What’s next: Dorchester Co. to redevelop Summerville headquarters

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Dorchester County plans to sell the land its Summerville headquarters stands on to a developer, who will build a new office building for them along with other amenities.

The longstanding building at the corner of North Main Street and Highway 78 will be going away soon, as the county plans to hire a developer to turn it into mixed-use.

The multiyear plan for the three-acre site calls for two new office buildings, a new hotel, retail spaces, multifamily housing and a 450-space parking garage.

Deputy County Administrator Daniel Prentice said the new development will allow local government to get extra tax revenues from the site, which he said, is the largest in the downtown Summerville area.

“It’ll be a multiphase project, so the first product that will result from it will be a new office building for the county somewhere on the property,” Prentice said. “Then after that, we will move out of our existing building, and the rest of the site will be redeveloped.”

Prentice said their new office building will be on the corner of Highway 78 and Cedar Street and will be 30,000 square feet. He said current building offers 23,000 square feet of office space.

He also expects bicycle, transit and walking infrastructure to be put in place to make the site more friendly to pedestrians.

“The redevelopment of this property is going to result in $100 million-plus plus in terms of new infrastructure being placed on the property,” Prentice said. “All of that is subject to market conditions in terms of what they build how they build it. We definitely see the development building happening between 2024 and 2028.”

Prentice said the exact costs for the project have not yet been worked out, but they anticipate potentially moving into their new building around the end of next year.

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