The City of Charleston has bought a piece of the upper peninsula to build housing on, and it plans to do the early development work itself.

The city closed Aug. 31 on 899 Morrison Drive, a 2.44-acre property, for $18 million, it said in a Sept. 1 announcement. It plans about 190 mixed-use, mixed-income homes on the site. The price works out to about $7.4 million an acre.

The city called the purchase a concrete step toward Project 3500, Mayor William Cogswell’s plan to add a net 3,500 affordable and attainable homes across Charleston by 2032.

“We now own the land, we have the zoning in place, and we have a process set up to partner with the private sector to deliver high-quality housing at a reasonable price,” Cogswell said in the announcement.

The seller was the International Longshoremen’s Association, The Post and Courier reported. In December 2025, after a deal to buy nearby county-owned land at 993 and 995 Morrison Drive stalled over price, City Council ended that agreement and authorized Cogswell to enter into the purchase agreement with the union for 899 Morrison Drive, council minutes show. Charleston County records show the city’s purchase in two deeds totaling $18 million, recorded Sept. 1.

How the city plans to do it

The city intends to front-load design and entitlement work and then partner with the private sector to build. By carrying “the earliest and riskiest work itself,” the city said, it aims to lower the cost of what gets built and get it to residents faster. Its housing analysis found that time and process, not quality, are what make affordable housing expensive, the city said.

The site will use the recently adopted Mixed-Use/Workforce Housing zoning district, known as MU-3/WH. Plans call for homes designed to reflect Charleston’s historic character, with units for lower-income residents built to the same quality and design as market-rate homes, according to the city.

Staff picked the site after evaluating land for housing. The city said 899 Morrison Drive ranked among the strongest because it sits on high ground largely outside the most severe flood exposure, is close to major job centers and is served directly by public transit. It also lies in a stretch of the peninsula that includes the Lowline, the Lowcountry Rapid Transit corridor and major drainage and stormwater work, the city said.

Tax increment financing proceeds paid for the purchase. The city said that money is required to be reinvested in the surrounding neighborhood, where the biggest concerns are affordability and flooding.

Design contracts are next

The city has requested proposals for design, civil engineering and landscape architecture on its Project 3500 sites and said in September that it expects to award design contracts later this year. Public design review and meetings with residents and neighborhood groups will continue as plans take shape, it said.

The Post and Courier reported that the city issued requests on Aug. 10 for firms to design affordable housing on nearly 60 acres across the peninsula, and that the city does not own or have legal authority over two-thirds of that land. It includes Cooper River Courts and Meeting Street Manor, two Charleston Housing Authority complexes that the authority’s board voted in August to keep redeveloping with Atlanta-based Integral.

The city’s announcement did not name a development partner for 899 Morrison Drive or give a construction schedule or budget for the homes.

Other city housing and land moves

The city has finished the Juniper Street Townhomes at 1555 Juniper St. in West Ashley, affordable homes for first-time buyers built with $3.7 million in city money under Project 3500. A ribbon cutting is set for Oct. 26, the city said Oct. 22.

On the Cainhoy peninsula, the city has just over four acres near Point Hope under contract, land that could have held about 80 apartments, the city said Oct. 21. That parcel is part of an effort to secure about 28 acres for public services, including a fire station and a police station. About 15 of those acres are wetlands.

For Cogswell, the Morrison Drive purchase is meant to show the approach can work.

“Beautiful, lasting, affordable neighborhoods are within reach here, and this is where we start proving it,” Cogswell said. “That is the whole point of Project 3500.”