The 1994 plan to build Saks Fifth Avenue at Market and King became a catalyst to upgrade the neighborhood, as we saw in the last post. I had learned of the plan while browsing through the local newspaper, The Post and Courier’s on-line archives. Continuing to browse, I found articles for 1996-2000…It was only in the newspaper that I had access to this information…thank you Post and Courier!!!! (Oldest continuous newspaper in the South.)

Now, we seriously get to the parking lots…and it gets political….

December 3, 1996 | ROBERT BEHRE; The Post and Courier | Page 3 Canterbury House seeking to build a parking lot.

The Canterbury House would like to build a four-story brick-and-stucco addition to a city parking lot at Beaufain and Archdale streets.

However, the city is not sure it wants to part with the lot – at least not for free. Canterbury House Executive Director Buddy Terry asked City Council’s Real Estate Committee on Monday to consider donating the parking lot, which the city bought in the 1960s when it assembled property for the Canterbury House high-rise. The Episcopal Diocesan of Housing Inc., which owns the Canterbury House, is close to securing $3.371 million to pay for the expansion, which would provide 46 more affordable apartments for elderly residents.

Without the city’s property, however, the expansion project – which has been contemplated for at least eight years – could continue to languish, Terry said. “It seems a shame now that we’ve got $3.371 million that we won’t be able to build because we really do need those apartments,” he said.

Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. agreed the apartments are needed, but he voted along with committee members John Thomas and Hilda Hutchinson Jefferson to delay any decision on the request. The lot has about 75 spaces and generates about $82,000 in annual income from its parking meters, which allow motorists to park there for up to eight hours at 25 cents an hour. Terry said the Canterbury House could not swap property with the city because it would need the rest of its land to provide enough parking spaces.

He said raising the new addition by one story – which would allow parking underneath – would cost about $550,000 more. Thomas said the lot is probably worth $750,000 to $1 million or more. “That doesn’t work out too good,” Thomas said of the donation’s cost. “That doesn’t sound right.” Riley said he would ask the city staff to look at possible alternatives. “I think it would be great if we could find a way to help the Canterbury House expand. What they do is so important,” he said. (Post and Courier, The online, 3 Dec 1996 3 ‹https://infoweb-newsbank-com. Copyright, 1996, The Post and Courier. All Rights Reserved…this goes for all the articles posted here.)

Five days later there was an article about it on the front page….

1996 Elder boom means growth for villages – The Post and Courier, – December 8, NewsBank, front page…article by VICTORIA HOOD…lists elder building sites around the area….Canterbury House, an Episcopal church-supported facility downtown, is adding a $3.3 million complex of 46 one-bedroom apartments.

Ten days later, also on the front page of The Post and Courier for December 18, 1996, is this News Bank article by ROBERT BEHRE about Driving Downtown but includes Canterbury House business…and, as I warned you…parking lots!

“The city of Charleston already has ordered $86,000 worth of equipment that will allow it to raise rates at many of the city’s cheaper parking meters…At some city meters, parking is 25 cents an hour – one-fourth of what is charged in city parking lots and garages. Those meters will go to at least 50 cents per hour. The city expects to receive $949,000 from parking meters and permits next year – up from the $760,000 projected for this year…IN OTHER ACTION City Council also voted Tuesday to: Give the Canterbury House a 63-space, city-owned parking lot in exchange for a 37-space lot nearby. If it can arrange financing, Canterbury House will use the lot at Market and Archdale streets to build 46 affordable apartments for the elderly.

Four years later…and starting the story of the negations another nearly five years earlier:

Senior housing opens on land traded by city – The Post and Courier – February 22, 2000 – page 1 | JONATHAN MAZE

In 1991, the city of Charleston had land on the corner of Market and Archdale streets and needed more parking. The Canterbury House had a parking lot right there but needed more apartments. So they swapped.

Nine years and several other public and private entities later, the city will get that parking lot, and Canterbury is about to open its first new building on that corner – a 46-unit apartment building for low-income seniors on Section 8. Officials from various public and private entities will attend a ribbon-cutting for the $3.9 million project Friday, and residents are expected to begin moving in next month.

The building will open with no debt. It’s funded with eight different grants or forgivable loans. The house will address a growing need for low-income senior housing and, Executive Director Sally Lorbach said, could shorten Canterbury’s two-year waiting list…

“Our residents are fiercely independent,” she said. One of them is 101-year-old Ruth Lamb, who still lives on her own with the aid of a walker, Meals on Wheels and a few friends. She moved in when the building opened. “It is a good place to live,” said Lamb, who was born in Charleston. “It’s all we need…

More than 90 people are waiting for an apartment, a need that goes back years. In the late 1980s, Canterbury looked at adding 50 apartments onto its existing building, but HUD’s interest in high-rise apartments had long waned by then, and the idea was turned down. Around that same time, the city was looking into building a parking garage at Market and Archdale.

By 1991, former Canterbury Director Buddy Terry worked out a plan with Charleston officials: The city would get Canterbury’s parking lot, and Canterbury would get the land on the corner for a new building. “The church and Canterbury wanted more housing. The city wanted more parking,” Lorbach said. Eventually, funding was secured from the city, state, HUD and other federal funds, the Enston Home Endowment, First Federal Bank of Charleston and the Episcopal Church. The nine years were filled with planning, applications and regulatory approvals, but Lorbach said the different entities worked well together. “They didn’t get off on tangents,” she said. “It did work.”

The new building is separate from the current one, though its apartments will be subsidized…The building includes a community room and a lobby, and all the units follow HUD regulations. The two buildings will share many activities and a library, and Lorbach said the two will function as a “community…”

I’ll give Dr. Sally the last word on her beloved Canterbury House from the newsletter article she wrote when I asked her about the history…

“After a year of intense “discussions regarding land value and such” it was agreed that the new building would be known as Elderly Housing, Inc. (dba) Canterbury House East and be much more attractive built on the corner rather than a parking lot.

“Just one example of the labor intense issues…Hurricane Florence came through Charleston just before the windows were secured in place…Need I say what a time for prayers and the strength to finish the project. (Dr. Lorbach had become the Director in 1999 and retired in 2023.)

“The Certificate for Occupancy was approved for April 1, 2000.

“Bishop Salmon and Bishop Skilton blessed Canterbury East March 29, 2000 with Dr. Edmund Rhett and the Board of Directors cutting the ribbon for resident’s occupancy beginning April 11, 2000. As Executive Director at the time, I was honored to be part of East Canterbury House blessing and helping first residents moving into their beautiful new home.

I took these photos to show another thing…that a compromise was made. Clearly the city did not want the new building to be higher than four stories…but more parking was needed…so the building is four stories, but the 1st floor is office and parking.

Now…finally…what came before Canterbury House on this block…