Citadel Mall increases area home values?

Artist rendering of the new MUSC West Ashley Campus.

Until recently the Citadel Mall in the West Ashley area of Charleston certainly was not responsible for increasing home values, quite the contrary. In early 2017 a private investment group bought the mall and since then have been making moves to revitalize!

A major anchor that the new owners have secured is the Medical University of South Carolina. The picture that you see here is an artist rendering of what the new MUSC, West Ashley Campus will look like when it opens this December. At a Chamber of Commerce breakfast this week, Matt Wain, the Chief Operating Officer for MUSC, explained that this location will consolidate some of the MUSC office sites already in the West Ashley area, but will include an expansion too. Orthopedics, Dermatology, and Physical and Occupational Therapy will make up a large part of the campus, but it will also include an outpatient surgical facility for various procedures. The goal for MUSC is to treat people where they live, instead of people having to come downtown for everything.

The opening of MUSC at the Citadel Mall is the first big move towards revitalization, but the owners are working closely with city planners on the general West Ashley Revitalization plan. You can see a video here that the developers have put together. It’s really exciting to see these plans start to come to life! You can find out more about Plan West Ashley on the city’s website.

If you are familiar with the Charleston area, you may think that home values have already drastically gone up in the West Ashley area, but I think tangible signs of revitalization like the opening of the MUSC campus here show that there is still plenty of upward movement. The addition of such a state of the art medical facility in West Ashley is going to attract the medical professionals working there to live in the same area. In addition, with Mount Pleasant prices being so unattainable for most new homeowners and the town council’s recent tightening of new construction will push home buyers and developers West of the Ashley.

In summary, I think it’s a great time to buy real estate in West Ashley! There are still plenty of transitional areas where you can buy a house in decent condition for a good value, and you can see that there is plenty of value appreciation still to come! So, click on over to “Search Homes” and find one for yourself!