Mortgage Broker in North Charleston, SC

Published: Oct. 29, 2024 at 1:45 PM PDT|

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments hosted a celebration of progress for South Carolina’s first-ever mass transit system.

Leaders gathered on Tuesday at the future site of the Shipwatch Square Transit Center, located at 3621 Rivers Ave. in North Charleston.

“This is the center of the Lowcountry Rapid Transit corridor. This becomes a hub of transit, multi-modal access and workforce development. A one-stop shop for all your needs,” Principal Transit Planner Sharon Hollis said.

The event functioned as a progress report for the work done so far with the public getting a chance to hear from those who have worked most closely on this system. The project has hit its halfway mark since planning began in 2019 and leaders are looking at around 60% of the final design.

The project is estimated to open to the public in 2029.

The Lowcountry Rapid Transit System is set to be a 21.3-mile modern bus rapid transit system to provide reliable forms of transportation between various places in the region.

The recommended route for the LCRT, though subject to change as they work through the design plan, would run from Ladson to downtown Charleston across 20 stations. Transit users would have access to 7,600 daily trips with a 21-hour weekday service.

The line would run in dedicated lanes along the sides and center median of busy roads, like Rivers Avenue. Each station would have real-time signage, Wi-Fi, lighting and off-board fare payment.

It would also add road safety improvements for heavily traveled roads and added facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. This includes sidewalks, crosswalks and pathways.

According to the transit group, Rivers Avenue has a 200% higher crash rate than the state’s average. The project would add 34 pedestrian crosswalks there.

“When they provide better for their families, their mindsets are higher and they can invest,” Mayor Reggie Burgess said. “This system builds generational wealth.”

Leaders said it was challenging to create an extensive plan that did not interrupt the function of existing communities but adds to them.

“What we’ve done is design a transit system that goes through communities that are alive, vibrant and active, and it adds to that. It does not displace anyone, “Chairman Mike Seekings said. “It allows communities to add things they don’t have, like housing.”

The corridor alone is expected to see a job growth of 30% and a household increase of 50% over the next 20 years.

The project requires funding from both the 2016 and 2024 transportation sales tax referendums, $250 million from 2016 and a portion of the total $648 million from 2024. There will also be $5 million from the federal government to cover construction.

The system would provide connectivity to more than 60 healthcare and hospital systems, five colleges and universities and several neighborhoods, community centers, jobs, entertainment, grocery stores and more.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Can't start the morning/afternoon/life without a large cup of caffeine? Try one of these local coffee purveyors for a fix. Whether it's free wifi or a cozy atmosphere, there's a place for each need.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

A savior for the citizens of Park Circle, The Orange Spot Coffeehouse supplies caffeine to North Charleston. The setting recently expanded with a new address but maintains the same cozy atmosphere. Try the cha yen, a traditional Thai iced tea.

Not only does Owlbear make an excellent cold brew or a iced caramel macchiato (if you’re into that), but this cafe puts out filling bagel sandwiches, waffles, and fancy grilled cheeses.

The Harbinger is a whimsical space full of plants, Instagram-worthy shelves full of treasures, and cozy seating. The coffee drinks are creative, like the maple latte or the Jack Rudy espresso tonic, but do not miss the baked goods — customers are instantly hooked on creations like a take on Rice Krispy Treats with puffed brown rice, tahini, and chocolate. Check out the sister cafe Harken when visiting the heart of downtown.

The couple behind Sightsee Coffee, Allyson Sutton and Joel Sadler, moved their shop to a larger space just steps away from Hampton Park and their home. The space is bright and airy, with room to linger over a coffee drink and pastries from Little Peanut Bakeshop. The customers can take their espressos to go for a stroll in the park.

In addition to expertly prepared espresso drinks, Mercantile offers free wifi, plentiful seating, and a full breakfast and lunch menu — what’s not to love. Oh, and parking. Sold.

The Daily is the place to go for a morning coffee, breakfast sandwich, or an afternoon lunch. Try the golden latte with turmeric-agave syrup and a breakfast pita with hummus and schug.

Stop in either Babas location for a $1 espresso or its unique peanut mocha. There’s also plenty of pastries, breakfast tacos, and space to sit and enjoy. As the day goes on, customers can also order wine and snacks, like a pickled shrimp salad of fancy grilled cheese.

Vintage Coffee Cafe offers caffeine, eats, and wifi to the Mount Pleasant set. The kitchen puts out sophisticated breakfast items, like seasonal quiches, oven-roasted tomato tarts, acai bowls, and lox plates, among others.

The pick-up window at Brown Fox Coffee makes it a quick and easy stop to grab a morning latte or a cold brew on the way to the beach on Sullivan’s Island.

Kudu not only has a handsome outdoor patio, but an extensive coffee and craft beer program as well. It doesn't offer wifi, so this shop is for relaxation, not work.

Highfalutin Coffee Roasters really cares about its beans. Roasted in-house, the coffee at this Avondale shop is routinely touted as some of the best by local aficionados — don’t ask for a pumpkin spice latte here.

Petite shop the Rise attracts those in search of a perfect cortado or a honey lavender latte. The space is small, so most customers get their coffee to-go.

Since its located on the Market in the Emeline hotel, Clerks Coffee Company is always buzzing with visitors, but this shouldn’t deter locals. The seating area at Clerks makes for a handsome background to sip a latte and get some work done. After the laptops close, the coffee bar offers beer and wine in addition to slices of Detroit-style pizza and salads.

Sunlight-filled caffeine emporium Second State Coffee (formerly Black Tap Coffee) is the spot to get creative lattes (try the brown sugar or lavender) and kick-ass pour-over brew. It is also the meeting spot for creatives and neighborhood friends to chat about the day or upcoming projects. Check out the Second State in Mount Pleasant for a full menu of hearty breakfast and lunch options.

Entrepreneur Amy Wright has four children, and two, Bitty & Beau, were born with Down syndrome. Wright saw an opportunity to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who are among the most vulnerable in finding steady jobs. Her coffee shops Betty & Beau are staffed with a very enthusiastic crew that live with issues like autism and cerebral palsy. Stop in for a cup of joy in the morning.

Muddy Waters is an old-school coffee shop on James Island. Around since 2001, it’s a reliable spot for a latte, a macaron, and a quiet place to sit and read a book.

A savior for the citizens of Park Circle, The Orange Spot Coffeehouse supplies caffeine to North Charleston. The setting recently expanded with a new address but maintains the same cozy atmosphere. Try the cha yen, a traditional Thai iced tea.

Not only does Owlbear make an excellent cold brew or a iced caramel macchiato (if you’re into that), but this cafe puts out filling bagel sandwiches, waffles, and fancy grilled cheeses.

The Harbinger is a whimsical space full of plants, Instagram-worthy shelves full of treasures, and cozy seating. The coffee drinks are creative, like the maple latte or the Jack Rudy espresso tonic, but do not miss the baked goods — customers are instantly hooked on creations like a take on Rice Krispy Treats with puffed brown rice, tahini, and chocolate. Check out the sister cafe Harken when visiting the heart of downtown.

The couple behind Sightsee Coffee, Allyson Sutton and Joel Sadler, moved their shop to a larger space just steps away from Hampton Park and their home. The space is bright and airy, with room to linger over a coffee drink and pastries from Little Peanut Bakeshop. The customers can take their espressos to go for a stroll in the park.

In addition to expertly prepared espresso drinks, Mercantile offers free wifi, plentiful seating, and a full breakfast and lunch menu — what’s not to love. Oh, and parking. Sold.

The Daily is the place to go for a morning coffee, breakfast sandwich, or an afternoon lunch. Try the golden latte with turmeric-agave syrup and a breakfast pita with hummus and schug.

Stop in either Babas location for a $1 espresso or its unique peanut mocha. There’s also plenty of pastries, breakfast tacos, and space to sit and enjoy. As the day goes on, customers can also order wine and snacks, like a pickled shrimp salad of fancy grilled cheese.

Vintage Coffee Cafe offers caffeine, eats, and wifi to the Mount Pleasant set. The kitchen puts out sophisticated breakfast items, like seasonal quiches, oven-roasted tomato tarts, acai bowls, and lox plates, among others.

The pick-up window at Brown Fox Coffee makes it a quick and easy stop to grab a morning latte or a cold brew on the way to the beach on Sullivan’s Island.

Kudu not only has a handsome outdoor patio, but an extensive coffee and craft beer program as well. It doesn't offer wifi, so this shop is for relaxation, not work.

Highfalutin Coffee Roasters really cares about its beans. Roasted in-house, the coffee at this Avondale shop is routinely touted as some of the best by local aficionados — don’t ask for a pumpkin spice latte here.

Petite shop the Rise attracts those in search of a perfect cortado or a honey lavender latte. The space is small, so most customers get their coffee to-go.

Since its located on the Market in the Emeline hotel, Clerks Coffee Company is always buzzing with visitors, but this shouldn’t deter locals. The seating area at Clerks makes for a handsome background to sip a latte and get some work done. After the laptops close, the coffee bar offers beer and wine in addition to slices of Detroit-style pizza and salads.

Sunlight-filled caffeine emporium Second State Coffee (formerly Black Tap Coffee) is the spot to get creative lattes (try the brown sugar or lavender) and kick-ass pour-over brew. It is also the meeting spot for creatives and neighborhood friends to chat about the day or upcoming projects. Check out the Second State in Mount Pleasant for a full menu of hearty breakfast and lunch options.

Entrepreneur Amy Wright has four children, and two, Bitty & Beau, were born with Down syndrome. Wright saw an opportunity to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who are among the most vulnerable in finding steady jobs. Her coffee shops Betty & Beau are staffed with a very enthusiastic crew that live with issues like autism and cerebral palsy. Stop in for a cup of joy in the morning.

Muddy Waters is an old-school coffee shop on James Island. Around since 2001, it’s a reliable spot for a latte, a macaron, and a quiet place to sit and read a book.

|Updated: Oct. 14, 2024 at 6:42 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - It’s been more than two years since the city of North Charleston donated land to a nonprofit with the promise they would build affordable housing units but they remain empty as funding continues to be a barrier.

The four lots, located on Luella Avenue and Varner Lane in the Liberty Hill neighborhood, are now owned by The Charity Foundation. The nonprofit is associated with the Missionary Baptist Church and chaired by its pastor, the Rev. Nelson B. Rivers III.

“The city was not willing to donate this when we started. It took a while, but we were persistent. I mean, if nothing else, I am that,” Rivers said.

The foundation focuses on four strategies: Relevance (STEM education), Readiness, Real Estate and Resources. The third strategy is to “develop safe, desirable and affordable housing to accommodate the growing workforce,” according to the executive summary provided to council in its proposal.

“I’m going through anxiety sometimes just thinking about how are you going to pay this? How this going to get paid?” North Charleston resident Tremella Smalls said.

Smalls spends an entire paycheck on rent in a place she’s unhappy with. Her experience is emblematic of Lowcountry locals displaced by a booming population and growing market demand for housing, one the nonprofit hopes to address.

Three years ago, her downtown apartment rent jumped nearly $600.

“Right now, I have to be here, ‘cause this is what I can afford,” she said.

For her, the promise of more affordable housing is huge.

“That would mean everything to me at this point,” she said. “You want to feel comfortable in your own home and at this point, sometimes I don’t.”

The Charity Foundation has already successfully completed two houses on city-donated property. One, on Mint Street, sold for less than what it cost to build. Another, on Lecque Street is rented to a person with “unique needs” for several hundred dollars less than the market rate.

“We’ve got this far and we plan to go to the rest of the way and it won’t take as long to go where we’re going as it took us to get where we are,” Rivers said.

Photo caption: The Community Foundation recently finished a single-family home on Leque Street that they rent to a person with “unique needs” at a lower rate than market value. It’s one of two affordable housing projects the group has completed (source: Live 5)

On September 16, 2021 the finance committee unanimously approved the donation of the land on Luella and Varner following the success on Mint street.

The city bought these for about $20,000 in the late 1990s.

In October 2021, city council voted 9-1 in favor of the decision to approve the land transfer.

The deeds were handed over in June and September 2022, respectively, with the foundation paying $10 for two plots and $0 for the other two.

According to the non-profit’s own pitch to the city, the timeline for construction was “[n]ot to exceed two years from the time the property is deeded.”

There was an initial reverter clause, according to city spokesperson Tony Tassarotti, but it was later changed after the non-profit reported to council it could not get bank financing with the clause in place.

“You’re going to make us overcome a bigger hurdle,” Rivers said.

The properties had once returned to the city’s possession after adonation to another non-profit that had a “similar initiative”, the Liberty Hill Improvement Council, but was unsuccessful.

“The deed has no clause. In fact, it says that the property is ours forever and forever is a long time. So, we have the same amount of time as anybody else that was developing property to develop,” Rivers said. “Our issue is always the same. The dollars, the money,” he added.

“In the past, whenever we had any lots that the city owned, the mayor deeded lots to whomever he wanted to, without a process. He gave it to folks who could actually create generational wealth by building homes in neighborhoods,” North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess explained at last Thursday’s council meeting.

“That’s exactly why we need a policy and procedures in place,” District 9 Councilman Kenny Skipper said.

The lack of guardrails is a concern for Skipper,who supported The Charity Foundation’s plans initially and ultimately voted in favor of the donation but expressed hesitation to grant a similar request in the 10-mile community by Fr33 Lunch Inc. this past Summer.

North Charleston has recently come under scrutiny for its partnerships with charities, even catching the FBI’s attention through its anti-gun-violence initiativewhere more than $1 million in taxpayer funds were donated to several non-profits, with little to no strings attached.

Skipper says he vaguely remembers the two year timeline regarding the Luella and Varner properties.

“It wasn’t defined and until we come up with a policy and a procedure, I wouldn’t support giving anybody any additional properties,” Skipper said.

The city’s executive office is now drafting a policy to specifically address property transfers, though the policy itself has not been discussed publicly.

“I would say that the city is moving in the right direction,” Skipper said. “I’m sure that we will tweak it and get the policy right and that way we’ll have the ability to move forward.”

City council formally denied Fr33 Lunch, Inc’s request at its last public meeting, citing community concerns and the ongoing work to produce the policy that Burgess explained would be completed “very soon.”

Though Burgess expressed his support for the policy, he stated the group had done its due diligence and shouldn’t be held to a standard that only began development in July, when the non-profit had approached him back in February.

He also explained there was a reverter clause in place and the group would be asked to sell, not rent, in the interest of creating generational wealth.

“If they do what we asked them to do and we’re checking the boxes, then we as a body should give them an opportunity, " he said.

Meanwhile, Rivers insists the empty lots of land are not an empty promise, but rather one that is taking longer to realize.

He says they are in talks with various groups, including financial institutions, to come up with the $1.2 million estimated to build 6 total units.

“I would hope by the end of ’24 we will know when we can start something in ’25, but all depends on these many conversations bearing fruit,” Rivers said.

The Charity Foundation says it is eyeing more property but of the more than 200 properties the city currently owns Tasserotti says none are available for donation at the moment.

On the contrary, Burgess stated they estimated they had 12 to 15 lots in residential homes.

“It doesn’t make any sense for us to talk about affordable, attainable, workforce, and senior homes when we have lots that are wide open and we don’t have anyone to develop them. We’ve got to develop them if we want people to live in them,” Burgess said.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs is set to hold webinars and shred events to encourage cybersecurity, and one will be in North Charleston.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and SCDCA will hold three free webinars to help improve cyber safety and online scams.

There are three free events for all consumers to shred sensitive documents.

The shred event is set up as a drive-through if consumers want to shred documents quickly.

They will also hold two webinars to help educate businesses to protect private and confidential information.

Several topics will covered during the months including multi-factor authentication, strong passwords and [asswors managers, updating software and phishing.

Webinars for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Click the title links below to register for a webinar:

Free Shred Events

SCDCA is partnering with Shred360 to offer the following free events:

People who are attending are encouraged to stay in their vehicles and will be limited to (3) three boxes or (3) three kitchen/trash bags per vehicle.

SCDCA says all webinars and shred events are free to attend. Attendees are encouraged to download the SCDCA’s “Cybersecurity Basics” flyer or request physical copies by filling out the Brochure Order Form.

Follow SCDCA’s Facebook and X accounts for cybersecurity tips throughout October.

Sign up with the link in the Big Red Box for the first cybersecurity webinar Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 10:30 a.m. or click here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The local music festival founded by Lowcountry native and Grammy award winner Darius Rucker runs through the weekend.

Scotty traveled from out of town to attend this weekend’s festival excited to see some of his favorite bands, Arrested Development and Hootie and the Blowfish.

“I’m here to tell you I brought down the love and I’ve been getting back ever since we’ve been here Wednesday Charleston has treated us with nothing but love and respect, you have some of the nicest people the best food and you’ve got to watch out for the cocktails. We’re excited about the festival its going to be a great time I heard its family oriented so we’re looking for a great crowd and an awesome experience,” said Scotty, a festival goer.

Festival goers were excited for more than just the headlining acts.

“The revivalist is our favorite band my wife and I wedding song was wish I knew you and I’ve always wanted to see the destiny trucks band,” said Luke who is attending the festival.

Festival goers came from all over bringing their family and friends to the event. Some were coming to the festival for the first time and others had been going for a few years.

“It’s a great festival. It’s on the water in a historic yard its been around here along time I love that they’re keeping it alive,” said Patrick, a festival goer.

Some of the headliners tonight included Teredschi Trucks band, Jamey Johnson, Collective Soul and of course, the festival will finish off with Hootie and the Blowfish.

“Awesome time, good music I know Darius Rucker, he’s the man, nicest guy in the world I met him before in the airport, coolest guy ever..”

Proceeds from the festival will go to MUSC’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and some tickets are still available.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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