Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Repair in Goose Creek, SC

A Tennessee-based commercial developer and investment company has secured financing for an $88 million project in Summerville.

GBT Realty Corp. will build the latest housing development in Goose Creek in Summerville. GBT’s The Village at Carnes Crossroads brings 306 multifamily homes and over 11,000 square feet of retail to the heart of the Lowcountry lifestyle community, according to a news release.

GBT acquired the 11.82-acre site earlier this month from Carnes Crossroads Association, the master developer of Carnes Crossroads, according to a news release. JLL Capital Markets arranged construction financing with Bank of America and Meta Real Estate Partners. JLL’s Managing Directors Matt Stewart and Chip Sykes, and Director Wyatt Strahan represented GBT Realty.

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“This is a lifestyle community that epitomizes the best of southern living,” said Barry Yoeckel, vice president, multifamily development, GBT Realty, in the release. “The Village adds a living environment that appeals to young professionals, growing families and empty nesters alike. We designed and planned our community to enhance and connect with the surrounding Carnes Crossroads neighborhoods.”

The rental homes are located at the intersection of Highway 17-A and Third Avenue, immediately across from The Marketplace at Carnes Crossroads, a Publix-anchored mixed-use development that is currently under construction.

The development team includes Atlanta-based Dynamik Design, Thomas & Hutton (civil engineering) and Samet Corporation (general contractor).

“Our plans feature upscale homes and best-in-class amenities that stretch across 11 buildings on the site,” Yoeckel said.

Floorplans offer a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units with upscale finishes, the release stated. Community amenities include separate small- and large-breed dog parks, a resort-style saltwater pool with lounge deck, an outdoor kitchen set on a community lawn, a club room with catering kitchen and golf stimulator, a state-of-the-art fitness complex and a co-working center. A coffee purveyor is set to bring classic specialties to The Village as well as the community at large.

The first units are expected to be available spring 2025.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCIV) — A white dust emitted from the Century Aluminum plant has been spreading through parts of Goose Creek.

Goose Creek Mayor Greg Habib addressed the issue in a social media post on Oct. 2.

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According to Habib, the white dust is Alumina dust, which is produced during the smelting process. Alumina dust is not supposed to leave the plant and is considered an important component of plant's ability to make more aluminum.

Century Aluminum believes the emissions may be caused by an "unusual" failure in the plant's baghouse, according to Habib.

"As you may know, all exhaust from the manufacturing process runs through a scrubber to clean the air and the Alumina dust is collected into the bags in the baghouse," the mayor said in a statement. "Century Aluminum then takes the dust and reintroduces (it) into the manufacturing process to make more aluminum."

According to Habib, Century Aluminum is looking at two potential possibilities for the emissions. One possibility is a recent change of suppliers for the filters in the baghouse and another is recent episodes of high pressure in the baghouse.

The mayor says Century Aluminum reported the issues to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

"Century assures us they are working diligently to address these emission issues," Habib said in a statement. "I do not doubt this. The Mount Holly aluminum smelter has been in operation for more than 40 years. They employ hundreds of our friends and neighbors and have a tremendous impact on our local economy. In my 40 years of living here, I do not recall another issue related to emissions from the plant."

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Habib also says he has asked for a town hall from Century Aluminum and the DHEC.

READ THE COMMENTS (1)

An online petition was created on Oct. 1 demanding action to reduce aluminum emissions from the plant. As of Oct. 3, it has 333 signatures.

South Carolina’s population growth continues to climb. Numbers on who is coming and where they are moving are compiled from numerous sources. One source that can offer some unique insight is a moving company.

According to the company’s one-way truck rental numbers, U-Haul has some data showing South Carolina is the 4th ranked state for growth in the country.

“Every year, we receive data sets for all one-way customer transactions. These are going to include truck moves and one-way trailer moves,” said Jeff Lockridge, manager of media and public relations for U-Haul. “We receive those data sets divided into states and cities, and those two categories are broken down so we can look at every market where we have a U-Haul facility and see the incoming and outgoing traffic from those markets.”

U-Haul reports its migration trends data, compiled from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul customer transactions annually across the U.S. and Canada.

“South Carolina has been right at the top of our growth state rankings for several years,” he said.

The company shows Charleston-North Charleston and Myrtle Beach are the usual hot spots, and now Goose Creek and Summerville are also specifically named in the data.

According to the U-Haul rental spot at Duncan’s Hardware in Goose Creek, business is good. Manager Henry Thorne said this past spring, the location was in the top 100 in the county and is third in his district in the Southeast region.

“We see people coming from all over the place, California, Texas, Ohio,” Thorne said. He also added the military base doesn’t hurt business, either.

“We’ve got the naval base up the street,” he said. “That is where we get many of our one-ways coming in and going out.”

According to information from U-Haul, while the migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the index is a good gauge of how well states and cities attract and maintain residents. The company reports the top five states for those relocating this year are Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

“Certainly into the 2020s since the pandemic, South Carolina has been a hotbed for people moving from the Northeast along the East Coast and even up from Florida,” Longridge said. “Very much just a positive net gain market for us each year. We see a lot more incoming than outgoing.”

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The holiday season has wrapped up for food pantries, and after 35 years, Helping Hands of Goose Creek made it through by feeding hundreds in December and giving food to 30 families a day the week before Christmas, ending a record-breaking year.

In 2022, the food pantry and assistance center at 104 Commerce Place reported it logged more than 4,000 volunteer hours and distributed 232,350 pounds of food. In 2023, the numbers are higher.

“We served more families in 2023 than we ever had in the history of Helping Hands,” said Niccole Franklin, the new executive director at Helping Hands of Goose Creek.

Unemployment is low in the area. The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce reports the unemployment rate in Berkeley County at 2.5%. While elected leaders tout a business-friendly approach to bringing in jobs, the template only works for some families.

“The biggest eye-opener right now is the family unit we call the ALICE family, the asset-limited, income-constrained and employed,” Franklin said. “They work but don’t make enough money to make ends meet and don’t qualify for assistance because they work. We’re seeing families who are barely keeping their heads above water.”

Franklin said one spouse may have one full-time job, and the other in the home will have one or two part-time jobs.

“They have kids. They have daycare,” she said. “They have life.”

With housing and the cost of food and travel, local life has become much more expensive. Helping Hands is now heading into the lean months regarding donations.

“We rely on the schools, the churches, and the community doing the drives at Christmas and Thanksgiving so that we can make it through January, February, and March,” Franklin said.

This past year, the South Carolina State Legislature started the Food Security Council, now guided by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and other state agencies. According to the DHEC, its purpose is to examine state agency programs addressing food insecurity in the state and identify gaps in services for the more vulnerable populations.

DHEC Director Dr. Edward Simmer wants his agency to find new and creative ways to bring people and good together. They have been meeting since September, and the council, according to Simmer, will have a report ready for lawmakers in late January. The state is not doing well regarding the two levels of food security.

“There is what is called low food security, where you have food but it’s not very good quality because you don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and about 15% of South Carolinians have that level of food insecurity,” Simmer said. “Then there is very low food security, where people are going to bed hungry and don’t have enough to eat. We are the worst state in the nation for people who are actually hungry, who have very low food security, and we are the fifth-worst overall when you include both levels.”

It seems there is nowhere to go but up in the effort, but Simmer admits there is a lot of work to get people enough to eat and enough healthy food. It’s either feast or famine in specific communities. Some have an hour’s drive to the nearest grocery store, and others have a half-dozen within two miles.

“The legislature asked us to do this report, and I hope they will take this and some action,” Simmer said. “I think the other thing, though, is bringing more attention to this problem and making people aware of the already available resources. I hope in a year or two we have better programs and better coordination among programs.”

The city of Goose Creek is the most populated city in Berkley County. And with a tight-knit community, beautiful outdoor attractions and a great location with close proximity to Charleston, the city’s population continues to grow and thrive.

Goose Creek was officially founded in 1961, but its early history dates back to the beginning of the Carolina colony. The city was a waterway at the time, and the name “Goose Creek” likely originated due to the curved shape of its creeks and waters, similar to that of a goose’s neck.

The first inhabitants of the Goose Creek territory were the Eitwan and Sewee Indian tribes, and European settlers then arrived in the early 1670s. The rich soil of the area along the Cooper River attracted wealthy planters from the British Caribbean colony of Barbados, including Sir John Yeamans and Sir Peter Colleton.

The region of Goose Creek became known as home to the “Goose Creek Men.” These men established a trade route with the Native Americans, trading goods from cloth to guns and ammunition.

The Goose Creek Men were known for questioning higher authority of the Lord Proprietors in the colony, and they eventually undermined the hierarchy, gaining a majority in the Commons House of Assembly.

The majority of white inhabitants of Goose Creek practiced Anglicanism, but many Huguenots were established there after 1700, including the Izard family on the Elms plantation. The Anglican Parish of St. James Goose Creek was established in 1706 and completed in 1719 by a small group of planters.

St. James Church still stands today and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in South Carolina and one of the only surviving Georgian chapels in the nation.

By the eighteenth century, Goose Creek was a prosperous and popular area for rice production. The town continued to experience population growth, measuring a population of 2,787 in the first U.S. census in 1790. 2,333 members of that population were slaves who harvested the rice plantations.

Goose Creek remained prosperous for rice production into the nineteenth century, with the eventual demise of rice plantations after the Civil War led to the abolishment of slavery. Hurricanes eventually wiped out the remains of rice fields across South Carolina. The area became desolate and as a result, the population decreased heavily.

In the twentieth century, wealthy northerners bought land in Goose Creek to inhabit during winters. They moved to the area to hunt. The United States Ammunition Depot was established near Goose Creek, later becoming the Naval Weapons Annex in 1959.

These new establishments brought growth to Goose Creek, resulting in the need for the town to become incorporated. The town of Goose Creek was incorporated in 1961. The population underwent a surge in numbers, from 3,656 in 1970 to 17,811 by 1980, making it the largest city in Berkeley County.

The town continues to grow steadily. In 2021, its population clocked in at 46,229. The city is an attractive destination for future homeowners, boasting award-winning schools, recreational activities and a close proximity to the city of Charleston and coastal beaches. Goose Creek also hosts many events and takes pride in offering their residents the ability to live, work and raise families in the town’s borders.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Homeowners in a Goose Creek neighborhood are looking for a solution to the flooding that affects their properties every time it rains.

Kristen Gilliam has lived in the Boulder Bluff Neighborhood in Goose Creek for about 15 years. She has a home around the corner from her parents and they both see their properties fill up with sitting water each time it rains. It’s not just the yards threateningly close to their homes; she says it’s also the streets.

“It doesn’t even have to be heavy rain. It does get very bad in some areas, especially down one of the roads here. Water Oak Drive and Lucy Drive itself. They do tend to flood to where people have to literally turn around and take another route. The neighborhood tends to shut down,” Gilliam says.

She says the flooding is affecting some of the homes, and she knows people who are moving out and say the water is a big reason why.

“Like on this road alone, we actually have a bunch of vacant homes right now because they’ve left. A lot of people have had damages happen in the past year. Like my next next-door neighbor, they’re gone. A couple of other owners have just left their homes,” Gilliam says.

A road over in Boulder Bluff, Leslie Powell and her family have lived in their house for three years.

“The first time that we noticed the flooding was like, maybe a month after we moved in. We were in the house hanging out and then looked out the window and our whole yard was underwater. And we talked to our neighbors and they said the flooding hadn’t been that bad since Hugo and since then three years ago, it happens throughout the summer. It happens every couple of weeks or so,” Powell says.

She says their property is a little downhill and dips down from the road so their house is built up from the ground. But, they still have issues with water getting into their crawl space and water getting into their cars.

“We have to move the cars there’s been damage under our house and water has gotten into our cars before when we’ve been out of town. And so it’s been going on for at least three years now,” Powell says.

The women say the neighbors talk amongst themselves and some have individually tried calling the city and county to get answers. But so far, they haven’t been able to get in contact with the right person, and say they feel bounced around with no answers.

“There’s clearly a bigger issue that needs to be addressed and I don’t know what that is. So I don’t know the right questions to ask,” Powell says.

Gilliam acknowledges that making sure drains are clear from trash or tree trimmings is the responsibility of the neighbors.

“I know the neighborhood has a lot of debris and trash and it is our responsibility to also clean up the neighborhood. But I believe is the county or the city, whatever you live in I feel like it’s their responsibility to make sure that our trenches or ditches are actually trenched out and they’re not being built up with a bunch of debris,” Gilliam says.

The city of Goose Creek directed concerns for this area to the Berkeley County Stormwater Department. Berkeley County Stormwater Department says they are looking into the service history and plans for the neighborhood and will provide them when available.

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