Wedding & Event Venue Near Saint George, SC.

ST. GEORGE — The tiny town in northwest Dorchester County might be getting some new next-door neighbors, and more, in one residential influx than it has ever seen before.

If approved by the county, a "cluster" housing development proposed by the D.R. Horton, a national builder, would bring more than 330 new homes and a new zoning designation for roughly 300 rural acres near the "Town of Friendly People."

While the development would land on Sugar Hill Road outside town limits, St. George would provide water to the development while Dorchester County Water and Sewer would provide sewer services, said Kiera Reinertsen, the county's planning director. The development would also add an estimated 100 students to Dorchester School District Four and draw on services and amenities from St. George’s Fire Station Nine, Davis-Bailey Park and the town’s library.

“We’ve never had this many houses come in at one time since I’ve been here,” said Mayor Kevin Hart, who has lived in the town for 35 years.

The 2.8-square-mile town is home to roughly 1,800 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Now the county seat, St. George was originally called George’s Station as a stop along the South Carolina Railroad, now Norfolk Southern. It was incorporated in 1875.

“We haven’t had a housing development like this in this area before. There’s no way we can stop them, but we have to make plans. We won’t know it works until we see how it goes,” Hart said. "... Some want to keep our small-town feeling. It’s a tough battle, and we knew it was coming. You can see the progress coming all way up Highway 78. Harleyville is having the same challenge as St. George.

“We’ve got to hope and pray our best laid plans go well for our little town.”

Described as “America’s largest home builder” on its web site, with operations in 45 markets nationwide and 1 million homes constructed since its inception in 1978, D.R. Horton wants to change zoning for the property for the proposed development from agricultural residential, which allows one-acre home lots, to single family residential (R-1), which reduces lot sizes to a third of an acre.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The Dorchester County Council is looking at a proposal to rezone 300 acres of land in St. George through using a new process.

The rezone ask is to allow for clusters of homes and create a high-density neighborhood at the old St. George Country Club property. Monday, the topic appeared on the agenda only as an informational meeting within the planning committee.

Committee Chair Dave Chinnis says the informational meeting a the committee level first is a somewhat new step in the process.

“One of the things that we seem to always do is give everything a first reading automatically. But we also had questions so then we get a second reading, and we ask questions, and we weren’t getting answers. To a third reading, which was ultimately when we were making the decision to pass or not to pass to zone or not rezone something,” Chinnis says.

Walking through that process, Chinnis says the lack of preparation didn’t make much sense to him. Talking with a Charleston County Council acquaintance, he decided to adopt one of their steps for large proposals - like the 300 acres in St. George. Thus, the informational meeting now happens before coming to council, to make future readings and public hearings even clearer on the details.

“I believe this St. George project is probably only the second maybe the third that we’ve had this,” Chinnis says.

Chinnis says this process will hopefully benefit everyone with an interest in a project. At the old St. George Country Club, the land is zoned agricultural, which allows for building houses on one-acre plots. The developer wants to change that to one-third acre plots but is promising to include green space. Chinnis says he’s already been able to nail down what that green space will be.

“I know in this case, we talked about open space being accessible, like community parks, pocket parks, so the people living in this neighborhood can go to their local park,” Chinnis says.

Chinnis says this is only the earliest stage of the major proposal, and there will be three full council readings, including a public hearing in the future. Now, he believes, those discussions will have more answers readily available when the public or council asks questions.

“The public gets input on everything. Sometimes there’s reasonable concerns. A property owner has certain rights, just like the person speaking has rights on their property. That property owner has rights on what they can and can’t do to their property and balancing that is always the challenge,” Chinnis says.

Chinnis says the public hearing for the 300-acre old St. George Country Club re-zone request will be at the St. George chambers, and the date will be posted 15 days ahead of time.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

SAINT GEORGE, S.C. (WCSC) - A Dorchester County industrial park in the works for over 15 years is soon to be completed and will provide many more jobs and access to products for the area.

Winding Woods is a 1,300-acre industrial park in Saint George and Port 95 is a private development within the park. Port 95 will serve as distribution and manufacturing centers for different companies.

Crews are anticipating three buildings to be a part of Port 95, but they are currently completing construction on the first two. One of these buildings will be one million square feet, making it one of the largest buildings in the Charleston region.

This giant building can hold anywhere from one to four companies alone. The second building is about 240,000 square feet and will hold just one company.

This project in its entirety cost $100 million and was privately funded. They have yet to lease the spaces out, but Dorchester County Director of Economic Development John Truluck says they have many prospective companies. He said they have had an encouraging amount of people come to scope the buildings out, but nothing has been finalized yet.

Truluck says they are excited for this project to be completed.

“It has sort of been a field of dreams for Dorchester County to build it,” he says, “So it’s always interesting you know, when the first 10 years of this, everything has been below the surface, but now when you start to see something go vertical, it gets exciting, because that’s real and then everybody else in the community can now see it.”

They first broke ground on this project in October 2022 and are looking at anticipated completion at the end of the quarter. This project is a part of Dorchester County Council’s strategic plan to bring more employment and tax base to areas of the county that haven’t seen growth in the past. Truluck also anticipates that the project will bring more products to the county and believes that all of this will help congestion problems on I-26 from people commuting.

“Our whole objective is to bring jobs and investment to parts of Dorchester County that haven’t had that in the past. So, we hope to fill these buildings with, with jobs so that folks that live in Saint George can also work in Saint George,” Truluck says.

Truluck says that while the physical structure is almost complete, it likely would not be until 2025 that these buildings are up and running. He says the buildings are meant to act as shells so that the companies can make the space suitable for their needs. He said this process would probably take a few months after leasing.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Google has confirmed it is behind a data center development project in Ridgeville, South Carolina

The search and cloud company has also received permission to develop three more data centers in Belgium.

Google confirmed to expand in South Carolina

Google has revealed itself to be behind the Project Dawson data center proposals in South Carolina.

“The Dorchester County Economic Development (DCED) office, which serves to support economic growth in the county, confirms a relationship with Google who recently closed on property in the county,” the DCED said this week.

“We are thrilled to welcome Google to Dorchester County and know they will be a long-term partner for our community, especially our schools,” said Dorchester County Council Chairman Todd Friddle. “Google has a history of strengthening local workforces and uplifting communities, and we look forward to Google making a positive difference here in Dorchester County.”

Campus specifications or project timelines haven't been shared.

According to the Post and Courier, the company aims to invest $510 million in the new campus – a 231-acre site along Research Center Drive and Highway 17A in Dorchester County’s Pine Hill Business Campus. The Dorchester County Council voted to change the site’s zoning earlier this month.

Google – previously reported as the company likely involved – has previously been conducting business around the project behind the Autumn Timber LLC and Mallard LLC company names. The search company had been referring to the site as Project Dawson.

“We have been proud to call South Carolina home for over fifteen years since we first put down roots in Berkeley County,” Google said in a statement. “Since then, we have partnered closely with local leadership, schools, and nonprofits to lift up the great work happening here. As we look to expand in the state, we have acquired property in Dorchester County for the development of a new data center campus. We look forward to growing our community here in South Carolina and will share details as this long-term project progresses.”

Google currently operates a South Carolina data center campus in Moncks Corner, around 20 miles east of Ridgeville. The company recently acquired another 140 acres in the area.

The Post and Courier also reports that Google, going by the aliases Project Evergreen and Gannett Enterprises LLC, has also is purchasing 206 acres for a proposed third data center near the county's Winding Woods Commerce Park along Pecan Tree Road and Highway 78, outside the town of St. George. The company was granted a $5.55 million purchase option for the land this month.

However, the company reportedly aims to focus on the Pine Hill campus for now, and will expand to the Winding Woods site as demand requires.

Google expands in Belgium

In Belgium, Google has been granted permission for a new data center campus.

The Walloon Region has issued an urban planning permit to the company for the construction of a new data center campus in the Hainaut municipality of Farciennes. The company is reportedly investing €600 million ($646m) in the project.

“The Walloon Region has just granted the permit for the installation of Google in Farcienne,” said Hugues Bayet, mayor of the municipality of Farciennes. “A new step in the realization of the digital giant's welcome in our region and above all the net creation of many jobs!”

Plans for the camps were first announced in July 2023. The campus will span some 53,000 sqm (570,500 sq ft). Previous reports suggested work would begin on the first phase – spanning around 7,500 sqm (80,730 sq ft) – would begin last year and launch in 2025.

More recent press suggests groundbreaking for the first 80MW phase is due to happen later this year.

Google acquired 53 hectares of land in the Ecopôle eco-business park, located across the municipalities of Farciennes, Aiseau-Presles, and Sambreville, in 2019. According to previous reports, energy firm Elia has confirmed that 200-300MW of capacity would be available on the site.

Belgium’s Saint Ghislain was the site of Google’s first data center in Europe. The company has built five data centers at its 90-hectare Saint-Ghislain site since 2009 as well as a solar plant. The company uses the shell company Crystal Computing for much of its dealings in Belgium.

2022 also saw Google acquire a 36-hectare site located in Ecaussinnes, in Hainaut province, in the Feluy industrial zone near La Louvière.

According to Raphael Stokis, a delegated official of the Walloon Region, the conditions attached to the permit will require on-site solar panels. Additionally, 90 percent of the energy consumed on the site must be carbon-free by 2025 and this must even be 95 percent by 2030.

Google will also have to opt for a more sustainable cooling system for the data centers in future – reportedly switching from systems that use water-consuming technology to air-cooling.

ST. GEORGE — Four former classrooms in the historic Rosenwald School in St. George will once again become a place to teach young minds as the space becomes the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry’s first — but not last — satellite location outside of Charleston.

The renovated St. George Rosenwald school is one of about 500 in the state and one of nearly 5,000 in the South, all constructed in the early 1900s. Those who have rallied behind preserving the school envision it becoming the community center of the town. It reopened to the public in August.

When it was built in 1925, it was a six-teacher school dedicated to educating African American children. Now, the north wing of the H-shaped building will take on a new life educating future generations as an extension of the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry.

A new museum

The approximately 2,500 square-foot space within the Rosenwald School will feature a tinker lab with hands-on exhibits to explore engineering concepts; a child-sized grocery store where children can learn about nutrition, commerce and money; a space that can promote visual and performing arts; and classroom space for educational programs or field trip groups. It is expected to open in spring 2024.

Karen Coltrane, CML’s president and CEO, called it a "natural extension of our efforts to serve the greater Lowcountry" outside of its downtown Charleston location.

Coltrane said it’s about teaching kids basic concepts that they can connect to real-world situations. For example, a child may see the apple tree and grocery area in the new exhibit, and the next time they are at the store with a parent, they can understand apples come from trees and that people buy apples at the store with money.

“Making those kinds of connections are vital in early development,” Coltrane said. “It’s easier to get them excited about science and learning when they’re little instead of trying to spark it later.”

The milestone marks the nation's first adaptive reuse of a Rosenwald School as a children's museum satellite. It's the starting point for the museum's plans to expand to more rural areas of the Lowcountry.

“It’s going to be a game-changer in expanding access to museum resources for school field trips,” Coltrane said. “By the time you load up a bunch of kids from these more rural areas and bring them downtown, they don’t have a lot of time to spend at the museum itself. This would give them more hands-on access closer to home.”

Connecting past with present

Ralph James, chairman of the board that operates the Rosenwald school, called the restored building the “jewel of the community.”

“It has always been the desire of the community and alumni of the school to see it restored,” James said. “The original effort of the school was built on the foundation of an opportunity to empower members of our community to be able to increase their educational pursuits. We look forward to offering cultural enrichment to the community once again and again charging students with the task to be all that they can be.”

Revitalizing the school has been more than a decade in the making.

Coltrane had taken a tour of the Rosenwald building in 2015 with then-state Rep. Patsy Knight. At the time it was shuttered, shrubs were overgrown and the weatherworn building was not in great shape, Coltrane recalled. She was leading EdVenture in Columbia, scouting for a potential secondary location. While it didn’t pan out, it ignited the idea for the historic building's potential to become a museum outpost.

Coltrane had moved on to other ventures before returning to the Palmetto State to lead the Children's Museum in downtown Charleston. During her second week on the job, Ralph James, board director of the Rosenwald School, called her asking if a children’s museum satellite post was still on the table. Her immediate answer was yes.

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While grants and donations are funding the buildout of the project, Coltrane hopes to secure federal and state funding to operate it in the short term. Ultimately, the goal is to open another satellite location in Dorchester County that could help offset operating costs for the Rosenwald location.

The Children’s Museum downtown sees roughly 130,000 visitors per year. The museum is currently trying to raise $4 million to revamp the downtown location. While expanding the downtown location is out of the question, Coltrane hopes they can reconfigure and maximize the space with new and refreshed exhibits.

“Because we operate within the constrictions of a historic building, the only way to grow is to make the best of the space we have and add additional locations,” Coltrane said.

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Investing in the future

The project was funded through investments totaling $300,000 made by Boeing Co. and other local philanthropists.

Erin Fisher, a senior manager for the 787 maker's community engagement efforts, said that efforts to develop a workforce pipeline can't just target high school and college-age students. She said it starts by pushing children to embrace problem-solving and science- and math-based concepts, with the hope that it will set them down a career path in advanced manufacturing or engineering, she said.

“Our work with the Children's Museum is a way to support education from cradle to career,” she said. “This is an opportunity to engage with students on the early childhood level to spark the curiosity that leads to an innovative mindset. That is what we're looking for in our workforce and teammates here at Boeing South Carolina.”

Over the last five years, Boeing has donated $925,000 toward the museum's makerspace, pop-up tinker shop and mobile STEM lab programs that expand the museum’s outreach beyond Charleston county.

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Mission first

Coltrane said that she is proud that the first satellite location is driven by being of service to the community rather than revenue generation.

“Mission and margin drive each other forward, but growth is not just defined by the bottom line," Coltrane said. "The priority now is to see growth in the number of children we can reach across the Lowcountry and the types of services we can offer them outside of our downtown hub.”

James hailed the project as an example of the good that can come from public-private partnerships, when the community, town, county, public officials and companies unite for the same goal.

“We are very fortunate to have a multiple-pronged approach to what we can offer,” James said. “We'll be able to demonstrate history from 1925 through now. This place has always been about empowering our young folk, so now we're able to do the same thing, especially with the utilization of the Children's Museum.”

Visits to tour the historic classrooms are currently by appointment only. Once the museum outpost comes online, there will be more regular hours, according to James.

“Having a partner, purpose and a vision was the catalyst that got the movement going on this,” James said. “We hope that other rural areas and small towns will see the benefit of this and will duplicate the efforts happening here.”