Charleston's always juggling priorities. Right now, it's juggling a big one.
The city recently unveiled plans to convert the massive surface parking lot at Hagood Avenue and Fishburne Street — the one RiverDogs fans and MUSC workers depend on — into affordable housing. It's part of Project 3500, the city's initiative to add 3,500 new affordable units to the peninsula by 2032.
That's a worthy goal. And also a logistical headache.
What's at stake
The lot holds 1,200 spaces. On game nights, it's a lifeline for fans walking to The Joe. On weekdays, it's where MUSC employees park before catching a shuttle to the Medical District. The Citadel uses it too — as part of an old land deal, the military college was promised 900 spaces for events at Johnson Hagood Stadium.
Nobody's surprised the city needs to act on housing. But losing these spaces isn't a small ask.
What the city is saying
Spokesperson Deja Knight McMillan noted that any changes are "well into next year" — plenty of runway, she says, to find a solution. The hope is that some of the 500 planned affordable and workforce units will house the very MUSC workers currently commuting in. Fewer cars. Less congestion.
There's also talk of leaning on underutilized downtown garages, expanding CARTA and Lowcountry Rapid Transit, and possibly building a new parking deck nearby. The city is eyeing three sites close to The Joe and Johnson Hagood Stadium.
The RiverDogs were measured in their response. "The RiverDogs fully support the city's efforts to expand affordable housing," owner Jeff Goldklang told the Post & Courier. "At the same time, the proposed loss of our primary parking area presents a significant challenge for both our fans and the surrounding neighborhood."
What the neighbors are saying
West Side neighborhood president Sarah Spangler isn't reassured. The surrounding streets are already strained on game days — and that's with the Hagood lot.
"It's going to be a huge issue," she said. "We're real worried."
Worth noting: the city spends nearly twice what it collects from the RiverDogs just to maintain The Joe — a ballpark built on a former landfill that's slowly doing what landfills do. The economics of that relationship are going to be hard to ignore.
For now, the city's message is: we're working on it. The question is whether the solution arrives before the spaces disappear.
This is a summary of an article published in the Post & Courier. Click here if you'd like to read that article.
