South Windermere is an historic neighborhood located in West Ashley that is bordered by highway 17 and is across the Ashley River from the Charleston Peninsula. The are many reasons why people are attracted to this location, not only for the prime location, beautiful homes and the canopy of old live oak trees but for the convenience to shopping and local amenities. The area has two commercial districts called the South Windermere Shopping Center and the Moreland Shopping Center, which both are in walking distance from the neighborhood. With the growth of popularity and population the neighborhood brings, the commercial area of South Windermere is the one area that needs to be improved. With South Windermere almost being ninety years old, you could say that yesterday’s solutions causes future problems and this can be said for the commercial area of the neighborhood. One solution of many is the use of mixed-use development, this is the combination of residential, commercial, or cultural uses, where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, and provides pedestrian connections. The use of mixed-use developments would bring many benefits to the Windermere shopping centers. Some of the benefits would include greater housing variety and density, reduced distances between housing, workplaces, and retail businesses, stronger neighborhood character, and pedestrian and bicycle-friendly environments. The type of mixed-use zoning would be specifically urban residential/commercial. This would include multi-story residential buildings with the existing commercial and civic uses on the ground floor. This could happen with the addition of apartment space on top of the existing commercial buildings. Obviously to keep a down sized feel to the area it would only be two story building unlike most mixed-use development, which are normally three to four story buildings. With this it can be said that mixed-use development will make South Windermere a better and stronger community.
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As a life long neighborhood resident, I contend that bringing more people into South Windermere to live above the shops is impractical from a cost standpoint and would further exacerbate the incredible density in cars and people in this highly successful gathering place district. However, the back lot is somewhat underutilized, and a raised pavilion could be built there that could retain (covered ) parking on weekdays and provide a space for gatherings up and even a Farmer's Market below. A better spot for the development described would be at St Andrews Center which retains an underutilized back lot. Second and third story residential units could be oriented toward a view overlooking Coburg Creek and the Inland Waterway.
Reply • Follow • 7/13/2015