This month, we bring you news about a number of historic preservation, restoration, renovation and related heritage tourism efforts underway around the Charleston Lowcountry, as well as about the development of two new data centers for Google, a large graphite production facility and a major climate-controlled logistics center in the area.
Follow the links provided to find out more.
The National Parks Service is providing grants to help fund two area projects: the stabilization and repair of the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul, one of the oldest churches in downtown Charleston, and the restoration of a powder magazine and two cisterns at Fort Johnson, as part of the College of Charleston’s American Battlefield Protection Program. The Town of James Island has also won a grant to design an audio driving tour featuring its Revolutionary War history. The National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership plans to build a 50,000-sf immersive visitor experience - designed to bring the stories of Medal of Honor recipients to life - and a leadership training center "to serve as a national driver of leadership and character development" at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, at a cost of $75 million.
Major renovations are underway at two hotels in downtown Charleston: The Ansonborough Charleston, a 45-room boutique hotel formerly known as the Ansonborough Inn, now features among other improvements a tucked-away “Poker Room” in honor of Lord Anson who is said to have acquired the Ansonborough neighborhood in a high-stakes poker game; and Phase I of the $150 million renovation of The Charleston Place is now complete.
In development news... Two new data center campuses are now under construction for Google in Dorchester County to help meet growing regional Google Cloud demand and creating 200 new jobs. East Coast Warehouse and Distribution has opened a $14.5 million temperature-controlled logistics center near SC Ports’ Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston. This is its first expansion into South Carolina, building on its existing operations in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Georgia. A new Birla Carbon graphite production facility is being built in Orangeburg County, thanks to a $150 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy. Once fully operational, it will supply 25,000 metric tons of synthetic graphite per year to the U.S. electric vehicle and energy storage market, as well as create hundreds of full-time (and construction) jobs.
