Old Chicora is an adaptive reuse of a historic elementary school in North Charleston, South Carolina, led by Metanoia, a local nonprofit community development corporation. When completed, Old Chicora will be a community-centered development that benefits surrounding neighborhoods while attracting investment. The site will feature an early childhood learning center, affordable artist work studios, a performing arts center, and an educational space for the community. The renewed facility will complement Metanoia’s overall asset-based community development efforts focusing on youth leadership, housing, and economic development.
where success meets chicora
Deeply rooted in the community, Chicora Graded School served families in Chicora and surrounding neighborhoods for more than seven decades from 1935-2012. Originally constructed in the early 1930s with wings added in the 1950s, Old Chicora is one of North Charleston’s most historic buildings. After closing in December 2012, this asset is quietly waiting for its next opportunity to thrive.
In 2007, the Charleston County School Board decided to close the historic but aging Chicora Elementary School at the intersection of Chicora and Success Streets in North Charleston. Recognizing the school as a community asset, Metanoia led a community-based campaign to keep the elementary school in the neighborhood when the initial school board plan called for bussing all children out of the Chicora neighborhood. In time, this effort resulted in an agreement for the Charleston County School Board to build an elementary school in the block adjacent to the Old Chicora campus at Carner and Success Street.
To facilitate this development the City of North Charleston purchased land for the new school and swapped the Old Chicora campus for the new school. Students vacated the old Chicora Elementary School campus in December of 2012 and spent four years at a nearby, temporary campus before moving into the $23 million new Chicora Elementary School in the fall of 2016. Metanoia has since been partnering with the City of North Charleston to pursue an adaptive reuse plan for the historic structure.
In 2016, Metanoia engaged with families in Chicora and Clemson University’s Graduate Architecture Program to do a series of design charrettes. Usages were determined that were both cost feasible and amenable to the community that Metanoia works alongside. The plan is to return Old Chicora to its historic beauty and bring vital education and artistic resources to the community asset.
In 2018, McMillan Pazdan Smith was hired as the architecture and design firm for the project. Final construction drawings were completed in the Fall of 2019 with construction slated to begin in early 2020. However, due to a catastrophic fire on February 8, 2020, the project was delayed to account for the renovation team to assess the next steps. Metanoia expects the project to reassemble with the demolition of fire-damaged portions of the building in late September of 2023.