The Crescent is an architectural montage of million-dollar homes spanning eight decades
Moonstruck Minutes from downtown, The Crescent is an architectural montage of million-dollar homes spanning eight decades
By Jim Parker
The Post and Courier
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Live oaks and magnolias form canopies over peaceful streets that roll and bend past large homes with tidy, spacious front yards. Lots border a tidal creek and two lakes. On a warm late spring day, a few residents, one walking a shaggy dog with a young child out in front, venture out into an afternoon sun that peaks through limbs and leaves.
It's hard to envision this idyllic scene a few blocks from the Folly Road thoroughfare and its four rows of traffic. But that's an appeal of The Crescent neighborhood, a longtime subdivision west of the Ashley with substantial, but not mansion-size, homes — many made of brick.
Dwellings date at least to 1934, and there are at least a few residences from about every decade since. A half-dozen or more homes now for sale are priced from about $1 million to close to $2 million. It is one of the first neighborhoods outside the peninsula with underground utilities, work that began about four years ago and is just wrapping up.
But a big perk is the neighborhood is centrally situated — a short trip across the Wappoo bridge to James Island, a two- or three-mile jaunt over the Ashley River bridge to Charleston's Historic District or a 10-minute boat ride to Charleston Harbor.
"I'm five minutes from the (Charleston) Country Club, five minutes from downtown," said Reggie Scott, who has lived in The Crescent for a decade.
"It's wonderful," added Scott, who moved from Queen Street downtown. "I don't have to buck the tourists."
Scott, a developer, has his two-story 4,989-square-foot home on the market for $1.75 million. His wife, Loreta, died five years ago, and it's too much house now, he said. The prior owner in 1996 nearly doubled the size by adding a new kitchen and other rooms on the back. There's also a two-car garage with a finished room over it. Scott, a native of Herkimer, N.Y., who with his wife relocated to Charleston from Florida about 25 years ago, said they did extensive remodeling, too, from window treatments and new lighting to heavy-duty landscaping and a $35,000 generator in case of storm-related power outages.
Jerry Wise, a Realtor with Special Properties Inc., is listing the home. He also happens to be Scott's next-door neighbor. Wise, also, was attracted by the location: His wife works at the Medical University of South Carolina a short drive away.
"You're close to everything; shopping, churches, schools, water," Wise said.
While The Crescent landowners place the community's origins 81 years ago, they trace the property's history back a century earlier. Based on a history of The Crescent prepared by a homeowners group, the land was part of a working plantation in 1812 owned by Robert G. Simons. The Crescent Plantation name comes from the crescent shape of the land, intersected later by the Wappoo Cut bridge. Trees on what's now New Town Lane are part of the avenue of oaks to the original plantation house on Wappoo Creek.
In 1926, the Wappoo Realty Co., whose president was developer Charles S. Dwight, bought the land and brought in top-flight architectural firm the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Mass., to design a neighborhood plan. The firm, which designed New York's Central Park, crafted "generous" lot sizes. It also designed landscaped islands, lakes and walkways in Indigo Park and Eliza Lucas Lane, which connect streets in the community, the homeowners history said.
The first homeowners association dates to 1964 and the current Crescent Civic Association to 1990. It oversees common areas of Broughton Oak and Cochran parks, walkways, cul-de-sacs, Sayle Triangle and two lakes and the surrounding land. It also looks after the three entrances, including one with a traffic light.
No matter the mode of transportation, "You can zip right around," Wise said.
To enter The Crescent via downtown Charleston, take the Ashley River bridge to Savannah Highway. Bear left onto Folly Road. Continue in the left-hand lane past the South Windermere Shopping Center on the right. Turn left at the next traffic light, which is Yeamans Road, or at the next two lefts, Johnson Road or Broughton Road.
Neighborhood
The Crescent.
Location
Charleston County.
Total homes
150.
Home sizes
1,600-5,700 square feet.
Home prices
$700,000-$2.5 million.
Typical features
--Most homes built before 1970.
--Brick, stucco construction.
--Porches and balconies.
--Large, landscaped yards.
--Woods, marsh views.
--Hardwood floors.
--Crown molding.
--Three or more bedrooms.
Property taxes
$7,421 on a $1 million home.
Area attractions
Wappoo Creek boat landing, Ashley River, downtown Charleston, Porter-Gaud School, Riley Park, Charleston Municipal Golf Club, Medical University of South Carolina and hospital district, Charleston Country Club, Stono River, area beaches, plantations and gardens off S.C. Highway 61, James Island connector.
Distance to downtown Charleston
3 miles.
Schools
St. Andrews Elementary
Grades K-5; phone, 763-1503; enrollment, 721; certified staff, 49; PACT results, 55.8 percent of fifth-graders scored proficient or advanced on English/language arts, 65.7 percent on math, 57.1 percent on science and 49.5 percent on social studies.
West Ashley Middle
Grades 6-8; phone, 763-1546; enrollment, 470; certified staff, 59; PACT results, 16 percent of eighth-graders scored proficient or advanced on English/language arts, 5.3 percent on math, 12.9 percent on science and 15.5 percent on social studies.
West Ashley High
Grades 9-12; phone, 573-1201; enrollment, 2,053; certified staff, 156; SAT results, 474 verbal and 476 math. The 950 combined score is lower than the state average (985) and the national average (1021).
Housing trends
West Ashley inside Interstate 526:
Number of sales in the first quarter of 2007: 113 (down from 170 in the first quarter of 2006).
Average sales price: $256,000 (up from $230,500).
Median sales price: $207,500 (up from $187,200).
Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com.
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Walk to the private school, Porter Gaud from this neighborhood located next door just over the Ashley River Bridge in West Ashley directly across from the Windermere Shopping Center. Here one finds a convenient location with the framework of privacy. Upscale living in this walled neighborhood.
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