Charleston Just Bought an $18M Morrison Drive Site for About 190 New Homes

The 2.44-acre Upper Peninsula property will become part of Project 3500, Charleston’s push to add thousands of affordable and attainable homes by 2032.

Charleston has taken another major step in its effort to address housing affordability — this time by purchasing a prominent piece of Morrison Drive itself.

The City of Charleston closed Aug. 31 on 899 Morrison Drive for $18 million, acquiring approximately 2.44 acres on the Upper Peninsula. The city says the property is expected to eventually support roughly 190 mixed-use, mixed-income homes as part of Mayor William Cogswell’s Project 3500 housing initiative.

The deal puts the land directly under city ownership before the project moves into its full design and development phase.

What is Project 3500?

Project 3500 is Charleston’s broader plan to add a net 3,500 affordable and attainable homes across the city by 2032.

The city launched a public Project 3500 dashboard earlier this year to track progress, potential housing locations, design concepts and the criteria being used to select sites.

The Morrison Drive property is now one of the initiative’s most significant Upper Peninsula pieces.

According to the city, 899 Morrison ranked highly during its site-selection process because it sits on relatively high ground, is largely outside the areas facing the most severe flood exposure, is close to major employment centers and already has direct public-transit access.

In other words, the city sees the property as a place where housing can be added while remaining connected to jobs and transportation.

Why Morrison Drive?

Anyone who has driven the Upper Peninsula in recent years has seen how quickly the area is changing.

The Morrison Drive corridor sits near several major public and private investments, including the Lowline, the future Lowcountry Rapid Transit corridor, and ongoing drainage and stormwater work.

City officials say the goal is for the future housing at 899 Morrison to connect with those investments rather than function as an isolated development.

The acquisition is being funded with tax increment financing proceeds, which the city says are required to be reinvested in the surrounding neighborhood. Charleston identified affordability and flooding as two of the area’s most significant concerns.

About 190 homes are planned — but the design is not final

This is an important distinction.

Charleston now owns the property, and approximately 190 mixed-use, mixed-income homes are planned, but this is not a project that has already broken ground.

The city is still selecting the professional teams that will shape the development.

Official procurement records show Charleston has open requests for proposals covering both architectural services and civil engineering/landscape architecture for the Project 3500 peninsula sites, including 899 Morrison Drive. Those procurement processes are currently scheduled to close Sept. 21.

The city says it expects to award design contracts later this year.

That means details such as the final building designs, exact housing mix, layout and other site-specific features can still evolve.

Public design review and direct engagement with residents and neighborhood organizations are also expected to continue as the plans take shape.

A different approach to affordable housing development

The Morrison Drive property also gives Charleston an opportunity to test a newer development strategy.

The city says the site will use its recently adopted Mixed-Use/Workforce Housing zoning framework, known as MU-3/WH, along with a process intended to complete more design and entitlement work earlier.

The idea is to reduce some of the time, uncertainty and expense that can make affordable housing projects difficult to deliver — while ultimately partnering with private-sector developers to build the homes.

That makes the $18 million purchase about more than simply acquiring land.

Charleston is attempting to control the site, establish the development framework and then use that groundwork to make the housing project more feasible to actually construct.

Morrison Drive continues to transform

The announcement adds another significant project to an Upper Peninsula corridor that has already been undergoing rapid change.

For residents, the bigger question will be what that growth ultimately looks like — and who is able to afford to live there as investment continues moving north up the peninsula.

For now, 899 Morrison Drive has moved from a potential Project 3500 site to a property officially owned by the City of Charleston.

The next major step will be watching what designers propose for those roughly 190 homes and how the project moves through Charleston’s public review process.

What’s Going On In Charleston will continue following Project 3500 and the Morrison Drive redevelopment as more detailed plans become available.