From Arms to Art

Two years ago, when the Noisette Company began its $3.5 million transformation of an abandoned warehouse at the shuttered United States Navy shipyard here, there were few takers for the 14 artists’ studios under construction.

But as years of grime and debris were removed from the two-story concrete building, called 10 Storehouse Row, the natural light once again flooded through the 68-year-old building’s clerestory windows and tenants lined up.

Noisette plans to construct 4,000 units of new housing, 5,000 units of rehabilitated housing and 5 million square feet of retail, industrial and commercial space at a cost of more than $2 billion over 12 years on 340 acres.

Early on, though, the plans for an artists’ colony, and not just a traditional mixed-use development, were met with skepticism.

“When we tried to prelease the old warehouse, it was almost impossible to convince anyone that this rather nondescript building could be turned into a regional arts center,” said Roger E. Noyes, a Noisette director of development for this project. “These days we have a waiting list” for the 38,400-square-foot structure.

This outdated industrial structure (train rails still curve under the huge front roller doors, which open onto a reception area) was transformed into a modern environmentally sound building using green building standards. The wood and other building materials used in renovation came from renewable sources. The individual studio spaces, along with a handful of office suites and a restaurant, are heated and cooled with a high-efficiency central unit and 12-foot ceiling fans are used to move air through the larger common areas that do not have air-conditioning.

In common areas, high-efficiency lights are regulated by timers and photoelectric cells. And some wall space has been replaced with translucent and transparent materials, like glass and polycarbonate, to add more natural light.

Last summer, 10 Storehouse Row, along with 56 other structures at the Charleston Naval Yard, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This status entitles the developer to tax breaks on rehabilitation work to those structures.

Many ships were built at the shipyard during the 1940s for World War II, and it was reactivated a few years later during the Korean War. In the 1980s, the shipyard was the home of a Polaris missile submarine weapons facility. It closed in 1996, after 95 years.

The historic designation has meant that most of the original elements of 10 Storehouse Row — including a bridge crane in a high bay — have been preserved.

Noisette was named after a French botanist who lived in North Charleston during the 1700s. The company was formed specifically for the Navy shipyard redevelopment project, said John L. Knott Jr., the chief executive. He is a third-generation builder and developer, who specializes in planned communities, sustainable development, green buildings, offices and hotels, and the renovation and restoration of historic properties.

After 10 Storehouse Row, the company will convert an abandoned three-story brick building next door to lofts. The two buildings will share a courtyard.

For many tenants of 10 Storehouse Row, like Lauren Preller, whose digital photo-paintings have been commissioned by South Carolina for several state buildings, the bottom line has been the space’s affordability. Ms. Preller, who pays $350 a month for a 350-square-foot studio, said the low rent allowed her to leave a full-time photographer’s job at a college and start her own business, called fotopopART.

Elsewhere in the city of North Charleston, commercial property rents start at about $20 a square foot. In Charleston itself, the going rate is close to $30 a square foot.

Among the other tenants at 10 Storehouse Row are Vapor Apparel, a new company that produces a line of athletic clothing; Charles Ailstock, a businessman who rents a studio to paint in during his free time; and the American College of the Building Arts, which rents 20,000 square feet and offers four-year Bachelor of Arts degrees in the construction trades like metal forging, woodworking and plastering.

The redevelopment efforts of Noisette reflect a growing demand throughout the country for space in recycled buildings with history, said Bob Berkebile, a principal in Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects in Kansas City, Mo., the firm that redesigned 10 Storehouse Row.

“Sometimes, though,” he said, “when an unusual adaptive reuse like the one here is proposed, it’s difficult for people to visualize the end product. Then, once it’s there, everyone wants to be part of it.”

North Charleston, which was incorporated as a separate city in 1972 out of a section of Charleston, has been slow to recover from an economic decline that began 40 years ago with growing vacancy rates in residential and commercial areas.

In addition to restoring the warehouse, Noisette has worked with the city to build the three-quarter-mile-long Cooper Riverfront Park, which is part of the shipyard. It includes an outdoor amphitheater and sculptures.

The developer has also started to lease shipyard space that is not renovated to artists like Jim Shultz, a sculptor. Mr. Shultz, who works in a one-room concrete block building that was a former machine shop used by the Navy, welds recycled metal — including sections of the Cooper River Bridge, which was recently torn down — into sculpture.

A former car body repairman and mechanic, Mr. Shultz has had work commissioned by North Charleston and by the Testa Corporation, a Wakefield, Mass., company that specializes in excavation, crane and demolition services.

Arianne King Comer, a textile artist who raises organic indigo for her dyes, uses a small home on the base, formerly part of the Navy barracks for enlisted personnel, as her studio. She is currently the city’s artist in residence.

In addition, the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department has relocated its offices to a 10,000-square-foot renovated building, where nine artists are renting studios. The city is also planning to renovate a 23,000-square-foot former powerhouse with 50-foot-high ceilings for an arts and civic center.

The housing that Noisette is developing on the site is aimed at attracting a “more creative, adventuresome and diverse” group of people, Mr. Knott said. He said there would be a variety of housing aimed at different income levels. The company’s master plan has been accepted by the city of North Charleston, but the cost of the housing has not yet been determined.

The project is being financed primarily by Noisette, but North Charleston has created two tax increment financing districts, which allows it to invest in public infrastructure improvements. The specially designated districts collect taxes used to repay bonds that finance public infrastructure improvements like roads and sewers.

Noisette’s idea of attracting artists has been well received in the area. “Too much art is accessible only to the higher end of society these days,” Mr. Knott said. “We’re trying to serve the middle and upper-lower levels to foster more of a bohemian culture. Our world needs that diversity.”