Water Damage Restoration in Wadmalaw Island, SC

Drivers along Maybank Highway on Johns Island have been passing a bright green, retro-style sign promising miniature golf is “coming soon.”

The wait is almost over.

Sea Island Mini Golf & Arcade is slated to open in late February, bringing two full 18-hole micro-layouts and a large indoor arcade with several dozen games.

The family-friendly entertainment hub at 3414 Maybank Highway features two separate courses — Alligator Alley and Swampville — complete with fountains, sand traps and mini bridges behind a warehouse-style building and parking area.

More than 40 arcade games will be installed indoors, along with multiple televisions for watching sports, including golf and a concessions counter inside will serve up soft pretzels, ice cream, slushies, nachos and pretzels.

Pending a permit, the food truck will offer pizza, fries and chicken fingers. The owners have also applied for a beer and wine license.

Each hole on the courses is sponsored by a local business, and the first nine holes on each course are wheelchair accessible. The design allows players to complete a full 18-hole round by combining accessible holes across both courses. A practice putting green is included on site.

Co-owners Sandie and Michael Albenesius, who also own and operate St. John’s Kayaks and Boat Tours, said the idea grew out of a desire to offer more activities for teens and families on the island and nearby James Island. They own the Sea Island Mini Golf with two additional co-owners.

Transforming the former storage warehouse took several years.

Players on the mini golf course will receive putters, golf balls, a scorecard and a tiny pencil upon signing up to play the courses.

Outdoor seating, picnic tables and televisions — including coverage from the Golf Channel — are also part of the setup.

Initially, Sea Island Mini Golf & Arcade plans to operate Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. but will fluctuate based on weather or demand. The owners said hours will likely expand as demand grows, particularly heading into the summer season.

Beyond casual play, the venue plans to host birthday parties, corporate events, themed nights and group outings for kids and adults alike.

Rural retail

A national retailer of farm and rural lifestyle supplies is eyeing a new stire at Foxbank Plantation in Moncks Corner, near a community slated for nearly 3,000 homes.

Tractor Supply and PetSense by Tractor Supply have submitted plans to the S.C. Department of Environmental Services for a 21,930-square-foot retail outpost at 219 Foxbank Town Center. The project’s owner and developer is Twin Rivers Capital.

Tractor Supply carries farm supplies, pet and animal feed, clothing, tools, fencing and other rural essentials. PetSense offers grooming services and pet prescriptions.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based Tractor Supply is described as the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the U.S. The chain operates 2,364 namesake stores in 49 states, along with 206 PetSense locations in 23 states.

The company has opened seven stores in the Charleston area since expanding to South Carolina in 2007.

Gold rush

Gold Digger, an antique jewelry store, repair shop and jewelry design studio, will open Feb. 7 in North Charleston's Park Circle area.

The address is 1080 E. Montague Ave.

Gold Digger is owned by Lisa Thomas and daughter Emma, who source pieces during their travels. Each item is inspected and prepared by a master jeweler.

Thomas also owns DIGS Charleston and DIGS Imports, a curated furniture shop located at the same address, as well as Out of Hand in the Old Village in Mount Pleasant.

In addition to antique and vintage jewelry, the shop will offer repair services and custom, one-of-a-kind jewelry design.

Get crackin’

A Cajun-style seafood boil restaurant has opened near Tanger Outlets in North Charleston. Happy Crab Seafood is now serving at 4950 Centre Pointe Drive.

Restore more

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore on the peninsula is now open on Mondays.

The home goods-focused shop at 731 Meeting St., accepts donations and sells discounted building materials, furniture and home products, with proceeds supporting affordable housing efforts in the Charleston area.

Updated store hours are Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunrise arrives

The wait is over for diners in Goose Creek to get their own outpost of a Johns Island-based diner.

Sunrise Bistro officially opened Feb. 3 at 216 St. James Ave., in the former Ti-Ney Bangkok II Restaurant.

Co-owner Brian Appelt launched the eatery in 2009 with business partner Jessica Welenteichick after the pair spent years working together at Hege’s Restaurant on Johns Island. Other Sunrise Bistro locations are in Mount Pleasant, Johns Island, Aiken and Summerville.

JOHNS ISLAND — It’s beginning to look at lot like Lowes Foods.

After months of construction, shoppers on Johns Island are starting to see visible changes at the former KJ’s Market, which is in the process of being converted into a Lowes Foods grocery store.

Work started at the grocery store at Maybank Highway and Bohicket Road about eight months ago, when parent company Alex Lee Inc. announced last May the transition from the KJ’s to Lowes to better serve the community’s growing, changing demographic.

From the outside, the change is clear: new Lowes signage now greets shoppers rather than the KJ’s logo and the construction scaffolding has been removed.

Inside, Lowes' private-label products are steadily appearing on the shelves along with a new THC-infused beverage section.

There are even seasonal King Cakes shipped directly from New Orleans, a signature offering at all locations from the North Carolina-based grocer.

While the location is open and operating, company officials say the conversion is still underway and the full Lowes experience is expected to roll out over the next couple of months. That includes adding a bar that allows customers to drink and shop.

“It's not a fully effective Lowes Foods with everything up and running yet, that's going to be a couple months,” said Kelly Davis, senior director of guest engagement with the grocery chain. “We've got a ways to go inside.”

Davis said the method of staying open during transitions was the same when the company took over the location and transitioned it to KJ’s from Bi-Lo, as construction continued and new products hit the shelves.

Despite the ongoing work and visible construction inside, store traffic has increased steadily each week, Davis said.

Once the conversion is complete, the store is expected to feature signature Lowes offerings such as a community table section with wine and beer tastings, a “chicken kitchen,” kids events and a "Pick & Prep" option that allows customers to buy partial portions of produce that can be chopped, diced and sliced to order, whether its half an onion or half a watermelon.

The overhaul will include a refreshed interior and more higher-end items, like dry-aged beef, more locally sourced products and a bigger specialty cheese section.

The store is also actively hiring as new departments come online and Matt Nowlin, a Lowes division director who lives on Johns Island, will continue to tailoring the store to local shoppers.

A formal grand opening celebration is planned once the full conversion is complete.

The supermarket remains one of the main food-shopping destinations on the island. The next-closest option for residents is a Food Lion about three miles away on Maybank Highway.

In 2020, Alex Lee Inc. acquired 20 Bi-Lo stores from Winn Dixie parent Southeastern Grocers. The Johns Island store is the third former Bi-Lo in the area to become a Lowes Food, following prior conversions in Hanahan and West Ashley.

The other Lowcountry Lowes Foods store is in Mount Pleasant, which opened in 2019 on Highway 41 in a newly built shopping center.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) — Charleston city leaders are racing against the clock to find a way to pay for long-needed road and intersection improvements on Johns Island, as traffic congestion continues to worsen and state funding falls short.

City council has until February to decide whether to move forward with a Municipal Improvement District (MID), a tool that would allow the city to collect fees from new development to help fund infrastructure upgrades.

Charleston City Councilman Jim McBride says the issue isn’t the condition of the roads, but their capacity.

“Our population growth has exceeded our infrastructure to support it,” McBride said. “The main reason for that is all the traffic bottlenecks on Johns Island are on state roads — and the state does not have enough money to improve roads and intersections to keep up with the growth.”

Statewide transportation needs total about $70 billion, while projected revenue sits at just $27 billion, leaving a $42 billion funding gap, according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s revenue forecast through 2040.

That shortfall has pushed city leaders to consider alternatives like a Municipal Improvement District, which would focus on funding projects the state cannot.

McBride says the idea is to reinvest money from new development back into the community.

“It generates income based on new development on Johns Island that goes back to Johns Island,” he said. “That could be intersection improvements, traffic lights, sidewalks, or pathways connecting neighborhoods to business centers.”

Municipal Improvement Districts allow cities to assess fees on developers whose properties meet specific criteria, helping pay for infrastructure or stormwater drainage improvements tied to growth.

McBride says traffic congestion is already taking a toll on the local economy.

“People aren’t driving to businesses on Johns Island as often because of the traffic,” he said. “That hurts small businesses.”

This is not the first time Charleston has explored the idea. A similar proposal was paused in 2021 while the federal government reviewed its legality. The plan resurfaced at a city council meeting last November, and leaders are now gathering public input before any decision is made.

However, Mayor William Cogswell says timing could limit how effective the district would be.

“It would have been great if this was done 10 years ago,” Cogswell said. “You would’ve had a lot more revenue coming in because it would only be taxing new businesses — and much of Johns Island’s commercial development has already happened.”

The mayor says the city is also considering a Tax Increment District, which would use future growth in property values to pay for infrastructure improvements.

For now, city leaders say no final decision has been made — and traffic on Johns Island remains a growing challenge.

CHARLESTON — Charleston County has started construction of an interchange south of U.S. Highway 17 and east of Main Road as part of a larger effort to alleviate traffic for West Ashley and Johns Island residents.

The interchange is part of a $354 million road project — the largest infrastructure project in Charleston County history. It includes the construction of flyover ramps at the intersection of Main Road and Highway 17; a bridge over CSX Railroad; a roundabout at the intersection of Main, Chisholm and River roads; and a widening of Main Road from River and Chisholm roads to the interchange ramps. It’s funded by the 2016 transportation sales tax.

The improvements were originally part of a bigger project for Main Road, from Bees Ferry Road to Betsy Kerrison Parkway. The project was then split into three segments, with this particular segment first estimated to cost $130 million in 2020.

Construction workers first built a temporary trestle bridge across the marsh to access where they are building the interchanges. Those were designed to allow drivers to avoid the intersection of Main Road and Highway 17 and go directly to Johns Island or West Ashley. Herb Nimz, county manager for the project, previously told The Post and Courier the focus is to build a way on and off Johns Island first before constructing the flyover ramps at the intersection.

The county also plans to build a roundabout at the intersection of Main, River and Chisolm roads. Eric Adams, county director of public works, wrote in an email to The Post and Courier that construction of the roundabout is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026.

This project has been in the works for years, to many West Ashley and Johns Island residents’ dismay. Main Road is one of the two ways on and off Johns Island and beyond, including Kiawah, Seabrook and Wadmalaw islands.

Census data shows the population of Johns Island increased rapidly from 2010 to 2024, from around 15,100 people to almost 23,000. More than 25,000 people are estimated to live on the island today.

The project is one of the many road projects in progress from the 2016 transportation sales tax. Adams said at a County Council finance committee meeting last March that road projects usually take several years due to permitting required ahead of construction. Construction is often the shortest component, he said.

The project remains on track to be completed in late 2028.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — Funding is now complete for a major affordable housing development on Johns Island that will bring homeownership opportunities to 50 Lowcountry families struggling with rising housing costs.

Sea Island Habitat for Humanity has secured all the funding needed to begin building infrastructure for Sweetgrass Preserve, a new neighborhood planned on a 30-acre parcel of land. The milestone clears the way for construction to begin on what officials say is the nonprofit’s largest project to date.

Once completed, Sweetgrass Preserve will include 50 affordable, owner-occupied homes for families who already live and work on Johns Island but have found it increasingly difficult to buy a home through traditional means.

“It’s folks who own their own houses. So, it’s not rentals. They’re not short-term residencies,” said John Rhoden, executive director of Sea Island Habitat for Humanity. “They’re people who already live here and now getting a house of their own for the first time. It’s people who can’t afford a house in the normal process.”

Habitat officials say the project is a direct response to rising housing costs on the island. New data shows the typical home now sells on Johns Island for about $700,000, nearly 10% higher than this time last year.

Habitat for Humanity says Sweetgrass Preserve offers what it calls a long-term housing solution. Families who qualify purchase their homes through an affordable mortgage and also help build them alongside volunteers.

“We’re probably the closest thing I can come up with to a permanent solution for housing,” Rhoden said. “They’re getting a house, it’s their house, it’s a mortgage, they own it. But they also have to work on that house. It’s not a free house — they’re buying it from us, and they help us build it.”

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The nonprofit is currently working with Charleston County to complete the permitting process. Construction is expected to take about five years, with 10 homes built each year.

Unlike some previous Habitat projects, officials say Sweetgrass Preserve is being planned and built as a single, cohesive neighborhood. The development also includes efforts to preserve natural features, such as saving trees and creating green and park spaces within the community.

“We’re spending a lot of time up front, getting it all planned beginning to end,” Rhoden said. “So, it’s one community as opposed to just throwing a house here and there like we have done in the past sometimes.”

Building homes in the same area at the same time also allows Habitat to maximize volunteer efforts.

“We’re all on the same street working, all building at the same time,” Rhoden said. “We can use volunteers on multiple buildings at the same time. It helps with the economies of scale.”

With funding now secured, Habitat officials say there are more opportunities for community members to get involved.

“We always need the help,” Rhoden said. “We need help swinging hammers, painting, caulking — all kinds of things. If you want to come work on a job site, you can give us a call.”

Groundbreaking for Sweetgrass Preserve is expected to begin in mid-2026, and officials hope to have the first nine families moved in by next December.