Elsie’s longtime home in North Charleston was put out to pasture more than two years ago.
The company is now poised to rejoin the real estate redevelopment crowd.
The shuttered Borden Dairy, near the intersection of Interstate 26 and Interstate 526 and on the fringes of Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s future $1 billion headquarters and medical hub, recently opened in Washington, D.C. It was acquired by two regional investment groups.
The former industrial site at 5100 La Crosse Road sold for $5.6 million in late August, according to Charleston County and deeds recorded this month. The seller is New Daily South Carolina LLC, an affiliate of Borden’s Colorado-based private equity backer.
Ed Sutton of NAI Charleston, who worked on the deal with Dexter Ramsey, said the 11.7-acre site is located at a “key intersection” and “offers an excellent opportunity” for redevelopment.
The resale and resale has been in the works for about 18 months, said Teddy Kim, an investor in the two new ownership groups.
The Northern Virginia developer and operator said he and partners are working to clean and secure the site. Ultimately, the idea is to demolish the 111,000-square-foot shuttered milk factory and replace it with a mix of commercial and residential uses, including an office building, apartment complexes and retail space.
Borden Dairy Site: The City of North Charleston has rezoned the Borden Dairy site to allow commercial use of the site. (Source: ESRI)
Brandon Lockett/Staff
“Right now, we’re looking at what kind of master plan we can ultimately do for this site,” Kim said last week.
The dairy deal is one of the earliest major redevelopment projects to come up near Roper’s promising, futuristic healthcare campus. The campus is a 28-acre site centered on a full-service hospital that replaces the system’s longtime downtown Charleston Medical Center.
The agreement is expected to bring more than 1,000 medical professionals and support staff from the Peninsula to the Mole Drive area, which is already home to North Charleston City Hall. The expansion and relocation, announced nearly two years ago, is still in the design stage, with demolition work expected to begin in early 2025.
