Park Circle

THE LOWDOWN

North Charleston is a separate city from Charleston. It often gets a bad rap for a number of reasons and is dismissed as the industrial ugly step sister to the beautiful Cinderella city of Charleston. Some of this is deserved, some not.

One area of North Charleston that I really like and have been advising clients to buy in for nearly ten years now is Park Circle. My clients who bought here ten years ago LOVE me for that advice…..those who bought five years ago really like me and those buying now, well they’ll still like me down the road because I think there’s still plenty of room for prices to increase as the rest of Charleston becomes unaffordable for those looking in the $250-400k range.

Park Circle is only 15 minutes from downtown and has been the subject of a lot of investment over the last ten year. As downtown became more and more expensive, the people who would have previously perhaps lived in Uptown until it became too pricey started moving to Park Circle where you get a lot more for your money and are still close to everything.

The area was developed to provide housing the Navy base workers back in the day, so the housing dates from back then. There are also newer subdivisions such as the eco friendly Oak Terrace Preserve, Mixson which originally had the same developers as super expensive I’On in Mt Pleasant. Mixson had a shaky start because it was developed just as the crash happened but now it’s back on solid ground and selling very well. They even have a swanky Hamptons type club.

You’ll also see a lot of infill projects including some marsh front homes, it’s not super expansive Prince of Tides type marsh, but it’s nice.

Now, go a couple of blocks in a different direction and the housing becomes less attractive, so keep that in mind.

It’s got an artsy nearly hipster vibe to it. East Montague Ave has a 4 block long downtown area with tons of restaurants, coffee shops, the best pizza in Charleston at Evo, a Irish bar Madra Rua where it actually feels like you’re in Ireland. There’s a food hall concept coming soon too

I’m a big fan of the area and for those who are ok with a little edge and looking for value for money, it’s worth adding to the list. Given how much industry is opening up in the North Charleston, Summerville, Ridgeville areas, the folks who work at Boeing, Bosch, Volvo, Mercedes, Amazon are not all going to want to drive 45 minutes to the other areas of Charleston to get home. Park Circle is a great central spot for them and I think that’s going to keep Park Circle homes in demand.

PRICE RANGE

Single Family Homes : Median Price $200,000

Condos & Townhomes : Median Price $129,000

Note : The data available covers all of Greater North Charleston, not just Park Circle, so these numbers are going to be higher for Park Circle itself. You can find a nice house $300k range. Townhomes $225k+

PROS

• It’s close to everything, downtown, the airport, Performing Arts Center and a lot of the major employers

• There are some lovely parks around the area

• The prices are still reasonable and may have some room to grow further as more development happens.

CONS

• There are some areas close by that are not nice.

• Shopping is limited

AREA FAVORITES

• Nice downtown area with plenty of local restaurants

• Coast Brewery, the original local brewery in this area.

COMMUTE TIMES

Airport/Boeing : 5 minutes

Downtown Charleston/MUSC : 15 minutes

Closest Beach : 15 minutes to Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island

SHOPPING

Park Circle doesn’t have any big grocery stores (yet). I would say one will be built before too long, but it’s still regenerating as an area. There is a Walmart a few miles away at the Tanger Outlet area.

BEACHES

Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island

STATS