Forest Acres residents impressed by plan for Cardinal Newman site
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FOREST ACRES, S.C. (WOLO) — Forest Acres residents were pleasantly surprised about the development planned for the soon-to-be former site of the Cardinal Newman School. They came out to express their concerns at a meeting Monday night. Cardinal Newman will move to a new 50-acre campus in Northeast Richland County in January. The Beach Company, a Charleston-based developer, is under contract to buy the old site at 4701 Forest Drive. The Beach Company developed the Vista’s Canalside apartments. With this new site’s visibility on Forest Drive, there’s a whole new set of possibilities for retail and housing. The company’s development manager Ned Miller says they’re looking to fill about 50,000 square feet of retail space with as many regional and local business owners as possible. Miller says they want residents from outlying neighborhoods to visit the site to eat and shop. They’ll build as many as 298 apartments. Miller says half of those will be studios or one bedrooms. The other half will be two-to-three bedroom units. They’ll rent from $1,000 up through $2,000 per month. Ten townhouses will line the back of the property. Traffic was a concern for many at Monday’s meeting, including the additional cars on Forest Drive, and parking within the development. Miller says they’ve spaced out 635 spots most of which are hidden in a parking garage. There’s a right-in and right-out planned out of the development directly onto Forest Drive. They’ve secured access to the traffic light out of the Bi-Lo parking lot. Access to Gamewell Road will be exclusively for the ten town-homes behind the apartments and retail space. Millers says it could take up to six months to go through the re-zoning process with the city. After another six months finalizing the designs, he estimates construction could take up to two years, for a target finish in the fall of 2017.
