Flyway Featured | 1600 Meeting Street
Charleston City Paper: Developers hope renovation of 1600 Meeting Street will spur creative corridor
Developer Lindsay Nevin fell in love with 1600 Meeting shortly after moving to Charleston over a decade ago. He put an offer on it in 2007 but it fell through. That ended up working in his favor. When the price dropped significantly a few years later, Nevin tried again, and his offer was accepted. Now with the building under contract, he’s just waiting to clear up some issues with the previous owners. The building and surrounding land were originally owned by Exxon, which used the space for offices. When Exxon sold the lot to the current owners, they agreed to be responsible for any issues that might come up regarding old underground gas lines. Nevin hopes, and feels confident that, the contract will convey to him.
In addition to the closing complications, Nevin had to decide what to actually do with the building once he renovates it. That’s when his wife Kate, a hedge fund manager, stepped in with a plan. She found her inspiration at Pecha Kucha 7, where Blue Ion’s Robert Prioleau presented Parliament’s study on Charleston’s thriving creative economy. Conducted by consulting rm Regional Technology Strategies, the study found that the creative economy cluster is one of the top five largest employers in the Charleston area and that gross sales associated with the creative industries totaled more than $1.4 billion in 2009. According to the study’s definition, the creative industries include culinary arts, performing and visual arts, literary arts and publishing, digital media and design, architecture and urban design, lm and radio, and cultural heritage.
“When I saw his presentation that Parliament had pulled together on the economic impact of the creative industries in the Charleston region, I was pretty blown away,” Kate says. “That’s one of the reasons I love this city so much, because of the power and the exposure and the amazingly diversified talents of the city. When I saw his presentation I thought, that is what should go into this building. There’s already this wonderful community and this online ad hoc via Parliament and Pecha Kucha. These people get together and enjoy getting together, so why not offer a bricks-and-mortar site for this sort of collaboration to happen.”
She brought the idea to Lindsay, they crunched some numbers, and within a few months they were presenting the concept for the space at Pecha Kucha 10. Their goal is to create an idea center with office space, artist studios, and a design center. They already have potential tenants interested in putting a black box theater in the adjacent building as well as a small-batch distillery and café. The duo is waiting to accept contracts until they’ve officially secured the space.