AC Repair in Charleston, SC

Since 1845, the Bennett Rice Mill façade has stood at what is now enter of the SC Ports Authority Union Pier terminal.

Having assumed ownership of the mill in 1958, SC Ports restored the structure over the past year in a $1.6 million project, according to a news release. Prior to the restoration, the landmark had partial rehabilitation projects in the 1990s and 2010s to avoid complete deterioration.

“We thank Historic Charleston Foundation, The Preservation Society of Charleston, and local leaders for engaging with SC Ports on this effort,” Micah Mallace, SC Ports president and CEO, said in the release. “The Rice Mill Façade is a significant piece of Charleston’s architectural history, and the full restoration ensures it will become a beacon for the future redevelopment of this incredible waterfront property. The Port aims to be a good steward of the communities we work in, and this project is an example of how working collaboratively with our local partners yields benefits for all to enjoy.”

The restoration began in 2024 when the SC Ports’ board of directors awarded a contract to Landmark Preservation, a historic preservation consulting firm, to ensure the structural integrity, according to the release.

The work done included inventory of historic bricks, partial reconstruction, enhancement of existing steel shoring structure, and the repair of missing masonry and timber, according to the release. The work done was to maintain the structural integrity and appearance.

“This generous commitment to protecting the imposing mill façade by SC Ports represents an important first step in the revitalization of Union Pier,” Winslow Hastie, president and CEO of Historic Charleston Foundation, said in the release. “As a rare surviving remnant of this part of Charleston’s working waterfront, the Bennett Rice Mill provides an opportunity to tell an important, and often forgotten, story about the city as a global trading center.”

In 2023, GEL Engineering performed an assessment of the landmark to direct the restoration process. According to the release, the team worked with Landmark during construction.

“We are proud partners with SC Ports in giving this remarkable piece of architecture a new lease on life and re-establishing its connection to our city,” Brian Turner, president and CEO of the Preservation Society of Charleston, said in the release.

When originally constructed, the Bennett Rice Mill façade was owned by Governor Thomas Bennett, a wealthy plantation owner. Rice was a major industry in South Carolina at the time, and the structure was the smallest of three mills in the state, according to the SC Ports website.

Overtime, the building was owned by Planters Peanut and Chocolate Co. and Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co. before SC Ports acquired it.

So the peak of the green comet streaking across the night sky has come and gone. But a last best chance to see it remains, as well as a meteor shower.

The new moon rose already, but the sky will remain dark through the weekend through the waxing crescent phase — and cooperation from the weather. The crescent moon, at 5-percent illuminated on Oct. 23, will become increasingly brighter but still dim enough to offer a sight of Comet Lemmon and Comet SWAN R2. The sliver of moon over South Carolina will be about 9-percent lit on Oct. 24, 15-percent lit on Oct. 25 and still less than a quarter-lit on Oct. 26, according to Almanac.com.

Weather forecasts show favorable conditions until more cloud cover is expected to arrive later in the weekend.

Comet Lemmon won’t come by Earth again for another 1,350 years. It is named after Arizona’s Mount Lemmon Observatory, where it was discovered as it streaked into our solar system back in January.

Lemmon’s vibrant grass green color comes from the its carbon molecules interacting with sunlight.

Comet Lemmon was closest to Earth on Oct. 21, but it could remain visible to some through Nov. 1. To see it, look under the Big Dipper constellation about 45 to 90 minutes after sunset.

The dimmer Comet SWAN R2 also can possibly be seen in the Aquila constellation.

Orionids arrive

South Carolina, like all of Earth, is traveling through meteorites composed of huge ice chunks and shattered boulders left behind by Halley’s Comet when it roared over us almost 40 years ago.

And this weekend, South Carolinians can see that debris become the glittering Orionids meteor shower with as many as 25 shooting stars seen each hour with the crescent moon. The shooting stars are Halley’s flotsam burning up in the atmosphere while hurtling toward Earth.

CHARLESTON — The fate of a downtown restaurant once featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” is up in the air as the future owners the property could close its doors — and then possibly tear them down.

That is if they get the necessary permission from the city.

NK Partners is seeking permission to partially demolish the Fuel Cantina building at 211 Rutledge Ave. The request was scheduled to be discussed at a meeting of the city’s Board of Architectural Review on Oct. 23.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the corner restaurant will close any time soon — or that the 1960s gas station the business operates from will be razed.

The request is for partial demolition of the structure, which is for sale and under contract, includes the walls, roof, shelters, fences and parking lot, according to a public hearing notice posted in front of the property.

Fuel is housed in a former gasoline station and grocery store that was later converted into a salvage shop, seafood market and then a restaurant in the 2000s by previous owner Patrick Price.

Fuel opened in 2008 amid a revitalization of the neighborhood, where it serves up Caribbean cuisine and pays homage to its roots with a vintage aesthetic.

The property beneath it, at the southeast corner of Cannon Street, was snatched up for $1.8 million by J3 Holdings LLC in October 2017. The company is owned by Joshua Broome, a local real estate agent, and brother Justin Broome, the owner and chef of Fuel Cantina.

Will Sherrod with NAI Charleston, who is involved in the deal, said the plan is “more of a relocation of the existing building closer to the corner and then adding some structures behind it.”

“So it’s not just a demo of the building,” he said. The potential buyer’s “current plan is to incorporate a lot of the existing building based on historic request.”

But nothing is done until it goes before the BAR.

Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, 231 public comments were submitted to the BAR about the request.

The Historic Charleston Foundation this week emailed an "advocacy alert," asking for support in opposing the demolition.

The preservation group is opposed to the application being that mid-century gas stations are a part of the city's current historic character. For decades, the nonprofit has used its revolving fund to "save" such structures, including the purchases of 108 Meeting St. in 1985 and 80 Ashley Ave. in 2023.

"The preservation of Fuel Cantina as an adaptive reuse restaurant in its original site is consistent with Charleston’s approach to retrofitting many other former fuel/service stations," Historic Charleston aid in its email.

The precise location of the building is also part of what defines historic character, the organization noted.

"The large setback on a corner lot is a distinct feature of the building/site’s integrity and altering it would be against the guidelines for its rehabilitation," Historic Charleston added.

Chef Guy Fieri, the spiky-haired host of “Diners Drive-Ins and Dives,” visited Fuel in 2012 with his traveling Food Network show. The episode aired Feb. 13, 2013.

Major League Wrestling (MLW) announced that The Good Brothers, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, will debut for the promotion next month. The team is scheduled for the MLW x Don Gato Tequila: Live Special event on Thursday, November 20, at the Charleston Music Hall in Charleston, SC. This event will mark the first professional wrestling show in downtown Charleston in 32 years, according to the announcement.

The confirmation followed a video released by Anderson and Gallows referencing the event’s sponsor, Don Gato Tequila. Anderson introduced the team, stating, “MLW, it’s the Machine Gun Karl Anderson,” with Gallows adding, “The best big man in this business, the Big LG Doc Gallows. We are the world-famous Good Brothers and we’re coming to MLW”. Gallows mentioned their past association with Don Gato: “Have you not heard, Machine Gun? Have you not heard? The world-famous Lucha Libre legend Don Gato has returned to professional wrestling at Major League Wrestling… Don Gato, we’ve been all over Mexico with you, good brother. We’ve been in bars, we’ve been kicked out of bars. Have we been sent to jail? And we broke out… So if you’re coming to MLW in Charleston, South Carolina, November 20th, the boys want in”. Gallows concluded, “We want to be alongside Don Gato. We want to party with Don Gato. We want to fight with Don Gato…”. The MLW press release noted that MLW President Cesar Duran and Don Gato agreed to the appearance. The event will be presented live on MLW’s YouTube channel and broadcast on cable via beIN SPORTS.

Anderson previously wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he reached the finals of the G1 Climax tournament. As a team in NJPW, Anderson and Gallows won the IWGP Tag Team Championship three times, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship once, and the World Tag League tournament.

Anderson and Gallows also host the “Talk’n Shop” podcast, which started on the MLW Radio Network. The press release describes their upcoming appearance as a return to the MLW family. MLW has not yet announced who The Good Brothers will face on November 20, stating, “who will they face in their debut as their old amigo Don Gato watches on?”

Tickets for the MLW x Don Gato Tequila: Live Special start at $15 and are available through MLWGo.com and Ticketmaster.

CHARLESTON — City officials are eyeing a small vacant lot beside the South Carolina Aquarium parking deck on Calhoun Street for workforce housing.

The city-owned site has been identified as part of Mayor William Cogswell’s ambitious effort to address soaring housing costs and add 3,500 new affordable units by 2032 — a goal post that has already moved back two years since it was first set last year.

While nothing has been designed yet, the city’s Planning Commission on Oct. 22 paved the way by rezoning the land, totaling less than an acre, to allow for up to seven stories of mixed-use workforce housing.

Workforce housing units are typically reserved for renters who earn no more than 80 percent of the area's median income. Those figures are set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and vary annually and by household size.

For a single person living in Charleston this year, the threshold is $62,100; for a family of four, it’s $88,700.

Christopher Morgan, director of the city’s Planning and Preservation division, said he couldn’t yet say how many units that site might accommodate, but that the new zoning would allow for “unlimited density except what’s limited by height.”

According to the mayor’s housing plan, the city is counting on at least 30 affordable units on the site. But the project could also include the same number or more market-rate units to help subsidize the cheaper units.

Kelly Davoren, who is part of the Gadsdenboro neighborhood coalition, said the neighborhood has been keeping close tabs on development in the area, especially Union Pier, the nearly 70-acre port terminal that hospitality investor and philanthropist Ben Navarro is planning to buy and redevelop into Charleston’s “next great neighborhood.”

But the city’s plans for the aquarium site, which is about a quarter mile north of Union Pier, caught the neighborhood by surprise, Davoren said.

She attended the Planning Commission meeting to find out what the city was planning there. She said the neighborhood is concerned about height and density of any development, and about how that might impact flooding in the area. But she said she welcomed the much-needed addition of affordable housing.

“We like the mayor’s vision,” she said.

Across Calhoun Street, a six-story hotel and condominiums are planned for a much larger lot that is currently being used as surface parking that serves the Aquarium, the International African American Museum, the Fort Sumter Visitor Center and harbor tours. It also sits in the shadow of shuttered Dockside condominium tower that’s sat empty since the city ordered an evacuation in February.

With the Planning Commission’s unanimous approval, the rezoning request now goes before City Council for a public hearing next month. It will take at least two favorable votes from City Council before the property is rezoned.

Then, the city will likely seek out a private developer to partner on the project. Cogswell’s housing plan estimates completing the housing project by 2030.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the next steps required before the property is fully rezoned.