Envisioning the Future of West Ashley

Good news may be right around the corner for the embattled Citadel Mall and the Sam Rittenberg Boulevard commercial corridor, as City Hall is making rejuvenating them a top priority.
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., his staff and members of City Council representing West Ashley said as much Wednesday to local business leaders about their efforts to improve the area’s economic future durign a Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce-sponsored “Business in Your Backyard.”
The early morning get-together attracted a host of business owners and more than a hundred attendees to Jason’s Deli in the St. Andrews Shopping Center on Savannah Highway.
Riley said the city was at the beginning of a holistic process in rejuvenating West Ashley’s commercial corridors. He pointed to the turnarounds already accomplished at the St. Andrews Shopping Center, which had been drab and largely empty before the city helped in the process to have a large portion of the previous shopping center torn down.
The mayor also pointed to past turnarounds, like at South Windermere Shopping Center around the corner, and the ongoing improvements in the Avondale area as proof solutions can be found.
Riley praised Citadel Mall’s bones, saying it was located in exactly the right spot if someone were looking to develop a mall in that region today — benefitting from population centers, improving roadways and better interconnectivity.
Tim Keane, director of the city’s Planning, Preservation, and Sustainability office, told the assembled that a local planning office with national experience has been hired to run the process of creating solutions for an area known more these days for empty shops and “cow paths” — Councilman Keith Waring’s nicknames for the foot-worn paths skirting Sam Rittenberg where he thinks sidewalks should already be.
“This will not be a fanciful plan.  It will be visionary but it will first and foremost be grounded in what is possible,” said Keane, who said that Citadel Mall in particular is closer than anyone thinks to being on the fast track to major success.
Keane, quoting municipal and federal studies, pointed out that not only are the neighborhoods surrounding the mall and throughout West Ashley stable, but they are growing — in population and real estate value.
Keane drew several parallels to his childhood hometown for planning lessons learned that should be applied in West Ashley. He referenced SouthPark Mall in south Charlotte, the largest and most profitable in all of the Carolinas.
That mall has experienced massive expansion since it opened in 1970, with similar anchor stores as Citadel Mall. But the paths diverged, as SouthPark has become a mixed-use area replete with business offices, restaurants, side shopping, an amphitheater, hotels and the like.
Keane stressed that Citadel Mall is not SouthPark, which is located amidst some of the richest neighborhoods in the Queen City. By comparison, the neighborhoods surrounding Citadel Mall are less silver goblet and more grey lunchbox.
What Keane did not mention was that Charlotte’s closest analogue for Citadel Mall, Eastland Mall, has been dormant for years, on the verge of either being bulldozed or turned into studio space for Christian movie production.
And what the mayor and the planner also failed to mention was that private, small businesses were behind the rehab in Avondale, according to grumbled voices in the crowd. Additionally, the pace of Avondale’s bounce-back was such that it initially caused unintended negative secondary impacts – such as increased problems with parking – in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Keane argued after his portion of the presentation that the mall is in much better shape than it was two years ago, as its new owners and managers are more motivated to increase its value so it can be sold for a higher price.
Both Keane and Riley said that with the right improvements, the mall could once again become a spot where West Ashleyians will want to head to two or three times a week.
Both described futures that included hotels as well as increased and enhanced office space for Citadel Mall. “I know there is already interest from one hotel for a site there,” said Keane.
When it was time for the councilmen to talk, most focused on council’s efforts to bring to the table insights from the business community.
Councilman Bill Moody said the mall and Sam Ritt’s commercial corridor needed to focus on the intersection of what the region lacks and “what works in West Ashley.”
Moody and Waring echoed the City Hall’s call for more office space. Waring, perhaps taking a jab at Riley’s usual focus, added, “What works on the peninsula can work in West Ashley.”
Councilman Aubry Alexander said whatever plan does emerge, it will be market-driven and only city-assisted.
One of West Ashley’s newest commercial owners, Faison, the Charlotte-based company that recently purchased Ashley Landing Shopping Center and owns the Whole Foods complex in Mount Pleasant, had representatives in attendance at the meeting. One of its principals, Bill Barnett, said that despite West Ashley’s supposed problems, it is still a piece of “a very attractive market.”