Refrigerated Trailer for Rent in North Charleston, SC

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Roper St. Francis is beginning construction on a more than 1 billion project bringing a brand-new hospital to North Charleston by 2029 to replace its current downtown Charleston campus.

The hospital will be located off of Mall Drive behind the North Charleston City Hall. The campus is 27 acres and will feature a full-service 24-hour emergency department, operating rooms, inpatient units, a medical office building housing outpatient and specialty services and a vegetated green belt connecting facilities across the campus.

“To be able to continue the 170-year-old legacy that is Roper Hospital is an incredible thing,” Regional President for Roper St. Francis, Troy Powell, said.

The build is set to be completed in early 2029 and will create 3,600 construction jobs during the work.

“We’re here to celebrate more than steel and concrete, although there is a lot of it. We’re here because Roper St. Francis Healthcare is expanding our footprint to the center of our metropolitan area, bringing care, compassion and cutting-edge medicine even closer to the people we serve,” Roper St. Francis President & CEO Joseph DeLeon says.

DeLeon expects staff to transition into the building in early 2029 and run simulations to get used to the facility layout. He says it should be a smooth transition since they were instrumental in helping design the interiors through hundreds of workshops to hear from staff what layouts benefit them and patients best.

Medical staff got a chance to get a first look at the future medical campus back in December 2024.

Mid-2025 marks the start of construction on what the Roper St. Francis team says will be a major healthcare facility upgrade and leave a long legacy.

The move to North Charleston is a step in the Roper St. Francis Healthcare 2030 Strategic Plan to broaden access to quality care by expanding the health system’s footprint in the Lowcountry.

“We’re creating history today. Roper St. Francis has been around for a very long time, it’s taken care of so many people in the community. I know when we put this building in, it’s going to be the same for years and years, well past when I’m around,” DeLeon says.

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The S.C. State Ports Authority is pushing back the opening of its new $400 million rail yard on the former Navy base until next year, partly because of global trade uncertainties.

The agency had planned to start moving containers from its Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston in July.

The projected date has been moved up to early 2026, SC Ports CEO Barbara Melvin said at a June 11 meeting of the Maritime Association of South Carolina.

"This is a business decision by us," she said afterward.

Melvin stressed that the SPA could meet its long-stated goal of unveiling the Navy Base Intermodal Facility next month, even though three of the six cranes and one of the two rail loops aren't ready.

She estimated the development is 80 percent completed.

"But as we approached the end of the project some things happened," Melvin said Wednesday.

The most pressing issue is the economic uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war, which has put the global shipping industry on edge.

That includes the SPA. Melvin said the ports authority, like numerous private companies, has struggled to forecast its business outlook for its July 1 fiscal year.

"Uncertainty is not good for business," she said.

Against that backdrop, the SPA decided the time isn't right to open its $400 million investment.

"We don't want to do that right now because there are already cost-structure questions about tariffs and other things that supply-chain people are dealing with," Melvin said. "So there are good times in business to make moves like this and bad times. I think there's enough strain on ... the supply chain to say, 'Let's figure out what's going on before we introduce a new product.'"

Palmetto Railways, part of the S.C. Commerce Department, began planning for the 118-acre project more than 15 years ago. The SPA took it over in 2021.

Melvin said the state-backed investment will fill a huge competitive void for the maritime agency, which runs the only major East Coast port that doesn't offer cargo shippers rail service near its docks.

Two other issues factored into the delay.

They include the SPA's decision last year to allow union workers to operate the cranes at all of its terminals for the first time in its history after losing a high-profile labor dispute. That's created contractual wrinkles about the use of remote technology at the rail site. A committee is working to iron them out, Melvin said.

"It's not a hardship. It's just an added step we didn't really anticipate when this facility was planned long ago," she said.

Also, the SPA needs more time to train the crane operators to learn to handle equipment that's brand new to the port.

The rail yard will be served by two major railroads, CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern. They did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Melvin said the two rail companies and state lawmakers are aware of the delay. She plans to discuss the decision at the SPA's board meeting next week.

"I think in times like this, doing it right, with a lot more reliability and certainty, is more important than ... forcing the opening on a date when we now have all these additional factors we didn't know were going to exist," she said.

NORTH CHARLESTON — Buc-ee's toothy beaver logo is at the center of a lawsuit against a Lowcountry clothing store.

The popular Texas-based convenience store chain — which has reputation for defending its brand — filed a federal lawsuit in Charleston against Born United, which has stores at Tanger Outlet in North Charleston and also in Summerville.

The complaint alleges copyright infringement and false advertising over the unauthorized sale of merchandise featuring a likeness of the trademarked toothsome Buc-ee's mascot. According to the lawsuit, which was filed May 27, Born United has continued to sell shorts, T-shirts and a patch featuring the beaver in a yellow circle and donned in camouflage after a cease and desist letter was previously sent to the owner.

Items were sold in stores, online and to third-party vendors, according to the complaint.

Born United’s owner did not respond to requests for comment.

On June 3, Born United's North Charleston store had a number of products still for sale with the beaver logo and the words “An American Tradition” and “Born United."

Buc-ee's said the merchandise has caused harm to the chain's “reputation for quality and brand loyalty.”

“Buc-ee's believes that (Born United) ... introduced the accused products into the stream of commerce to exploit Buc-ee's reputation in the market,” the lawsuit stated.

The chain also said the company's actions are “confusing the public” into believing the merchandise is authorized by the company.

Born United operates under the slogan “bringing brands together that stand for freedom,” and offers its own private label products as well as items from third-party brands, such as Grunt Style, Palmetto State Armory, Nine Line Apparel and others. In addition to the Charleston area locations, the Goose Creek-based company also has retail stores in Myrtle Beach as well as in Florida, Indiana, Tennessee and Virginia.

A large portion of its product offerings feature President Donald Trump. Others featured in some of its online clothing include Tucker Carlson, Andy Griffith, Bo and Luke Duke as well as similarities to characters such as Mickey Mouse, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Darth Vader.

According to the lawsuit, up to 10 additional third-party businesses could be added to he complaint for also selling the goods before and after the cease-and-desist letter was sent.

Buc-ee’s is asking for damages, including all proceeds made from the sale of the items as well as attorney’s fees. The company is also requesting that all remaining inventory with the camouflaged beaver be destroyed.

Founded in 1982, Buc-ee’s operates more than 50 super-sized travel centers and convenience store locations in nine states, including a travel center in Florence, which opened in 2022.

A second South Carolina store is planned for Hardeeville.

As the company's brand has gained popularity, the company has fiercely defended the exclusive use of its trademarked name and likeness.

According to the lawsuit, Buc-ee’s has with exclusive use in selling products with its beaver logo from clothing and mugs to dog collars, car antenna toppers and even packaged meats.

The Nickel, a 50-room French-inspired property built on the site of the former Dixie Furniture store at 529 King St., opened its doors to guests on June 2.

Nightly room rates start at $460.

The Upper King hotel plans to unveil its rooftop Rosemary Rose bar and lounge later this month

It's the second downtown hospitality development for Method Co., which opened The Pinch a few blocks to the south at King and George streets in 2022.

The latest project was developed in partnership with Capital Square. They paid $11 million for the shuttered furniture store in 2019.

The project was unveiled a few years ago as an $61 million extended-stay-style accommodations to be called the Roost Apartment Hotel. The Philadelphia-based developer later shifted gears and went with a more conventional suite-style hotel concept.

The Nickel takes its name from the French expression, “C’est Nickel” which translates to “It’s Perfect,” according to the hotel.

Raze and replace

The buyer of a North Charleston engine testing site that Cummins Inc. mothballed last year is looking to reboot the Leeds Park property.

Green Start Charleston LLC has filed a proposal with the S.C. Department of Environmental Services to raze the existing 40,000-square-foot industrial structure and replace it with a pre-engineered metal building of an equal size with warehouse and office space. It was described in engineering plans as a speculative project, suggesting it will likely seek a tenant or buyer once completed.

Diesel giant Cummins established its Technical Center-Charleston decades ago within the industrial park it once owned and occupied at 4500 Leeds Ave. It closed the 72-worker engine research-and-development site last summer under a restructuring.

Green Start bought the former 6.4-acre property from Cummins earlier this year for $3.3 million, according to public property records.

The new owner is an affiliate of Enfield, Conn.-based Capital Recovery Group LLC, a private equity investor that buys and sells industrial real estate, from paper mills to commercial bakeries, as well as equipment. Next month, for example, it’ll be seeking bids for the assets of a Las Vegas circus in an online auction, according to its website.

Capital Recovery Group also helped Cummins offload the heavy machinery at the North Charleston R&D site.

On board

A Greenville-based lender has added a Lowcountry representative to its newly expanded boardroom.

Coastal Community Foundation CEO Darrin Goss Sr. is of three new directors at the publicly traded parent of Southern First Bank. He'll also serve on the audit committee.

The board appointments took effect Sunday.

Goss is a James Island native who joined the North Charleston-based Coastal Community Foundation as president and chief executive officer in 2016.

The Army veteran — a graduate of Wofford College with a master's degree from North Greenville University — "is a respected and strategic leader, a passionate advocate, and a dynamic speaker on issues impacting his community, which enhances his ability to serve as a director," Southern First Bancshares Inc. said in a June 2 filing with Securities and Exchange Commission.

The holding company and bank paid its 12 outside directors a monthly retainer of $2,500 and $1,200 for each board and committee meeting they attended. Total cash compensation last year ranged from $45,600 to $58,200.

Founded in 1999, Southern First is the second-largest bank headquartered in the Palmetto State, with more than $4 billion in loans and other income-producing assets on its books. It opened its first Charleston branch in 2012 on East Bay Street.

The Upstate-based bank now operates a dozen retail offices in the Carolinas and Atlanta.

Old college try

The College of Charleston is fanning out to fund raise.

The downtown school announced last week that it has hired four "regional" gift officers to reach out to alumni up and down much of the eastern seaboard.

The new hires will serve as boots on the ground in key markets in an effort to increase individual, corporate and foundation gifts from former students.

The so-called Coastal Southeast territory is closest to campus. It stretches from Myrtle Beach to Savannah and inland to Columbia.

The other fundraisers cover three other large geographic clusters: Florida, Georgia and North Carolina; Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.; and Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

“We believe in the importance of becoming community members across our most alumni-populated regions,” said Dan Frezza, CofC's chief advancement officer.

The college said it raised $27 million in gifts and commitments last year. The 9,548 donors included 5,020 alumni, bringing their participation rate to 7.52 percent.

According to U.S. News and World Report, the average alumni giving rate among national universities and liberal arts colleges during the 2022-2023 academic year was 7.7 percent.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — The fifth annual Lowcountry Juneteenth Week Festival is set to kick off, celebrating the spirit of the holiday with music, history, culture, family fun and community empowerment.

Running from June 16 through June 23, with the earliest event on Saturday, June 7, J19 Week looks to commemorate the historic day marking the end of slavery in the United States while uplifting Black culture and contributions, event officials detailed in a news release.

"This year’s 5th anniversary is more than a milestone—it’s a movement," said Latisha Manigault, the co-founder of J19 Week. "We’re proud to see this celebration grow each year as more people connect with the history of Juneteenth and the beauty of the Gullah Geechee culture. J19 Week is about unity, empowerment, and honoring the journey."

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J19 Week events span throughout the Lowcountry and are designed to welcome people of all backgrounds. To view the full schedule and purchase tickets, visit www.j19week.com.

"This isn’t just a festival—it’s a family. Whether you’re a longtime supporter or a first-time attendee, J19 Week is where everyone can feel seen, celebrated, and inspired," said Sean Smith, the vice president. "We invite the entire community to come out and be part of this incredible experience."

The 2025 festival lineup includes: