The Charleston Board of Architectural Review approved the design concept for Flagship 3 business incubator last week, set to be built on Morrison Dr. a short distance north of the Ravenel Bridge. The site at 995 Morrison Dr. comprises most of the block between Conroy St. and Romney St.
With office space in Flagship 1 and “FS2” at a premium in the former retail space and local TV studio, Flagship 3 will be Charleston Digital Corridor’s first purpose-built space designed to accommodate startup businesses as they get on their feet, with nearly twice the combined space of the first two incubators combined, says the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
The concept for FS3 approved on Wednesday last week will be a four-story mixed-use building for the site formerly occupied by Charleston Blueprint. Renderings created by the architect show space for a coffee shop with room for a sidewalk cafe on the main floor below. (The builder even says its corner breezeway concept took cues from the venerable City Paper building a block to the north.)
The plans for Flagship 3 continue a trend of rapid development in the NoMo (North Morrison Dr.) area as the city debates future plans for a proposed high-tech district for the light-industrial neighborhood. High-rise student housing is currently being built near the Ravenel overpass, construction of the Half-Mile North mixed use complex brought SIB, Blue Acorn, and Edmund’s Oast brewpub to the block south of Brigade Street, and talks continue over proposed intense development on the current site of a county services complex at 995 Morrison Dr.
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