In the Post and Courier today there is an article on the Union Pier Redevelopment proposal.

The concept was unveiled Thuesday and calls for tearing down a majority of the aging buildings on the property and opening up about 50 acres of waterfront land for public use and redevelopment.  A consultant describes the current look as “making a garden and putting all this junk in front of it.”  The plan also would transplant BMW’s local port operations and shift cruise ship passengers from the terminal near the end of Market Street to an existing building at the pier’s north end.   The firm hired by the State Ports Authority as a consultant called the redevelopment proposal “one of the half-dozen most important urban projects in the U.S.”

A redrawn map of the area shows a series of rundown port buildings which would be removed to create space for new parks, streets and future real estate ventures.

Officials stressed everything revealed was nothing more than conceptual and a master plan could take decades to execute adn the details are likely to change over time.  The type of future development , be it residential or commercial, will be driven by market demands.

Officials will deliver an update at another coummunity meeting later this spring.  But the plans are exciting and just more reasons why the future in Charleston real estate is so bright (we gotta wear shades!).

*Information from Allyson Bird’s Post and Courier article in the 2/10/10 issue