Two Charleston developers partner to redevelop 80-year-old North Charleston ice processing facilities
March 24, 2021
Colliers | South Carolina to handle leasing and marketing for The Ice House at Park Circle
Pat Marr of Cobalt Property Group and Kevin Klemm of Paragon Commercial Development are partnering to redevelop the 80-year-old Reddy Ice property located on Spruill Avenue in North Charleston’s Park Circle neighborhood. The Ice House at Park Circle will be an adaptive reuse project to preserve the original ice manufacturing facility and demolish three buildings to make way for new contemporary office buildings.
The former ice processing facility is being redeveloped as an office park totaling 46,000 square feet in three two-story buildings. Notable businesses and new developments in the Park Circle area include Garco Mill, Firefly Distillery and Holy City Brewery. The project is being designed by the award-winning architectural firm, The Middleton Group, which is responsible for projects such as Blue Acorn, the Lumberyard, The Refinery and The Morris. Colliers’ Kristie Roe, Alex Irwin and William Ederle will spearhead leasing and marketing efforts for the unique development.
“The overall market risk and negative perception of office tenancy surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic is something we strongly considered,” said Pat Marr, Principal with the Cobalt Property Group. “Ultimately, you have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The overall job growth in South Carolina is expanding. The problems in Class A high-rise office buildings in large cities are disproportionately affecting the perception of the office market. It is the mass layoffs of these large tenants and their subsequent lease defaults that garner all the national attention. However, wholesale trade, defense, aerospace, healthcare, construction and technology firms continue to expand in Charleston at a respectable rate. Spruill Avenue is a different, dynamic urban market with supply constraints and a submarket with tremendous growth and potential.”
The Ice House at Park Circle project will be developed in two phases. To date, 72% of the first phase has been preleased to strong regional and national credit tenants. Project partners have been busy on the site remediating the former contamination, rezoning the property, realigning a public right-of-way and modifying a riparian buffer. The original ice processing building that is estimated to be 80 years old will be preserved and many of the interior and exterior architectural features of the building will be salvaged.
“We see real preservation value in The Ice House at Park Circle,” said Kevin Klemm, owner of Paragon Commercial Properties. “Redeveloping an 80-year-old building comes with challenges, but this property played such a critical economic role. Because of its history and what it meant to Charleston, we felt the need to redevelop rather than tear down the building. We are working through design, efficiencies, safety and functional utility change that otherwise may have caused the building to come down. The ice processing building has held up well over the years given its age and exposure to the elements. We have redesigned the building by preserving and enhancing the structural shell and foundations. We are going to pump some new life back into the building and completely change the design character of Spruill Avenue with a development I think we will all be proud of.”
Demolition for The Ice House at Park Circle project is scheduled to commence in March and construction is set to kick off on April 5, 2021. For leasing information, contact Kristie Roe at (843) 720-7504.
About Colliers
Colliers | South Carolina has over 150 staff members, including 62 licensed real estate professionals, covering the entire state with locations in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg. Total 2020 brokerage volume exceeded $533 million, which included over 456 sales and leasing transactions. In addition to traditional commercial real estate representation services for our clients, the company is actively engaged in Corporate Solutions and Healthcare Services. Colliers is an Accredited Management Organization (AMO) through the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and is the largest manager of commercial real estate properties in South Carolina, with a portfolio of over 16 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and healthcare properties. Colliers | South Carolina’s staff hold 49 professional designations, the most of any firm in South Carolina. Colliers | South Carolina’s partner, LCK, provides project management services for new facilities and renovations across South Carolina.
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