electrician in North Charleston, SC

The former Navy Base in North Charleston that closed back in 1996 is finally on its way to adding new construction, including both single and multi-family homes

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - New ownership brings new developments. The former Navy Base in North Charleston that closed back in 1996 is finally on its way to adding new construction, including both single and multi-family homes.

Since the base closed its doors in 1996, the city had an original master plan that was created in 2004 for this redevelopment. Now, the city has a revamped plan, known as the “Navy Base Redevelopment District” that they say is going to help bring even more connectivity to this area.

The city of North Charleston says the “Navy Base Redevelopment District” will include areas south of Virginia Avenue, areas around Noisette Boulevard, and Reynolds Avenue as the main focus. Megan Clark, the city’s planning and division director, says they are renovating two buildings on the base. One for residential and one for offices and retail.

Clark says other buildings could be hotels or strictly office buildings.

“All of that’s permitted,” Clark said. “The only development that we have proposed right now is just reused to those two buildings for the multi-family and office and retail.”

The city owns a lot of the property surrounding the base, such as the Noisette Creek Pedestrian Bridge, the Admirals House and Riverfront Park. Clark says they do not have a set number of how many people will be able to move to this area as they preserve the historic district.

“There’s a height district surrounding the historic buildings, so we maintain that character along Noisette,” Clark said. “But beyond that, there isn’t a height district. Potentially, you know, if you can park the facilities then you can put as many units as can fit.”

The city says they have nothing budgeted for this because they won’t have to pay if a property is privately owned. However, they can join an agreement with someone if they wish to do so.

The city’s planning commission will have two public hearings on Monday, Jan. 9. The first will be about the proposal of this new plan and the second will be approving the rezoning of the actual property. From there, it will need to go through city council readings in order to officially move forward.

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CHARLESTON S.C. (WCIV) — Wonderful things can happen when a community comes together.

Lowcountry non-profit, Metanoia SC, is listening to the people who live in North Charleston's Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood.

Over the past 20 years, Metanoia has been implementing programs to meet residents' needs to generate positive changes.

Shawn Saulsberry is the Board Chair of Metanoia.

"It's a huge responsibility because Metanoia is literally serving the area that I grew up in," Saulsberry said.

Saulsberry remembers growing up in what's known as "Charleston Heights," or the "Heights" in North Charleston.

The community played an important part in his childhood.

"I didn't have the organization that we have today, but somehow I ran across those metanoia-type people who saw me, and they invested in me."

His grandfather taught him the importance of entrepreneurship.

"My grandfather taught us to work hard at an early age. He would let us rent the lawnmower from him, and we would go and cut grass in the community, and we would get to keep the profits," Saulsberry said.

Now, as a Senior Manager at the accounting firm Ernst & Young, Saulsberry uses his background of a strong work ethic to encourage the youth in the neighborhood.

Metanoia serves as a youth leadership pipeline.

"I'm not the smartest or the brightest, but I do know how to work hard, and I also know how to have endurance and not stop and just encourage them. If you do those things eventually, you're gonna find what you love. You're gonna find what you want to do in life, and it's gonna work well for you," said Saulsberry.

Metanoia was launched in 2002 by a coalition of churches across South Carolina.

By definition, Metanoia certainly works well with the community it serves.

"It means to make a positive transformation, kind of take upon a positive change of direction," explained Metanoia CEO Reverend Bill Stanfield.

Rev. Stanfield and his wife Evelyn live in the Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood with their two teenage sons.

Before Metanoia's founding, the couple spent one year getting to know their neighbors and listening to their concerns.

"We really do believe people closest to communities know the solutions to their own problems," said Stanfield.

Stanfield saw this as an opportunity to build on the positive community members saw in their neighborhood.

And Metanoia did just that.

In addition to building leaders, it's the non-profit's mission to also establish quality housing within Chicora-Cherokee.

"We build new homes for some home buyers. We also build new homes for affordable rental, all within the community where prices are going up, and people are finding it hard to afford a place to live," said Stanfield.

The organization also invests in neighborhood assets. They support black businesses on Reynolds Avenue and have a partnership with a local manufacturing company to create jobs in the community.

"There's a systematic way of listening to the community and understanding what the community needs and then coming alongside the needs of the community and becoming an advocate for what the community wants to do," said Saulsberry.

If you'd like to nominate an individual or organization for a prestigious 'Jefferson Award, email your nomination to ABC News 4's Tessa Spencer.

NORTH CHARLESTON — A new motel, barbecue restaurant and coffee shop are slated to be the newest businesses in the Chicora Cherokee neighborhood where once-vibrant Reynolds Avenue is now a focal point for revitalization.

“Our goal is to not be King Street,” said Ed Sutton, developer and president emeritus of the Reynolds Avenue Area Merchants Association, emphasizing the need for the North Charleston strip to attract locally owned business as opposed to chain restaurants.

But there’s another problem that affects the downtown Charleston business corridor that those living near North Charleston’s Reynolds Avenue are hoping to keep at bay: flooding.

The Chicora Cherokee community, a hot spot for new development and also a target for affordable housing and new businesses, is one of six neighborhoods that have been targeted for drainage improvements. Though residents and community leaders welcome the improvements, the city’s recent decision to move forward with a flooding study in Chicora was met with mixed reactions.

City Council voted Dec. 15 to pay civil engineer Reveer Group $146,510 to lead the Chicora Drainage Study. The study will analyze existing flooding conditions and evaluate remedial action in the form of maintenance or drainage improvements that will reduce or eliminate future flooding.

Reveer, a North Charleston-based firm, will also develop alternatives that will increase the capacity of the stormwater system and reduce the flooding potential in Chicora.

Chicora will be the first of six neighborhoods to undergo drainage studies using funding from grants awarded last year by the South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program to help cover more than $14 million worth of drainage improvements. Other neighborhoods that will see flooding solutions are Union Heights, Accabee, Read Street, Midland Park and the Northwood/Bentwood area.

The city still needs to secure additional funding to implement the recommendations from the study, Councilman Michael Brown said.

AJ Davis, president of the Chicora neighborhood, said any improvement that seeks to alleviate flooding is welcomed. But the infrastructure improvements are to be expected, given the economic interests in the city’s south end, he said.

Development is trickling southward from the Park Circle community, an eclectic district of residences and restaurants. Businesses have stretched south along Spruill Avenue and along Reynolds Avenue into the predominantly Black Chicora neighborhood, where housing affordability and gentrification remain a concern.

Some expected that incoming development would “trigger” infrastructure improvements, Davis said.

“In my opinion, this is less about truly addressing infrastructure issues for the people there and more so about aligning with a development trajectory that we’re all pretty much seeing,” Davis said.

Union Heights, located a few miles south of Chicora, is also slated to see drainage improvements.

Skip Mikell, neighborhood president, said he was unaware of the $14 million being invested in southern end neighborhoods. He also said the city should have considered the number of grassroots organizations that have for years been examining environmental issues in these neighborhoods.

In 1980, North Charleston studied the Chicora Drainage Basin, which spans over 400 acres and covers the neighborhood, and concluded that a new box culvert and outfall to the Cooper River was needed. The study also concluded that the pipes upstream of the retention areas were undersized and only provided up to 50 percent of the required stormwater conveyance capacity.

Soon after, the city constructed the recommended saltwater retention. In 2007, the Charleston Naval Complex Redevelopment Authority built a new box culvert though the former Charleston Navy base and a new outfall to the Cooper River.

While drainage has improved, flooding has continued to impact the community, which includes several homes, nonprofits, businesses, schools and churches.

“You have flooding to where folks can’t get to their houses,” Brown said. Brown added that the problem hasn’t gotten better over the years, even as new infrastructure projects have made way, such as the four-lane Cosgrove overpass that was replaced several years ago.

Evie Palmisano lives at the corner of Arapahoe Street and Captain Avenue, located in the adjacent Nafair neighborhood. She bought her home in 2019. Since then, her yard has flooded at least 10 times, she said. In 2021, Palmisano lost her car after the vehicle was flooded during heavy rainfall.

“I’m tentatively hopeful,” she said in hearing about the city’s new Chicora drainage study.

Rexton Street, a strip that stretches off the up-and-coming Reynolds Avenue, is also frequently under water. This impedes current plans to transform the strip into community-oriented space that includes an amphitheater, cafe and plaza. But proper infrastructure will need to be in place for those plans to be successful, Sutton said.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Let me be frank. When I heard the name and saw the face of Cody Maw on social media this weekend, I immediately thought, “pretty good pitcher at Cane Bay and CSU. I did not think, “modern-day Romeo," and maybe, I should have.

They are the All-American, All-Lowcountry Couple-- Cody Maw and Madison Jenkins.

“Known each other since high school. Been together for a little over eight years,” says Cody. He's a crafty lefty, and she is on track to ace her nursing boards. They always knew that a future would be on deck together, but the only question was when and where to pop the question. “Even her dad thought it would be on the baseball (field) or slow-pitch softball. But I had a time frame I wanted to do it, and I think she was getting antsy,” says Maw.

What better way to ring in the new year than with a shiny new ring on the rink? “We went to a game a few months back, and she loved it. I said this could work pretty well.”

“He told me that he volunteered us to play a game on the ice, the whole time, I was thinking, oh gosh. I was more worried about falling in front of everybody and how I was going to look on the house. I went through I don’t know how many outfits—I went for jeans and a tee shirt 'cause that’s my usual,” says Jenkins, a Cane Bay, and Trident Tech grad.

The question is, did he worry there could be a “no” on the ice? “I was not worried about a no. That was the good part. I was worried about the fall. I was telling them not to do anything strenuous with the shopping cart, she had some support.”

The game set up with the Stingrays is fixed. The question was completely real. “I was speechless. They asked me to look at the jumbotron to see my prize. At first, I couldn’t see out the helmet--- I moved it out the way, looked up, and was in shock. I said oh goodness, it means he was behind me, and I had to look for him.”

They aren’t sure when the wedding will be, but for now, ice cold, aaawww, for the future, Mr. and Mrs. Maw.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The new year will be full of laughs as a slew of popular comedians make their way to Charleston in 2023.

Many comedy icons and those who have risen to fame through social media like TikTok and YouTube will head to the Lowcountry for shows in both North Charleston and Charleston.

Award-winning actor and comedian Tim Allen (Home Improvement, The Santa Clause) will kick off the year with laughs at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center on Friday, January 6. This is an 18+ show. (tickets)

Jim Gaffigan, a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to entertainment, will bring his unique brand of humor to the North Charleston Coliseum on January 26. (tickets)

Comedic icons Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are bringing the laughs to North Charleston later this month. They are set to perform at the North Charleston Coliseum on Friday, January 27. (tickets)

The King of Queens will make a stop in the Holy City in February. Kevin James is set to perform at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center as part of his ‘Irregardless Tour’ on February 4. (tickets)

Comedian and rapper Karlous Miller will perform at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center on February 17. (tickets)

Fortune Feimster, who rose to fame on the late-night talk show ‘Chelsea Lately,’ will make a return to Charleston on March 26. Fortune surged in popularity on social media during the pandemic and through her podcast, Sincerely, Fortune. That show will take place at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center in North Charleston. (tickets)

“You might be a redneck if…” Comedy icon Jeff Foxworthy and the very funny southern belle Leanne Morgan will perform along with special guest Dusty Slay at the North Charleston Coliseum on May 17. (tickets)

From television to podcasts, Nikki Glaser is sure to shock and bring laughs when she hits the stage during her upcoming tour. Glaser is set to perform at the Charleston Music Hall on March 4. (tickets)

Colleen Ballinger, who has delighted YouTube, Netflix, and TikTok viewers as her alter ego Miranda Sings for years, will perform in character at the Charleston Music Hall on March 11. (tickets)

Comedian, actress, and internet personality extraordinaire Chelcie Lynn will hit the Charleston Music Hall stage on March 14. The comedian is best known for her character Trailer Trash Tammy which has taken the social media world by storm. (tickets)

Emmy Award winner and two-time Grammy Award nominee David Cross (Waiting for Guffman, Men in Black) will appear at the Charleston Music Hall on April 15. (tickets)

Five-time Grammy and Emmy nominee Margaret Cho will perform at the Charleston Music Hall on June 23. Cho has appeared in myriad movies and television shows. She was also named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time. (tickets)

This story previews some of the top comedic acts coming to the Charleston, SC area in 2023. For a full list, check with each venue.