Charleston in the News - September 2025
It’s always a pleasure to share lots of good news about Charleston! This month we feature notable local award winners and rankings, area development activity, company expansions and restarts, and the latest SC Aquarium turtle release. Be sure to follow the links provided where you see bold blue text to read more about topics of most interest to you!
We have a mix of recent local award winners and rankings to report! MUSC remained SC’s top hospital for the 11th year in a row and is in the top 13% nationally according to US News and World Report. The Dewberry hotel was recognized as the Best Independent Hotel in the World in Virtuoso’s Global Awards. The Wentworth Mansion in Downtown Charleston ranked 10th Best Boutique Hotel in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Awards. Travel & Leisure reports that three of the 11 Best Places to Live in SC, according to local real estate experts, are our very own Mount Pleasant (#1), Charleston (#3) and Summerville (#4). A recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reveals that our state is experiencing the fastest economic growth of any state this year.
There’s also an interesting variety of development activity taking place across the Lowcountry, with the following projects of note at varying stages of completion and planning. The Folly Beach History Museum opened last month inside the Community Center. Serving residents and visitors alike, its first exhibit looks at the origins of our local area’s surf culture. The $3.5 million renovation and rebuild of Mount Pleasant’s Shem Creek Shrimp Docks and processing facility is now complete, with upgrades consisting of a wider boardwalk and pier, new electrical systems and processing facility. Also recently completed is the renovation of Tanger Outlets in North Charleston, with improvements consisting of new gathering and dining spaces and a fresh color scheme. The new Lowcountry Center for Conservation opened in West Ashley in late August and will serve as the new headquarters of the Lowcountry Land Trust as well as a place for partners, educators and community members to gather. Changes are now underway at Pacific Box & Crate, home of Rancho Lewis and Edmund’s Oast, on the upper peninsula, with 26,000 sq ft of office space being converted to retail and restaurants and completion scheduled for mid-2026. The $825 million I-95 highway widening and improvement project for the Lowcountry - a joint effort of the SC and GA Departments of Transportation to better accommodate growth - is now underway, with ground recently broken to improve interchanges and bridges, including a new bridge over the Savannah River, and planned completion by 2030.
Two company expansions have just come across our local radar! Charles River Laboratories International, a global R&D company specializing in biotechnology, will be investing $13 million to build a cleanroom at its microbial solutions facility in West Ashley that should go online later this year. The local operation also recently joined forces with TerraCycle to recycle and repurpose water testing cartridges into outdoor furniture and storage bins. Century Aluminum Company, the country’s largest producer of primary aluminum, will be investing $50 million to restart production to full capacity at its Mount Holly Smelter in Berkeley County, creating 100 new jobs and increasing its U.S. production by 10%.
Saving perhaps the happiest of good news for last, this past week the South Carolina Aquarium released five endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles that had been rehabilitated by its Sea Turtle Care Center. The send off of Hyacinth, Marigold, Seashore Mallow, Sunflower and Sweet Caroline was held at Folly Beach County Park, with dozens of supporters present. So far this year, the center has taken in 33 turtles and released 31.
