A Colleton County shopping center that is “shadow-anchored” by a neighboring Walmart store has been scooped up for $9.25 million by a North Charleston-based buyer.
The Shoppes of Walterboro is a 53,300-square-foot retail center at 2098 Bells Highway. The parcels are 97 percent occupied by national and regional tenants, including Dollar Tree, Five Below, Cato, Shoe Show, It’s Fashion, AT&T and China Buffet.
Al Taf, senior managing director investments in Marcus & Millichap’s Atlanta officer, represented the seller with Benjamin Yelm, the firm’s broker of record in South Carolina.
The sellers consisted of five Delaware entities with varying ownership stakes in the property.
Taf said the group “faced an imminent loan maturity and needed to decide between refinancing or selling. A qualified buyer emerged with a $500,000 earnest money deposit that became nonrefundable within days, giving the seller confidence to move forward with the sale. Despite challenges such as a fluid leasing situation and fire alarm rewiring, the transaction closed on time to the satisfaction of both parties.”
The buyer in the Sept. 3 transaction, according to county real estate records, is El Cid Echo LLC, which is managed by Alex DeSeta, broker-in-charge of DeSeta Group.
Move-in ready
The Beach Co. recently welcomed the first residents to The Charles, its newest luxury downtown Charleston rental development.
The 15 three-story townhomes and eight residential flats overlook the Ashley River from Broad and Barre streets in Harleston Village. The units are a mix of two- and three-bedroom floorplans that were originally to be sold when the development was announced in 2021. The monthly rental rates were not disclosed.
The property is next to The Jasper mixed-use complex, also by The Beach Co.
Leasing rates range from $10,000 to $23,000.
In addition to the completion of The Charles, the developer announced the opening of St. Mary’s Field — a new public green space just west of the new rental residences. The property overlooks Lockwood Drive and the Ashley.
Home, bittersweet, home
Buying a home is a major challenge in today’s market — but is staying in it just as stressful?
With mortgages prohibitively high even with the September cut of a quarter percentage point, homes continue to be out of reach for many with the median price for a home in Charleston County reaching $424,667 as of Aug. 31 and $344,000 for the state.
A recent U.S. News & World Report found that 41 percent of Americans who bought a home in the past year feel trapped by their current mortgage rate or monthly payment, including 47 percent of first-time buyers and 31 percent of repeat buyers.
Consumer lending analyst Erika Giovanetti discussed the survey findings in her latest column.
“While there has been a net decrease in mortgage rates in recent years, there is no discernible, steady pattern — only volatility,” Giovanetti said. “It’s incredibly difficult to predict the path forward for mortgage rates, as any forecaster will tell you. This translates to some actionable advice for today’s homebuyers: Don’t bank on the promise of
Walterboro SC retail center next to North Charleston buyer
