Ben Navarro Adds More Downtown Charleston Property Near Future Union Pier Gateway
The transformation of Union Pier may ultimately stretch well beyond the boundaries of Charleston’s former working waterfront.
Recent reporting says Charleston businessman and Beemok founder Ben Navarro has spent roughly $3.8 million acquiring additional properties along North Market Street, adding to a growing collection of real estate around one of the primary entrances to the future Union Pier neighborhood.
The acquisitions fit into a larger strategy Navarro has already outlined for Union Pier: rather than approaching the property as one isolated master-planned development, Beemok intends to begin around the edges and gradually work inward while extending Charleston’s existing street grid, parks and public spaces into the site.
Creating a Gateway at Market and East Bay
One of the clearest pieces of that strategy is already taking shape around the intersection of North Market and East Bay streets.
Beemok previously purchased the former Carroll Building property at that intersection and donated the site to the College of Charleston, which plans to eventually build a new School of Business there. College officials specifically describe the location as a gateway to the planned Union Pier redevelopment.
Navarro has also said Beemok intends to work with Charleston Mayor William Cogswell on reimagining the section of Market Street east of East Bay, creating a more active connection between the existing downtown district and Union Pier.
The College of Charleston’s new School of Business remains in the planning stages, but the university sees the project as a new foothold in a portion of the peninsula expected to change significantly alongside Union Pier.
What Happens to the Newly Purchased Properties?
That part remains unclear.
Detailed redevelopment plans for the newest North Market Street acquisitions have not yet been publicly laid out. There is currently no confirmed lineup of restaurants, retail, residences or other uses tied to those parcels.
What the purchases do show, however, is that the Union Pier story is increasingly becoming about more than what happens on the waterfront itself.
The blocks surrounding Market Street and East Bay Street could become the front door to an entirely new section of downtown Charleston — and the pieces of that connection are beginning to come together.
What’s Going On In Charleston will continue following the Union Pier redevelopment as additional plans are announced.
