Summers Corner in Summerville

MWV begins work on Summers Corner development

This aerial rendering of Summers Corner shows the 6,000-acre development plan. (Rendering/Provided/MWV)
By Ashley Heffernan
aheffernan@scbiznews.com
Construction has started on a 6,435-acre community development at the corner of S.C. Highway 61 and Summers Drive in Summerville.
MWV launched Phase 1 of Summers Corner this week with construction work on two new Dorchester District Two schools: Sand Hill Elementary and Middle School of the Arts. The middle school will include a 1,000-seat performing arts space, and both schools are expected to open in 2016.

The new Middle School of the Arts will include Summers Corner Performing Arts Center, which will seat around 1,000 people. (Photo by Ashley Hefferna)

The first phase will also include 400 new homes, ranging from $250,000 to $400,000. Model homes will open in the summer of 2015, and residents are expected to move into single-family homes during the fall of 2015. A lake house with canoe and kayak launch space, a walking and biking trail system near a network of lakes, demonstration gardens, an outdoor market and a neighborhood pool house will be built during the next year as well.
Retail centers called The Commons and Village Crossroads will be built near the entrance of the community.
Ken Seeger, president of Commercial Development and Land Management at MWV, said Summers Corner will be a “community in a garden” and will have a “natural feel to it with an emphasis on all types of gardening and really honoring nature and the outdoors.”
Clemson University is expected to offer gardening classes in The Commons, according to Seeger.
“We really tried to raise the bar in terms of quality of planning and design and draw from best practices all around the country,” he said.
Between the roads, utilities and amenities under construction, MWV expects to spend in excess of $10 million on the first phase, according to Seeger. He said MWV is working with three homebuilders now on designs, and the selected builder will be announced later this year. About one-third of the development is expected to remain open, he said.
Eventually, the community will also include about 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and over the next 20 years, Seeger expects 5,000 to 7,000 homes will be built. Seeger is meeting in the next few weeks with leaders at Trident Technical College to finalize plans for a new branch campus that will likely sit adjacent to a future technical high school within Summers Corner.
Trident Tech President Mary Thornley said MWV is providing about 100 acres of land within the development for the branch campus, which will include a library that will be shared by the high school and college students.
“We don’t have a major campus in Dorchester County. We have two locations, but they’re not major,” Thornley said. “This is a huge development, and we’re in a growing area. People are going to move somewhere. Where will they move? Berkeley and Dorchester. That’s the future.”
Summers Corner will also become the second community in the state to offer gigabit Internet service. MWV’s Nexton, a 4,500-acre community in Summerville, will be the first community to provide the broader bandwidth and speed.
Summers Corner is near MWV’s Pine Hill Business Campus, which opened in 2010 with 1,100 acres of land. One company — ArborGen Inc. — is currently working in the campus, but MWV is planning to construct a speculative building for a light-industrial user soon, according to Seeger. He expects more companies will move into the campus once families start buying homes in Summers Corner.
“We wanted to lead with job creation and later houses would come,” Seeger said. “It’s about finding a balance between jobs and housing with services in close proximity.”
Reach staff writer Ashley Heffernan at 843-849-3144 or @AshleyBHeff on Twitter.

Courtesy of Charleston Regional Business Journal