donated additional land to neighboring Monrovia Cemetery for burial space and has taken over cemetery maintenance, working closely with the late Judge Fields
- Only two vehicle access points into the neighborhood are planned: via the bridge to Rutledge Avenue and via King Street
- Developer lot pricing to homebuilders: roughly $800,000–$2 million; residential rents/sale prices are not yet available
- Mount Pleasant Street safety concerns (no sidewalks, increasing cut-through traffic) were raised; the developer confirmed ongoing discussions with the city and SCDOT, with no solution finalized yet
- A site model will be available for public viewing starting the following day; Coleman welcomed an invitation to return to future NCNA meetings
Community Update – Redux Contemporary Art Center
Speaker: Buff Ross, Executive Director, Redux Contemporary Art Center
- Redux is a nonprofit housing 42 subsidized artist studios and 4 galleries, and offers after-school and adult classes, a print studio, and a darkroom
- Open Studios: artists will have their studios open for the public to observe their process, September 24, 5:00–8:00 PM
- Redux’s annual fundraising auction — its largest fundraiser of the year — will be held November 6; sponsorship opportunities are available on the Redux website
Additional Community Announcements
Speaker: Stephen Rosenberg, President, NCNA
- Thanked Love Your Block team: new matching crepe myrtles were planted at the Charleston Central Mosque, and a new tree was added near the Great Wall of Apache mural; Redux artist Taylor Faulkner also completed a mural at Homel Place through the same program
- A joint city/school-district community celebration event is planned for Thursday at Mitchell Playground, 5 PM – 6:30 PM, 9/17
Peninsula Plan & Charleston Standard (Tourism Management Plan) Update
Speaker: Chloe Stuber, AICP, Senior Planner, City of Charleston, and Amy Southerland, Director of Livability, City of Charleston
- Presented jointly as two overlapping initiatives, both guided by a “residents first” framing
- Peninsula Plan (Stuber) covers land use/zoning, housing and affordability, infrastructure investment, and urban design/architecture
- Charleston Standard (Southerland) covers governance and regulation/enforcement (including short-term rentals), marketing and communications, and general livability
- Shared focus areas between the two plans: transportation/mobility, visitor accommodations (hotels and short-term rentals), economic development diversification, public spaces and attractions, arts and culture, parking, and how tourism revenue is allocated in the city budget
- Peninsula Plan background:
- First Peninsula-wide master plan since 1999 (which only covered the lower peninsula)
- Planning process began in 2023 with extensive community engagement; the team is now synthesizing that input into draft recommendations
- Coordinating with major concurrent projects: Magnolia Landing, the Ashley River crossing/bike bridge, Low Line construction, the Battery extension, Lowcountry Rapid Transit (a light-rail-style bus rapid transit line from the fairgrounds area to West Edge), New Market Creek Park, the MUSC campus master plan, Union Pier redevelopment, and the citywide 3,500-unit affordable housing initiative
- The North Central/King Street/Low Line corridor has been added as a dedicated Peninsula Plan focus area given growth pressures in that area
- Complete draft plan to be presented November 19, 6:00–7:30 PM, at Burke High School, followed by a public hearing process through the Planning Commission and City Council
- Charleston Standard background:
- This will be the fifth update to Charleston’s tourism management plan — the first such plan in the nation, originally adopted in 1978 and previously updated in 1994, 1998, and 2015
- Shaped in part by the Bloomberg Associates recommendations; the city is reviewing, refining, and selectively adopting those recommendations under five guiding pillars set by Mayor Cogswell: Residents First; city ownership and transparency of tourism data; increased enforcement (including short-term rentals); spreading tourism’s economic benefits beyond the Peninsula; and new/transparent revenue allocation
- Public engagement:
- Survey on the tourism recommendations has received nearly 5,000 responses and remains open through October 8
- Weekly “Open Studio” drop-in sessions at the Civic Design Center, Thursdays 3:00–6:00 PM through the end of October, rotating by topic: MUSC Downtown Campus Master Plan, Charleston Standard (multiple weeks), Transportation Sales Tax, the zoning code rewrite, and utilities/undergrounding (with Matt Gandy)
- Office of Cultural Affairs is also holding public art visioning sessions, including one at Cannon Street Arts Center and one on September 21 at the West Ashley Carr Richardson Park
- A dedicated North Central community session is being scheduled (date TBD) in partnership with Councilmember Polkey, separate from the November 19 citywide draft presentation
- Q&A highlights:
- Parking: the last comprehensive Peninsula parking study was around 2015/2019 and was not fully comprehensive; the plan will recommend dedicating resources to a full updated study. The city is also exploring an app-based parking system, additional structured public parking where the peninsula is underserved, and better wayfinding to underused existing garages
- Discussion of unbundling apartment parking from rent so that building parking capacity doesn’t function purely as a developer profit center at the expense of on-street parking for businesses and residents (cited as a recurring issue for Ethos and Morrison Yard); staff are exploring zoning tools and residential parking district options
- Mount Pleasant Street/Morrison Drive/King Street Extension/Meeting Street corridor is under active study by the city’s transportation consultants, with sketch design alternatives forthcoming
- Magnolia Landing has already purchased its segment of the former rail corridor to support the Low Line’s northward extension; the city is working to secure and build the remaining segment to the city limits
Councilmember’s Report – District 4
Speaker: Aaron Polkey, District 4 Councilmember
- Announced he is now a North Central resident (Fields Place) and will be joining NCNA as a dues-paying member
- Top priority: traffic calming and safe pedestrian crossings on the Rutledge/Meeting corridor, given increased commuter cut-through traffic as I-26 congestion grows; working with the city to add curb extensions, stop signs, and traffic signals — cited a temporary traffic-control measure already installed at Maple/Simmons as an early step
- Broader infrastructure priorities: streets, stormwater, sidewalks, and potholes, including better coordination when utility work damages infrastructure; welcomed the addition of Matt Gandy (Underground/Utilities Coordinator) to the upcoming Open Studio series
- Reported approximately 245 days in office and 400+ individual constituent contacts districtwide, with the Maple Street corridor generating the most engagement from North Central specifically (parking, traffic, development, crime, and stormwater/flooding)
- Expressed long-term interest in reimagining the Food Lion shopping center block in a way that preserves affordable food access while addressing underused parking
- Identified the lack of a playground accessible to North Central children without crossing a major thoroughfare as a top unmet need, and signaled he expects to organize residents around this
- Q&A: a resident raised concerns about inconsistent behavior from e-scooters, e-bikes, and other non-standard vehicles, and the safety risk this creates for both cyclists and drivers. Polkey agreed and connected it to his broader position that Charleston needs both a culture shift around sharing the road and continued investment in physically separated bike infrastructure (rather than painted lane markings alone), alongside longer-term investment in multimodal transit as congestion increases. Redux flagged that a North Central resident has created a bike-safety educational game that will be featured at an upcoming Open Studio session
- Closed by reiterating his “residents first” approach to future development and transportation decisions in North Central
Adjournment
Speaker: Stephen Rosenberg, President, NCNA
- Thanked Councilmember Polkey and all attendees; meeting adjourned