Pandemic claims big real estate event for 2nd time; home sales set record in 11 months | Real Estate

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Pandemic claims big real estate event for 2nd time; new date set

The Charleston Home + Design Show won’t be taking place in January after already having been postponed from last August to a larger venue due to the pandemic.

Because of surging coronavirus cases, organizers decided “This is the wrong time for a home show.”

“Earlier in 2020 when we made the decision to move the Charleston Home + Design Show from the Gaillard Center to the North Charleston Convention Center, we assumed a larger venue would be a good precaution against any lingering effects of COVID-19,” said Tim Barkley, publisher of Charleston Home+Design Magazine. “The decision was made in the heat of the Lowcountry summer when January 2021 seemed so far away.”



SC closes in on record home sales with 19% rise in October; 2 student housing deals planned

He added, “Unfortunately, cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina and throughout our country remain high and are on the rise. This has disrupted the planning of our show.”

Organizers believe attendance at the show, which was set to take place Jan. 22-24, will be negatively affected by the pandemic so it is being rescheduled for Aug. 27-29 at the North Charleston Convention Center. The 36,000-square-foot space is twice as large as the site of the show at the Gaillard Center and allows extra room in case the event still needs to spread out.

Look for appearances in August by celebrity TV chef Vivian Howard and New York Times best-selling author Mary Alice Monroe.





Home sales

Home sales continue to be brisk across the Charleston area, setting new yearly record in 11 months in 2020. File


Charleston-area home sales eclipse record in 11 months

Charleston-area home sales skyrocketed after the pandemic-induced lockdown in the spring to set a new yearly record in November. With just one month of sales to go, residential real estate transactions are expected to top 20,000 in the region for the first time. Low mortgage interest rates are fueling the rush to buy.

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2 mid-rise, student housing projects proposed for Charleston peninsula

By the numbers

2: Number of new restaurants now open or about to open in the Charleston area. 

240: Number of apartment units planned at an Interstate 26 interchange 35 miles from Charleston where a small Berkeley County community is about to undergo big change.

11,000: Square feet rented by Dollar Tree Stores for a new discount shop going into a Ladson shopping center undergoing renovation.



How much is apartment rent in each Charleston-area city? Check it out here.

This week in real estate

+ New homes: Starlight Homes, an affiliate of Atlanta-based homebuilder Ashton Woods, recently bought a piece of the 2,000-acre Wildcat Tract in Berkeley County, where 5,700 homes have been approved to be built.

+ Flooding risk: Nearly 350 low-income housing units in the Charleston area could be exposed to repeated coastal flooding by 2050, based on a new report.

+ Narrow loss: A closer look at the failed ballot question asking Charleston County voters to fund a new affordable housing effort shows where the votes fell short.

Half-Moon rising in Summerville



Half-Moon Outfitters Summerville location rendering

A rendering shows what the new Half-Moon Outfitters location at 605 N. Main St. in Summerville will look like after the building on site has been renovated by the winter of 2021-22. LFK Architects/Provided


North Charleston-based outdoors apparel and gear retailer Half-Moon Outfitters will open a new location in Summerville by the winter of 2022 in a long-abandoned former auto dealership site. It will be the company’s ninth retail site across South Carolina and Georgia. 

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Reach Warren L. Wise at 843-937-5524. Follow him on Twitter @warrenlancewise.