Charleston in the News - October 2025 Edition

The good news continues into fall for the Charleston area!  Read on to find out about local news relating to affordable housing, aerospace and aviation, new medical facilities, Angel Oak Preserve and Miss America’s Teen 2026 winner. To learn more, just follow the links provided where you see bold blue font.

Affordable housing is on the agenda for the Tri-County region with the September launch of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance’s $50 million Charleston Workforce Housing Fund, formed by a coalition of public and private entities and managed by Ascent Housing. Its goal is to preserve the affordability of 1,000 apartments through 20-year deed restrictions for workers earning between 30% and 100% of the region’s median income level.

In aerospace and aviation news… Eaton, a leader in a range of aviation solutions for commercial and military aircraft, will be investing $46 million to expand its manufacturing operation located in North Charleston. With an opening targeted for 2028, 50 new jobs will be created. Last month, Boeing received orders for its locally-made Dreamliners from Korean Air (25 787-10 aircraft) and Uzbekistan Airways (14 787-9 aircraft). Breeze Airways is introducing its first international flight from Charleston, a weekly nonstop flight to Cancun, Mexico that will start early next year.

Two new medical facilities are being built in the region. MUSC broke ground in early September on its new $130 million Nexton Medical Center in Berkeley County. Consisting of two parts, its Hollings Cancer Center should open by summer 2027 and its 70-bed hospital by summer 2028. Trident Medical Center has also just broken ground on Johns Island’s first emergency room center, with completion anticipated by next fall. Located on Maybank Highway, it will consist of 11 rooms, including a trauma room and a diagnostics lab, and will serve the island’s 28,000 residents on a 24/7 basis.

The future 44-acre Angel Oak Preserve now joins only two other SC locations - Congaree National Park and St. Phillips Island - as a community forest in the Old-Growth Forest Network of the oldest known forests in the nation. Development of the preserve to protect the centuries-old Angel Oak is a collaboration of the City of Charleston, the Lowcountry Land Trust and other local community partners.

We end this month’s news with congratulations to local resident Tess Ferm, who was recently crowned Miss America’s Teen 2026. A graduate of Porter-Gaud and a freshman at Furman University, she was also awarded $58,000 in scholarships. Tess intends to study psychology and become a Child Life Specialist. You Go, Girl!