Granite Countertops in Summers Corner, SC

The restaurant and retail business continues to evolve across the Charleston region with one venue closing, four others in the works and another relocating.

South of Summerville, the only restaurant in the developing Summers Corner community will soon turn out the lights.

Corner House Café at 1609 Beech Hill Road is slated to close April 3, according to a shop owner Jacki Mariest.

Mariest said she was notified by a lawyer with homebuilder Lennar, which owns and is developing Summers Corner, in early March that the company would not be renewing her lease when it expires in June. Rather than wait until then, and to give her 10 employees an earlier chance to land a new job, Mariest said she decided to go ahead and close.

Mariest said Lennar did not offer a reason for not renewing the lease after the restaurant’s nearly four years at the location.

“A lot of homeowners are real upset because this was one of their amenities,” Mariest said.

A Lennar representative did not offer a reason for not renewing the lease but said a new occupant could be announced soon.

“We have a number of prospective new tenants we believe will be embraced and enjoyed by the community,” said Jason Byham, Charleston division president. “We have no intention of leaving it vacant.”

In a Facebook post, Mariest thanked her customers for their support over the past four years.

“You have always stood by our side, especially during COVID,” she said. “We are not closing due to COVID or a lack of community support.”

An online petition to try to change the landlord’s mind had garnered roughly 2,000 signatures by March 30.

Lennar has about 500 houses in Summers Corner with another 100 under construction and hundreds more planned, Byham said.

What’s cooking?

A Mount Pleasant restaurant and bar that’s been closed since last summer plans to welcome customers once again.

Mainland Container Co. plans to reopen by the end of April at 1528 Ben Sawyer Blvd., a restaurant representative said.

Under new ownership, a company called BCG Holdings LLC recently applied for a state permit to sell alcohol on site. The property has been undergoing a mild facelift. New wooden fencing was recently installed around the patio area.

The restaurant representative said more information will be announced soon.

Also, a brewing company plans to open in the former Kickin’ Chicken restaurant site in downtown Charleston.

King Street Brewing Co. LLC has applied for a license to see beer, wine and liquor at 337 King St., between Calhoun and George streets.

The firm is associated with Nate Tomforde, owner of Pour Taproom at 560 King St. Tomforde did not respond for further comment on an opening time frame.

Kickin’ Chicken moved out of the proposed bar location last April after 21 years on King Street. It plans to reopen in a new site by July on the upper peninsula in a reworked former automotive garage at 45 Romney St. near the Charleston Tech Center.

And in Mount Pleasant, Second State Coffee is planning to open a new shop.

The café is upfitting a space at 1410 Shucker Circle next to apparel shop Love Bella in Oyster Park. It also plans to serve beer and wine.

Second State has two other locations: at 766 S. Shelmore Blvd. in Mount Pleasant and at 70½ Beaufain St. in downtown Charleston.

In northern Mount Pleasant, another restaurant is on the way.

Emoji Poke recently leased 1,255 square feet in The Bend at Carolina Park. It plans to open in the spring of 2022 in the developing strip center at Faison Road and Park Avenue Boulevard across from Costco Wholesale, according to the commercial real estate firm Belk|Lucy.

It will be located between The Front Porch Coffeehouse & Creamery and Blue Sky Endurance, which recently signed leases as well.

Relocating

A decade-old gift and furniture shop plans to relocate in Mount Pleasant.

Coralberry Cottage will build a new facility at 1135 Chuck Dawley Blvd. It currently operates at 976 Houston Northcutt Blvd. in Northcutt Plaza.

The current lease expires in June and, until the new building is constructed, the business plans to operate virtually when it moves out of the shopping center, according to Rutledge Carter, who co-owns the business with Melissa Hempstead and Liz Baker.

The new site, next to Clay Cottage and Art Studio, also has three small apartments that will remain and be called Indigo Studios.

Carter said they hope to be in the new location by the end of the summer, adding the project has been held up by a number of factors, including the coronavirus.

Getting fit

A Chicago-area fitness franchise is bringing its first South Carolina location to the Lowcountry.

Franchisee John Youngblood will open Spenga in a 4,000-square-foot space in the Publix-anchored Queensborough Shopping Center in Mount Pleasant by late summer, according to Jeff Yurfest with The Shopping Center Group.

Spenga, combining spin, strength training and yoga and also forming the brand name, will be located in three of the four available spaces in the recently completed building where Maple Street Biscuit Co. opened in December at 996 Johnnie Dodds Blvd.

Youngblood plans to be open by mid-August after upfitting of the space is completed. Future Spenga sites are planned for northern Mount Pleasant, James Island, Summerville and West Ashley.

Also, a new boutique fitness studio is opening on Johns Island.

Everybody Zen Yoga & Fitness tentatively plans to move in April 1 to a 2,000-square-foot space at 1715 Hollydale Court at Maybank Landing, according to the commercial real estate firms NAI Charleston and ERA Wilder Realty.

SUMMERVILLE — Some of the youngest birders here have joined forces to monitor and populate bluebirds, a species that faced concerns of extinction nearly five decades ago.

They all live in the Summers Corner neighborhood off S.C. Highway 61, a fairly new community where bluebirds were the first inhabitants.

Nine years ago, when the community was under construction, a bluebird box was installed on the front street. The wooden boxes function much like the cavities the species creates in dead trees. Entrance holes allow them to move inside for shelter and nesting.

When the first box was put up in Summers Corner, only a building and four home structures were on the property. Three days after the box was installed, the birds moved in, said Tracy Erwin, the community’s marketing specialist.

More than 41 neighborhood children who make up the Bluebird Brigade will monitor that box and more than 20 others starting next week.

They’ll venture out into the area to take inventory of the species and clean out the wooden boxes the bluebirds call home.

Rhonda Plummer leads the Bluebird Brigade, which was started by the Summers Corner Garden Club in March 2021. The group started with 15 children and nearly tripled in three years. Birders range from 3 to 13 years old.

Plummer said the group was started to help populate the birds and provide an opportunity for children to experience the hands-on process.

The children convened at the front of the neighborhood on Feb. 25 to learn basic facts about bluebirds, how to clean and prepare the boxes and make feeders for the birds using coffee filters and cereal.

Jim Sproull, a board member for the S.C. Bluebird Society, spoke to the birders about the importance of recording data about the species and answered a multitude of questions, including those about egg colors, how to get the birds to leave the boxes and what to do when the eggs don’t hatch.

This task will be a new one for several members of the 2023 Bluebird Brigade cohort. Six-year-old Greyson Rose-Meadows is one of the newbies.

He said he has bluebirds already in his yard. But his favorite species is the blue heron.

“I love all animals except for the guys in the midnight zone,” Rose-Meadows said, alluding to vampire squid, tripod fish, anglerfish and other species found in a part of the ocean that receives no sunlight. “They’re terrifying.”

But he is excited to track bluebirds this spring.

Bluebird Brigade members will split up into groups to take weekly inventory and monitor the boxes from March to July. All data will be reported to the S.C. Bluebird Society and then to Cornell University.

Data on the species is important because it can help scientists understand its status.

Sproull of the Bluebird Society said he is unsure just how many bluebirds there are in the state, but there is a good population. Three species are found in North America. The Eastern bluebird lives here and in other states East of the Mississippi River.

“We are making progress,” Sproull said. “There are good people like this group that want to do something (about the species).”

He said the Bluebird Brigade is a good example of positive steps to help the birds.

About 10 percent of North America’s population was lost last year due to extreme cold and heat-related weather events.

But even with such a large loss, the species is more stable now than it was between 1920 and 1970, when Sproull said the North American population declined by 90 percent.

For The Press and Standard

Zoe Buckner, Jada Christian, Abe Greene, Shawn Jacques and Niquee Agina were selected for the 2023 the South Carolina Band Directors Association Region Honor Band. This is the highest individual honor a band member can earn. Students auditioned in January against hundreds of other Lowcountry schools for positions in the honor bands. These students will attend the SCBDA Region Honor Band Clinic February 17-18 and will perform a free concert at Summers Corner Performing Arts Center in Summerville.

On February 8th, junior Band of Blue trumpeter Abe Greene attended the Burke High School College Band Scholarship Fair. Band members from all over the lowcountry met and auditioned for band scholarships with several HBCU Band programs from Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Band of Blue members Ally Stephens and Derek Oliver attended the University of South Carolina Band Clinic in Columbia February 10-12th The USC Band Clinic, in its 45th year, hosts over 400 of the finest high school wind and percussion students from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Florida. The goal of the clinic is to expose students to outstanding clinicians, concerts, and master classes. Students also attended several concerts on campus at the Koger Center for the Arts.

The Band of Blue Winter Guard and Winter Percussion performed at the CWEA Premier at White Knoll High School this past Saturday, February 11th. The Varsity Winter Guard presented their show «Here and There» with music by Enya and from the movie «The Piano» The Varsity Winter Guard placed 2nd in their round and 7th overall out of 13 groups in the AAA Division. The Band of Blue Winter Percussion premiered their show «Wonderland» based off the story of Alice in Wonderland. The CCHS Winter Percussion placed 2nd out of 6 six groups in the Percussion Novice Division.

Up next for the Band of Blue, the BIG BLUE Jazz Band will perform at the 2023 Jazz Performance Assessment at Newberry College on Saturday, March 4th at 6pm.

The Winter Guard and Winter Percussion will travel and compete at River Bluff High School, March 11th and to Byrnes High School on March 18th. The Band of Blue Concert/Symphonic Band will perform at the SCBDA Concert Performance Assessment, Thursday, March 16th at James Island High School at 11am. The band will perform in Class IV. The CCMS Middle School Band will perform at the SCBDA Concert Performance Assessment, Tuesday, March 21st at Rollins School of the Arts in Summerville at 9am..

The Band of Blue, Big Blue Jazz Band, CCMS Middle School Band and the CCHS Winter Percussion and Varsity Winter Guard will present our annual Spring Concert, Sunday, March 26th at 4pm. Admission to the concert is $2.

The Varsity Winter Guard will finish their season at the CWEA Championships in Rock Hill on April 1st and the Band of Blue Winter Percussionwill conclude their season on April 15th.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Last week, a fire devastated the Apel family's home in the Summers Corner community.

A GoFundMe was quickly started to support the Apel family and in just a few hours, the $5,000 goal had already been reached.

Yet people continued to donate and in 24 hours? The fund had reached about $11,000.

Read More: Flames envelop home in Summers Corner community of Dorchester County

As of Monday morning, donations were just over $12,530, with people still actively donating.

The GoFundMe states the money will help the family replace all that was lost in the house fire and support them until they reestablish a new home.

The photo used on the page shows two adults and four children.

Read More: Dozens give back in North Charleston on Easter Sunday

Flames could be seen shooting out of the kitchen of the home on Gnarly Oak lane at around 5 p.m. Friday.

The homeowner said the fire started on the porch of the home and quickly spread. Fire officials said the cause was an apparent electrical issue.

Everyone home at the time was able to escape without injury.

James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust

A brand new beach is set to open this year in New York City — but it's not your typical oceanfront destination.

Expected to open to the public in summer 2023, the beach will be located at Gansevoort Peninsula in Manhattan's Hudson River Park and offer a sandy shoreline, picnic tables, sports field and kayaking, according to The Daily Beast.

The only catch: you can't actually go in the water as swimming will be forbidden.

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James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust

Noreen Doyle, CEO of the Hudson River Trust, told the outlet: "We've been clear from the get-go that this is not a swimming beach. The Hudson River has made a huge amount of progress in terms of its health since the Clean Water Act was passed in the 1970s, but this is not designed as a swimming beach."

Doyle also revealed some additional qualities that might just make the beach New York City's next hotspot.

Along with the sports field and kayaking, the park will also include, "tree-lined promenades, swathes of native grass for lounging and even a salt marsh, a feature that's unique to the Manhattan side of the Hudson, for 'habitat enhancement.'"

James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust

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The new park was designed by James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), which is the same company that helped construct Manhattan's famous High Line elevated park a few blocks away.

Though visitors can't swim in the Hudson River, landscape architect and urban designer at JFCO, Karen Tamir, sheds light on why they are still referring to it as a beach.

James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of the Hudson River Park Trust

"The reason it's called the beach goes back to 25 years ago when the park was being planned in concept, even though all the money wasn't in place for it yet," she says.

Cricket Day, a JFCO designer who is also working on the project, added that the space will be a nice escape for tourists and New York City locals: "People want a place to lay down and to take their shirt off, and that's what they're gonna have here."

New York City does have numerous beaches where you can go for a dip, including famous sites like Coney Island and Rockaway Beach along the Atlantic Ocean.