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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - One North Charleston nonprofit organization is getting a new on-site library after a partnership with the Charleston County Public Library.

Landmarks for Families does community work helping to provide children and families with housing, educational support and services, also providing facility foster care to children.

This partnership means 500 new books will now be available to middle and high school foster care children at Landmarks for Families in North Charleston.

The on-site library is only accessible to residents, playing a crucial role in academic as well as social development.

The library is modeled after a public library, including book shelves, games and resources right across from a computer lab already in the building.

Books here have been placed specifically for the kid’s preferences, age range and reading levels.

Charleston County Public Library staff will also be visiting this library quarterly to provide more resources and classes for residents.

Melissa Tunstall, the Outreach Manager with the Charleston County Public Library, says providing these kids with an on-site library is important for many reasons.

“The whole goal is to remove barriers and we know how transportation can be a barrier. We know that kids and teens aren’t in control of how they get places, what they need. And then in this facility, in particular, we know how important reading is for emotional development, emotional support and we just thought it was a perfect marriage of those to provide access readily available for them and also to hopefully bring some comfort and resources to them,” Tunstall said.

Charleston County Public Library staff will also be updating the library with new books based on reader preferences for years to come.

“It’s so exciting because this will be books just for them and we’ve built fit for their preferences, their age range and their reading levels. And what’s the most exciting part is that they have a say in what’s going to be added to it. So, if there’s a book that they really want, we’re going to try and get it for them,” Tunstall said.

The on-site library will officially be open to those foster case residents at 10 a.m. Thursday after the ribbon cutting.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

NORTH CHARLESTON — Mayor Reggie Burgess has strong ties to Roper St. Francis Hospital, where his wife and two children were born.

It almost seemed serendipitous that the groundbreaking of the medical system's newest hospital fell on his 60th birthday in the town where he grew up and now serves as mayor.

Roper leaders — including CEO Joseph DeLeon and regional exectuive Troy Powell — along with about 350 employees, elected officials, board members and community members joined at 2401 Mall Drive on June 11 to celebrate the forward momentum of the development that's been in the works for years.

The $1.2 billion project on 27 acres near North Charleston City Hall will bring the hospital's main services from the peninsula to a more central location at the well-traveled cross-section of Interstate 526 and I-26.

"This is probably the most accessible spot in the Lowcountry right here, between 526 and 26, with a dedicated exit right off Mall Drive and then right to this spot," said Charles Fletcher, vice president of construction and real estate services at Roper. "So when you think of access to a Level II Trauma Center, you're going to want quick access on busy roads and this is the most successful spot."

The area will offer parking, future public transportation and won't suffer from flooding. During the last major storm, in comparison, Fletcher said Roper's downtown emergency room was on diversion for 12 hours due to water.

"That will never happen here," he said. "So while everything downtown will shut down if they have to, we'll stay accessible to patients ... providing 24/7 care."

The new North CHarleston campus is expected to open in full in June 2029, just as hurricane season resumes. The structure itself will be built to withstand a category 5 storm, Fletcher said.

Unlike expansions where a hospital is built and beds or laboratories are added, regional president Powell said this project will entirely relocate roughly 330 beds from downtown to North Charleston.

"I'd be hard pressed to think of how many projects like that are going on in the country at any given time," Powell said. "So yeah, so it's a huge undertaking because you're doing all of that at one time."

The $1.2 billion campus will include a modern 10-story skyscraper hospital, separate staff and visitor parking, a medical office building, rehabilitation center and greenway paths.

The four-year construction project is expected to generate a $2.5 billion economic impact. For every dollar spent on the effort, $3.26 flows through the local economy, according to a report from the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

Hospital moves hub to where population is growing

The new location meets residents where they are as the community grows northward and offers a level of care North Charleston residents don't have right now. Currently they have to go downtown to MUSC or Roper's former campus, or visit an urgent care facility.

"The center mass of the community is growing this way and we're going to have the flagship hospital sitting right here at the nexus," DeLeon said.

State Sen. Deon Tedder, D-North Charleston, said the projected 3,600 jobs that construction will bring to the area is a huge win for his district.

"I'm excited about the jobs and that they're moving closer to where people live, where the workers and employees will live," he said.

From the North Charleston hub, DeLeon said satellite branches will spin off, including the $320 million Berkeley hospital expansion from 50 to 100 beds that will fully wrap in November. The Sawmill Health Plex, on track for the first quarter of 2026, will be a free-standing Emergency Department with operating rooms, a laboratory and radiology.

"And now we just got town approval from Mount Pleasant to build something very similar to what we're doing in Summerville," he said. "That'll be under construction soon."

In the first 10 years, DeLeon said the hospital projects one million patient days and the size is built with population growth in mind.

Among the state's largest cities, North Charleston saw one of the biggest population booms from July 2024 to 2025, with a 3.5 percent gain that added 4,265 residents in the year.

"As much as we're actually trying to prepare for that with the rate of growth that we're actually seeing in the area, we're actually seeing that even these hospitals will be reaching their capacity within the next five to 10 years," Powell said. "It's one of these things that as rapidly as this market is growing, it's hard to keep up."

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - A man arrested in connection to the hit-and-run death of a Lowcountry musician and employee of the City of Goose Creek has been denied bond.

Terrell Darrel Crawford, 37, of North Charleston, who is charged with hit-and-run involving death and driving under suspension, appeared in court Friday morning for a bond hearing.

At that hearing, Judge Tara Frost granted Crawford a $647.50 personal recognizance bond for the charge of driving under suspension, but denied bond for the charge of hit-and-run involving death.

Crawford is accused of striking and killing Kelly Farmer, 46. He was found dead on Dorchester Road after being hit while walking in the area of Tabby Lane just before 7 a.m. back on April 13.

Family members remember Farmer as a “kind, gentle and loving” person.

In court Friday, Farmer’s sister-in-law Creta Tobey gave a testimony.

“I’m denied the opportunity to see Kelly every day,” Tobey said. “I can’t see his smile. I can’t hear his voice. I can’t hear the music that he plays. And I certainly can’t smell his wonderful cooking anymore.”

Sgt. T.G. Methvin with the South Carolina Highway Patrol also spoke in support of the family. He says Crawford made attempts to hide the vehicle involved in this incident during the investigation.

“He also did admit that he knew what he hit that morning,” Methvin said. “So, he knows what he did.”

Frost says Crawford just finished his probationary period for a prior charge of first-degree assault and battery. She says she believes he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Crawford appeared mostly stoic over the video feed, but appeared like he was getting a bit more emotional as the judge read out his bond conditions.

“I apologize to the family,” Crawford said. “There was no intentions of me to do that… At the same time, I have never been through this before. So, I’m kind of scared. Anybody would be scared. Like I said, I apologize.”

Crawford’s bond conditions include not leaving the state without court approval, not having contact with the victim’s family and to appear at all court hearings.

Kelly Farmer’s sister Kathryn Farmer says the judge’s ruling shows a bit of light at the end of a tunnel.

“Relieved a little bit,” Farmer said. “Still very emotional. I know we have a long road ahead of us. But I’m glad that justice is finally starting to be served for my brother.”

South Carolina Highway Patrol arrested Crawford Thursday. He was booked into the L.C. Knight Detention Center, where he will now remain until at least his court hearings next month.

Now, Kelly Farmer’s family must fulfill his final wish of planting his ashes in a bulb that will eventually grow into a tree, while remembering their ultimate goal.

“Our justice system continues to do what it’s supposed to do and find justice for my brother in whatever form they deem,” Farmer said.

At the time of Farmer’s death, the City of Goose Creek released a statement:

South Carolina Highway Patrol arrested Crawford Thursday. He was booked into the L.C. Knight Detention Center, where he will now remain.

Crawford’s charges will be discussed at two separate hearings. The driving under suspension charge will be heard on July 10 at the Summerville Courthouse. The hit-and-run charge will be heard July 22 at the courthouse in St. George.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Roper St. Francis is beginning construction on a more than 1 billion project bringing a brand-new hospital to North Charleston by 2029 to replace its current downtown Charleston campus.

The hospital will be located off of Mall Drive behind the North Charleston City Hall. The campus is 27 acres and will feature a full-service 24-hour emergency department, operating rooms, inpatient units, a medical office building housing outpatient and specialty services and a vegetated green belt connecting facilities across the campus.

“To be able to continue the 170-year-old legacy that is Roper Hospital is an incredible thing,” Regional President for Roper St. Francis, Troy Powell, said.

The build is set to be completed in early 2029 and will create 3,600 construction jobs during the work.

“We’re here to celebrate more than steel and concrete, although there is a lot of it. We’re here because Roper St. Francis Healthcare is expanding our footprint to the center of our metropolitan area, bringing care, compassion and cutting-edge medicine even closer to the people we serve,” Roper St. Francis President & CEO Joseph DeLeon says.

DeLeon expects staff to transition into the building in early 2029 and run simulations to get used to the facility layout. He says it should be a smooth transition since they were instrumental in helping design the interiors through hundreds of workshops to hear from staff what layouts benefit them and patients best.

Medical staff got a chance to get a first look at the future medical campus back in December 2024.

Mid-2025 marks the start of construction on what the Roper St. Francis team says will be a major healthcare facility upgrade and leave a long legacy.

The move to North Charleston is a step in the Roper St. Francis Healthcare 2030 Strategic Plan to broaden access to quality care by expanding the health system’s footprint in the Lowcountry.

“We’re creating history today. Roper St. Francis has been around for a very long time, it’s taken care of so many people in the community. I know when we put this building in, it’s going to be the same for years and years, well past when I’m around,” DeLeon says.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The S.C. State Ports Authority is pushing back the opening of its new $400 million rail yard on the former Navy base until next year, partly because of global trade uncertainties.

The agency had planned to start moving containers from its Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston in July.

The projected date has been moved up to early 2026, SC Ports CEO Barbara Melvin said at a June 11 meeting of the Maritime Association of South Carolina.

"This is a business decision by us," she said afterward.

Melvin stressed that the SPA could meet its long-stated goal of unveiling the Navy Base Intermodal Facility next month, even though three of the six cranes and one of the two rail loops aren't ready.

She estimated the development is 80 percent completed.

"But as we approached the end of the project some things happened," Melvin said Wednesday.

The most pressing issue is the economic uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war, which has put the global shipping industry on edge.

That includes the SPA. Melvin said the ports authority, like numerous private companies, has struggled to forecast its business outlook for its July 1 fiscal year.

"Uncertainty is not good for business," she said.

Against that backdrop, the SPA decided the time isn't right to open its $400 million investment.

"We don't want to do that right now because there are already cost-structure questions about tariffs and other things that supply-chain people are dealing with," Melvin said. "So there are good times in business to make moves like this and bad times. I think there's enough strain on ... the supply chain to say, 'Let's figure out what's going on before we introduce a new product.'"

Palmetto Railways, part of the S.C. Commerce Department, began planning for the 118-acre project more than 15 years ago. The SPA took it over in 2021.

Melvin said the state-backed investment will fill a huge competitive void for the maritime agency, which runs the only major East Coast port that doesn't offer cargo shippers rail service near its docks.

Two other issues factored into the delay.

They include the SPA's decision last year to allow union workers to operate the cranes at all of its terminals for the first time in its history after losing a high-profile labor dispute. That's created contractual wrinkles about the use of remote technology at the rail site. A committee is working to iron them out, Melvin said.

"It's not a hardship. It's just an added step we didn't really anticipate when this facility was planned long ago," she said.

Also, the SPA needs more time to train the crane operators to learn to handle equipment that's brand new to the port.

The rail yard will be served by two major railroads, CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern. They did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Melvin said the two rail companies and state lawmakers are aware of the delay. She plans to discuss the decision at the SPA's board meeting next week.

"I think in times like this, doing it right, with a lot more reliability and certainty, is more important than ... forcing the opening on a date when we now have all these additional factors we didn't know were going to exist," she said.