Last tenant vacates Ryan’s lot in West Ashley as redevelopment looms

The last tenant in an abandoned West Ashley shopping center is preparing to vacate.

The owners of boat dealer Rogue Motion Boat Sales & Storage, who have operated out of the former Food Lion parking lot for the last seven months, have secured more than $2 million in financing to relocate to North Charleston in July.

The dealership lost its lease at St. Andrews Boulevard and Sycamore Avenue when the property sold in late November for $11.45 million. Trident Medical Center LLC, a subsidiary of Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, bought the former Food Lion property from Lowcountry developer Ben Gramling and business partner Mikell Harper.

Rogue Motion will use the funds to purchase, upfit and relocate to its just under 5,000-square-foot spot at 2026 Herbert Street.

The company has been in business for 12 years but changed hands in 2019 when Steven and Celeste Lefebvre purchased Rogue Motion from its previous owners.

David Moore, CEO of David Moore & Partners in Charleston, brokered the sale then and helped secure this round of funding, as well.

Steven Lefebvre said the eviction was a blessing in disguise. He and his wife hoped to purchase their own property within five years — a deadline coming up in October. Having their lease denied forced their hand.

“The size of the new property will be a great move for us,” he said. “We’ll be in an area where there aren’t any other dealerships.”

Moore said the owners went through several offers trying to find the right property before landing on Herbert Street. Rising interest rates only added to the challenge.

“The challenge with a business of that size in Charleston is there’s just not a lot out there for long-term leases,” Moore said. “

So, the only option was to figure out how we could secure financing to purchase a new spot.”

The Herbert Street property is under renovations, but Lefebvre said they should be completed within three weeks. He’ll need another week to move items out of the store and the individual boats on the West Ashley lot.

To date, Trident has removed three older buildings on the five-acre property and graded the lots. But a spokesperson did not have further details on when construction could start.

Rural living

A homebuilder out of Atlanta is bringing 49 single-family homes to Cainhoy.

Pulte Homes is expected to open sales at the end of the year for the 69-acre neighborhood, Cedar Glen Preserve.

Prices will start in the low $400,000s with six floorplans. Homebuyers can choose from one- and two-story floorplans all with two-car garages. Home sizes ranges from 1,700 square feet up to more than 3,000 square feet with choices of 3 to 5 bedrooms and 2 to 3 bathrooms.

Limited pond-view homesites will be released first with amenities including a pocket park with firepit and walking trails.

“Pulte has designed Cedar Glen Preserve for the homebuyer who wants a peaceful, rural lifestyle with the benefit of new construction at an attractive price that’s not usually seen in this area of the Lowcountry,” said Jacob Reynolds, General Sales Manager for Pulte Homes.

Cedar Glen Preserve is located at 104 Royal Cainhoy Way in Mount Pleasant.

Initial steps

Robinson Design Engineers, headquartered in Charleston, has applied with the city to build a residential neighborhood on James Island.

The plan calls for 16 single-family detached homes at 2129 Woodland Shores Rd. The community would sit on 6.69 acres

RDE is a team of hydrologists and engineers who have worked on projects like the Charleston Storm Surge Barrier, the Gadsden Creek revitalization project and the Crosstowne Church flooding analysis.