Investors spend $2.5 million to upgrade Daniel Island office

Listen to this article

A Daniel Island office building is undergoing a face-lift to attract new tenants.

The brokerage team behind The Landing said the 89,000-square-foot building will bring some much-needed office space to the region; the Lowcountry market continuously has potential tenants in need of workplaces.

The four-story building is at 115 Fairchild St., near Daniel Island’s commercial district. It was developed in 2001 as a call center.

SunCom occupied it until 2007, at which time T-Mobile acquired SunCom and moved into the building. T-Mobile remained there until February, when it relocated into a repurposed Kmart building along Rivers Avenue in North Charleston.

The now-vacant office building is undergoing $2.5 million in renovations and upgrades. The Ecclestone family, best known for large residential developments in Palm Beach, Fla., owns it.

Interior improvements include the lobby, hallways and restrooms. Exterior upgrades include adding outdoor seating for 85 people, parking for golf carts, bike racks, signage, lighting and landscaping. A 575-spot parking garage already exists on the site.

The improvements are anticipated to wrap up this month, boosting the 17-year-old office building back to Class A status.

Mark Mattison, senior vice president at Bridge Commercial, said the owners wanted to create collaborative, modern workspaces that would attract professional service firms and growing technology companies.

“The intent here is really to cultivate a workspace that is appealing to the younger workforce, the millennial workforce,” Mattison said. “We are currently working with law firms, financial service providers, trading groups, international engineering firms and technology firms to lease space in the building.”

The building has secured two tenants so far: Infrastructure Consulting and Engineering, a North Charleston design and consulting firm that handles transportation projects, will occupy half of the first floor; Wild Dunes LLC, Lowe Enterprises’ hotel and resort group that oversees the Wild Dunes resort on the Isle of Palms, will occupy half of the second floor.

Each of the four floors is roughly 22,500 square feet. Rental rates are $30.50 per rentable square foot. Bridge Commercial, a Charleston commercial real estate firm formed last year by four former Colliers International brokers, oversees the management and leasing services of the project.