Sam Ritt’s Changing Face

For decades, Sam Rittenberg Boulevard has been the main commercial jugular of West Ashley.
But, according to local officials, experts, and observers, its economic dominance is now being threatened by a host of challenges:
 
* cyclical national economic realities,
* the emergence of other shopping destinations,
* a residential boom shifting population centers,
* and the potential completion on the regions inner loop, I-526.
A drive down Sam Ritt, named for a former state legislator, finds big box vacancies at the former site of the Books-A-Million off Orleans Road. A Fazoli’s, once a mainstay located near the prime intersection with St. Andrews Boulevard, is now shuttered. And what with Bojangles now closed, where does one go for a buttery, salty smoked pork sausage biscuit?
Marshall’s discount store has left for potentially greener pastures down Glenn McConnell Parkway. Other big box stores, like Best Buy and Barnes and Noble, are the subject of local rumor mills, as their national parents close stores across the country due to competition from the internet and products that were supposed to be saviors but turned sour instead.
Many locals, and some city officials, worry that Citadel Mall is nearing the end of its lifespan, which generally runs between 25-40 years, according to mall-watching experts. Vacancies abound inside the mall, and according to some, stay empty far too long for it to be a passing fancy.
Drawing potential shoppers away, in addition to the relocated Marshall’s, may be the massive Walmart supercenter located off Bees Ferry and nearer to a passel of plkanned home sites and neighborhoods.
Tanger Outlets, located in North Charleston near where Montague Drive crosses over 526, has given potential shoppers coming down from Summerville and other less-urban communities an option before the exit to Sam Ritt.
City Councilman Aubrey Alexander, whose district covers the less-developed stretch of Sam Ritt from St. Andrews down to Old Towne Road, said he has been meeting with other councilmembers to see what can be done to protect the corridor.
“The area is ripe for redevelopment,” said Alexander who feels sure that much of what is happening is cyclical, pointing to the successful resurgence of the Avondale Point shopping area. Neighborhoods “get hot” throughout the region, he said, but eventually it all rolls back.
Sam Ritt has been hit before, Alexander said, remembering when the naval base closed, taking with it a big retail bite. But he and colleagues like Bill Moody, have to see what the City of Charleston can do to help the strip.
Christopher Morgan, a senior planner with the city, and Jonathon Oakman, director of the city’s business services office, have already been working on how to help.
Both stressed that much of what is happening to some of the big stores has nothing to do with the viability of the boulevard, or its attractiveness to new retail or redevelopment. It’s the economy, they say, pushing around national stores across the country.
Morgan said that national trends show a drop in the need for retail space, which dominates Sam Ritt, as more shoppers take to the web.
One of the options Morgan has looked into is the creation of a TIF, or tax incrementing financing, zone, where tax monies could be set aside for projects along the boulevard, like streetscape, to help generate more attention and business.
Oakman said the city’s role would be to continue to help recruit and inform potential businesses to the strengths of the Sam Ritt corridor, and no pun intended, “think outside the box.”
Both said that the bevy of planned new housing sites further out toward the plantations has lured some businesses away from traditional spots, and even the mall.
While West Ashley census numbers are expected to climb from 54,239 in 2010 5to 65,541 in 2020, traffic counts have dropped, according to Morgan. Along Ashley River Road from Old Towne to Sycamore Road, the number of cars traversing daily has dropped 20 percent between 1998 and 2008, he said.
And those numbers could drop even more, should 526’s loop be completed. Then, according to Morgan, Sam Ritt ceases to be a thruway between two major roads. And that could hurt Citadel Mall even more.
Casey Glowacki sees everyday, firsthand, what’s happening at the mall.
“People are leaving,” said the co-owner of the Sesame Burgers and Beer restaurant located next to Target and catty-corner from the food court for the past four years.
Each year has been better than the one before for Glowacki, who co-owns four other restaurants spread out between North Charleston, Mt. Pleasant and downtown. “This is one of my better stores,” he said.
But, on walks around the mall, he sees too many still-vacant spots. Glowacki wished the mall would change direction, bring in more local stores, give them cheap rents and recast the mall’s image.
One of his buddies, he said, tried to open a skatepark inside the mall, but met with too much resistance. “That would have been badass,” said Glowacki, a skater and surfer in his rare down time. “It would have brought in kids, and kids bring in parents. But …”
Despite repeated attempts, no comment was forthcoming from the mall or its Chattanooga-based parent company.
Local commercial realtor Chris Fraser has heard it all before. He wrote the lease that landed Fazoli’s on Sam Ritt years ago. While he admits that the 526 completion could complicate things for the mall, overall, Sam Ritt is still a great spot to open a new business.
Fraser sees a district ripe for redevelopment, especially if 526 is completed, linking wallets on Johns Island with stores in West Ashley. “As it stands now, you can’t get there from here,” said Fraser.
Regardless whose reading of the economic and planning tea leaves is correct, a big part of West Ashley’s economic future weighs in the balance.