Tuppers' way: Family businesses team up to design quiet Guilford Gates neighborhood off Central Avenue

About 15 homes have been built and a dozen occupied at Guilford Gates, off Central Avenue in Dorchester County. Houses are priced from $450,000 to about $1 million or more. Leroy BurnellThe Post and Courier This 4,300-square-foot home has a large living room with fireplace and a bookcase. The community has 37 lots. The old dairy farm on Central Avenue in western Summerville has been parceled out over the years for new urbanist Charleston single homes and dwellings. Still, the Tupper family, which owned the land and milked the cows for generations, swapped the property for one attractive tract. In 2004, the family began developing the site as Guilford Gates. The custom-home neighborhood, which is launching its second phase, will have 37 homesites. Prices range from about $450,000 to as much as $1 million or more. And the neighborhood's title? "My wife's father's name is Edward Guilford Harrison," George Tupper Jr. says. "The family influence is a tremendous asset." The Tuppers chose to design a community that's upscale and in keeping with the semi-rural flavor of Central Avenue beyond Butternut Road. While developed, the property is relatively open. Houses are built based on modified home plans that owners can customize. Land sites are 2/3 of an acre to 1 acre. The community is bordered by woods and wetlands, and tall pines and oaks dot the properties. "The whole concept is it's a natural setting," Jordy Tupper says. Even so, the community is hardly out in the sticks. Guilford Gates is within Summerville town limits, three miles from downtown and even closer to new shopping centers at Central Avenue and Old Orangeburg Road. "We are right in the growth area," George Tupper Jr. says. About 10 homes built in Guilford Gates in its first phase have been occupied. Buyers have included families with younger children and retired couples. The new sector is just starting. There's a 4,300-square-foot spec home on the market for $698,000. The sprawling two-story house is indicative of the neighborhood's custom style. Based on a modified design, the home comes with coffered ceilings, crown molding, bathroom ceramic tile, hardwood floors, maple cabinets, a large living room, laundry room and a "keeping" or "moving" room with a gas fireplace, says Adrian Wood, project manager with G. Tupper III Construction. There are four doors to a rear screened porch and open deck, with natural gas hookups for grills. Blanketed with surround-sound speakers, the 5 1/2-bedroom house has a breezeway connecting to a three-car garage and furnished room above. The home sits on a large wooded lot. "It's a quiet subdivision," Jordy Tupper says. To locate Guilford Gates from downtown Charleston, take Interstate 26 west to Exit 199A, Main Street in Summerville. Follow Main Street into downtown and turn right on Richardson Avenue. Make the first left onto Central Avenue. Continue on Central for a few miles. At a fork, stay left (Butternut Road is to the right). Go less than a mile more. Guilford Gates is on the left. Neighborhood Guilford Gates. Location Dorchester County. Total homes 37. Home sizes 2,500-5,000 square feet. Home prices $450,000-$1 million plus. Lot sizes 2/3 to 1 acre. Typical features --Custom-built homes. --Large lots. --Hardwood floors. --Wooded, wetland surroundings. --High-end kitchens. Property taxes $4,021 on a $600,000 home. Area attractions Pine Forest Country Club, downtown Summerville, Ashley River, Summerville Medical Center, Dorchester County Judicial Complex and Interstate 26. Distance to downtown Charleston 29 miles. Schools Knightsville Elementary Grades K-5; phone, 873-4851; enrollment, 838; certified staff, 66; PACT results, 38.4 percent of fifth-graders scored proficient or advanced on English/Language Arts, 29 percent on math, 37.5 percent on science and 24 percent on social studies. DuBose Middle Grades 6-8; phone, 875-7012; enrollment, 853; certified staff, 60; PACT results, 26.6 percent of eighth-graders scored proficient or advanced on English/Language Arts, 21.2 percent on math, 28.2 percent on science and 18.4 percent on social studies. Summerville High Grades 9-12; phone, 873-6460; enrollment, 3,517; certified staff, 207; SAT results, 501 verbal and 520 math. The 1021 combined score is higher than the state average (984) and the national average (1017). Housing Trends Summerville/Ridgeville area of Dorchester County: Number of sales in the second quarter of 2008: 218 (down from 381 in the second quarter of 2007). Average sales price: $222,900 (up from $219,600). Median sales price: $183,000 (down from $194,750).

Indigo condos planned on Ashley River

Finding a new riverfront residence on the Charleston peninsula is getting harder to do. That's why backers of Indigo, to be near the Ashley Marina off Lockwood Drive, are so excited. "We feel we have a real advantage being on the waterfront and being downtown," says John Hassell, partner with contractor Paul Lauer in Turtle Bay Development & Investments. The complex of 46 luxury condominiums in two buildings received city Board of Architectural Review design approval this summer. The units include two one-bedroom dwellings at 1,500 or so square feet, 27 two-bedroom and 17 three-bedroom dwellings at 2,600 square feet. Also available will be two penthouse condos at 4,100-4,500 square feet. Condos are priced from $850,000 to $2.4 million, with the penthouses $3.5-$3.6 million. Presales should start by early October, and "we hope to be able to pull a building permit in seven to nine months," Hassell said. People showing interest in the community include "baby boomers" now in middle to senior age and empty-nesters who don't need a big house anymore. The condos come in 17 floor plans with flexibility built into the designs. They will have top-of-the-line accoutrements, including hardwood floors and Sub-Zero kitchen appliances. Residences have private elevators. Turtle Bay took over the project after a Raleigh-based group backed out. The North Carolina company did come up with the complex's name, which plays off Charleston's ties to the Lowcountry plant used in dye-making. Charleston-based LS3P is the project architect. Seagrass Real Estate & Development is handling sales and marketing. "We are sort of offering the best of both worlds," Hassell says. For more information, call 416-1195. Turnaround? Real estate figures for the Charleston area still aren't rosy, but there may be a ray of sunshine. The quarterly report for Greater Charleston from Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Market Opportunity Research Enterprises shows sales plunged 31.2 percent in the second quarter to 3,299 from 4,802 a year ago, average prices dipped nearly 1 percent to $320,747 from $323,678 and median prices dropped 3 percent to $205,000 from $211,400. So where's the hopeful news? Well, condo and townhome average prices shot up 26 percent and 23 percent, respectively year-to-year. And average lot prices increased to $91,768 in the quarter from $73,836 a year earlier. In Charleston County, the sale total slid 31.8 percent, but the average price hit a record $405,189, up from $396,557 and median price was $255,500, up from $250,000. Meanwhile, foreclosure rates in metro Charleston-North Charleston jumped in June to 1.1 percent of mortgage loans, compared with 0.6 percent a year earlier, First American CoreLogic housing researcher says. Still, the figure is below the 1.6 percent national average. Charleston area home prices decreased by 2.03 percent in June to a median $205,000. But prices nationally sunk 10.7 percent.