The Union Pier redevelopment footprint is adding a digit.
A company affiliated with Charleston hospitality investor Ben Navarro’s Beemok holding company has snapped up a high-profile property across from the historic City Market and adjacent to the roughly 67-acre Union Pier marine terminal he’s acquiring from the S.C. State Ports Authority.
The Carroll Building, a mostly 1980s-era office complex that had been seeking a buyer for at least six years, was recently sold for the sharply reduced price of $11.5 million, according to Charleston County real estate records. The seller, Carroll Building LLC, had owned it for more than 30 years.
Beemok acquired the vacant 51,000-square-foot structure though 24 North Market LLC. The new owner is now seeking state approval of an environmental cleanup proposal for the 0.67-acre property, which once housed a gas station and other businesses that pumped fuel and chemicals from underground storage tanks. The public comment period ends Sept. 30.
A historic portion of the building was built in the early 1900s by Thomas W. Carroll, who ran a fish business and icehouse on the site. The contemporary office space and parking were added in the 1980s.
The most recent anchor tenant was the Art Institute of Charleston, which folded its downtown campus at East Bay and Market streets in late 2018. The building was listed the following year for $22.25 million. It was envisioned to become a 50-room hotel.
But it wasn’t to be.
Historic Charleston Foundation, which has held a restrictive conservation easement on the property since 1984, objected. It cited the high concentration of hotel rooms in the City Market area.
The preservation group also filed a lawsuit, arguing that under federal tax law its easement gave it the right to reject the plan.
It reached a settlement with the owner that allows office, retail, restaurant and residential uses. But no part of the property can be converted into a hotel or other form of short-term accommodations, according to the agreement.
In any event, the three-story 80s-era brick building will require a substantial amount of work to bring it back to life. Most of the interior was damaged after a 2020 fire in a ground-floor restaurant set off the automated sprinkler system, according to the remediation plan filed with the S.C. Department of Environmental Services.
Beemok stated in the 24 North Market cleanup document that the plan is to redevelop the Carroll Building “for mixed use” but did not elaborate.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to acquire this prominent corner property,” the family-owned company said in a written statement. “Revitalizing this site is important to both Union Pier and the surrounding neighborhood, and we look forward to working with the community to develop thoughtful plans for its future.”
Historic Charleston CEO Winslow Hastie declined to comment, saying the group is “operating under a confidentiality agreement.”
The Carroll Building is next to a large industrial warehouse on 3 acres that S.C. Ports is selling to Beemok’s Marti Holdings LLC as part of the Union Pier deal announced last year. The $250 million transaction is scheduled to close in 2027.
The Carroll Building sale was finalized just as the federal government began reviewing whether to dispose of its monumental but underutilized U.S. Customhouse on the next block. The first meetings were held last week.
The Preservation Society of Charleston is all in favor of sprucing up the base of Market Street near the waterfront, though it did not have any details about Beemok’s plans for its latest acquisition, CEO Brian Turner said.
“Once we learn more we’ll be excited to be part to that conversation,” he said. “It’s a huge opportunity to improve that corner.”