BY ELIOT SCHUPP

 

Tom Read recalls the first time his grandmother arrived in Monks Corner. “Grandfather helped her down from the carriage. She said, ‘Where’s the gold? You wrote me and said that the streets were lined with gold. Where’s the gold?’ Grandfather scooped up some sand and said, ‘Here’s the gold,’ which he implied to mean that America is the land of gold.”  With a quirky smile and lifted eyebrows, Read adds, “That’s a true story, you know.”  

     Read Brothers, an upper Meeting Street stereo equipment and fabric store, has been in his family for 100 years and has seen its share of ups and downs. Despite the current economy, however, Read is optimistic. He and other local business owners hope a series of new developments in the area will bring more residents and tourists to the area. Here’s a look at a few of the projects:

​

• There are 240 apartments slated to open this fall at Reid and Meeting streets​.

• Holiday Inn's new hotel at 425 Meeting St. touts the Conde Nast Reader’s Choice Award as 2012 Top City in the United States. The new hotel, which will allow more tourists to visit Charleston at an affordable price, is within walking distance to downtown’s largest music venue, The Music Farm, a growing number of world-class restaurants and upper King Street’s thriving bar scene. There are also plenty of nearby family activities, including the aquarium, Children’s Museum, the Fort Sumter ferry and Charleston Museum.
• Originally proposed in 2004, the 400 Meeting St. developments will provide 59 condos. The five-story structure has a modern design with large windows overlooking Meeting Street. The building reflects Charleston’s transformation from the South’s Civil War landmark into a flourishing metropolitan area.
• Just a block up at Meeting and Spring streets, Greystar Real Estate Partners is developing a 200-unit apartment complex that’s quickly coming to life. The development, across from the Piggly Wiggly, will also include a parking structure.

 

     The new developments will “boost the city’s tax base, which will help keep tax rates down for current residents,” City Councilman Robert Mitchell, who represents Charleston’s East Side neighborhood, told The Post & Courier.

​     They also have Read thinking about his store’s next 100 years. “We’re hoping that the improvement in the local economy, increase in local industry and job numbers and the rise in publicity for Charleston as a hot destination for travelers over the next few years will bring tourists to the store,” he says.