Not Big on The Pig Proposal

A Charlotte-based developer may be building a new gateway into West Ashley at the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Old Towne Road. And there are questions if the project is nice enough.
On Wednesday, Faison Enterprises, the same company that bought and is reviving the Ashley Landing shopping center, presented a preliminary plan to the city’s Technical Review Board for a new use for the former Piggly Wiggly that has been empty on that site for more than a year.
The plan for the nearly 2-acre plot included a new West Ashley gateway sign, a water element, and a high-zoot Sunoco gas station, replete with a fully stocked convenience store.
Faison purchased the shopping center, the state’s first air-conditioned enclosed mall, in 2014 for $19.2 million, and purchased the grocery store, which sits behind a Publix grocery, for just short of $2 million later that same year.
Since purchasing the shopping center, Faison has completed several improvements to the shopping center, including a new paint job, better landscaping, and the construction of a shiny new Starbucks on the site of a former Bojangles.
The presentation gave the committee an opportunity to make sure the project was within zoning guidelines, and if it met technical requirements related to storm water drainage, and other aspects, according to city planning director Jacob Lindsey.
While it was not within the purview of the committee to comment on the aesthetic elements of the design, Lindsey did say it gave the city a chance to offer some constructive criticism should the project move forward.
A request for comment from Faison was not returned.
Lindsey said the city would be working with Faison to see if something more substantial could be done on the property. Mayor John Tecklenburg made it a campaign promise and early tenure focus on improving the gateways into the city and into West Ashley.
“This is a really important site for the entire city, and not just for West Ashley; and the city and its planning staff would like to see some excellent development on this site,” said Lindsey.
Lindsey said the city had met with the developers and voiced concerns about a gas station at this location. Aesthetic concerns, which could provide the city to throw up roadblocks to the development, would be dealt with at the Design Review Board later in the process.
“There are any number of great uses for the site,” said Lindsey. “The truth is this is a big, big site that could accommodate a gas station and something else, like a public park, and other uses.”
Two acres, downtown, would call for “higher and better use development,” and Lindsey said there was no reason not to hold out for something better on this site.
Improving that intersection, as well as Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Citadel Mall, has been on the front burner at City Hall for two years now. And the proposal could serve as the next turning point in that process.
City Councilman Peter Shahid, who represents that part of West Ashley called the moribund Pig an “eyesore,” but has heard from some of his constituents concerns if a gas station there would be the highest and best use for the location.
“Is this the best they can offer?” said Shahid, who praised several other Faison projects in Mount Pleasant.
While Shahid agreed that “anything” would be an improvement over the current vista, he said it was important that the city and West Ashley not “settle.”
He said waiting and working with the developer would produce a great use.
“Look at the Kickin’ Chicken: it was empty for years and we didn’t rush it, and look at how great it turned out,” he said.