$28.5 Million for 1,500 Houses Nobody Will Build

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Mount Pleasant just spent $28.5 million to make about 1,500 houses vanish at the top of Highway 41 before anybody poured a slab.

That's the real purchase inside the Republic Tract settlement Town Council approved Oct. 13. The town buys 129 acres on the Wando River for a passive public park. The owner keeps the remaining 56 or so acres, comes into the town, and is capped at 95 single-family houses.

Now the math. Town officials say that left in the county with sewer hooked up, the tract could have carried up to 16 units an acre. Call it 1,600 homes. Annexed under Mount Pleasant's existing zoning, it still could have topped 300. The number that stuck is 95.

Divide the price by the park and you get about $221,000 an acre. Divide it by the homes that won't happen and it's closer to $19,000 apiece. Councilman Daniel Brownstein made the traffic case out loud, pointing at the growth already filling in across the river along Clements Ferry Road. Anyone who drives 41 at 5:30 can do the rest of that math in their head.

The fight itself was about pipes. The owners wanted sewer service so they could build under county rules. The town and Mount Pleasant Waterworks said no, not unless the property annexed. A lawsuit followed in 2023, and this settlement is what finally ends it.

The other side of the table did fine too. The Post & Courier reports that Highland, the Houston firm that owns the tract now, paid $37.5 million for the whole thing in March. Take the town's check out of that and Highland holds the 56 buildable acres for a net of about $9 million, before its share of a new road.

As for the road, Highland and the town will split the cost of a public access road off 41 that serves both the park and the houses. The park side gets more than two miles of Wando waterfront, protected for good with a conservation easement, a deed restriction or both.

Where the $28.5 million comes from is still loose. The town says existing tax revenue could cover it. Greenbelt money from the proposed Charleston County transportation sales tax could chip in too, if voters approve it.

And before anyone shops for a trailer hitch, residents already asked about a boat landing. Brownstein said the sediment there would likely mean dredging. The idea can be considered. Nothing on paper includes it today.

Next up is a standard 90-day due diligence period, with closing possible as early as April 2027. The town says details on park design and public access come later. Until closing day, the whole 185 acres still belongs to Highland.

Sources: ABC News 4 (settlement terms, density figures, conservation restrictions, closing timeline), a second ABC News 4 report (sewer dispute, funding options, boat landing), Live 5 News (riverfront, shared road, due diligence) and the Post & Courier (Highland's March purchase price)