Mount Pleasant Magazine May/June 2019

66 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ReadMPM.com feature Lots of Potential W hen Blackbaud moved into its new Daniel Island corporate headquarters in June 2018, the technology giant abandoned space it had been renting on the second floor at 146 Fairchild St. The company left behind a deteriorating quarter-century-old building with lots of potential but not much attraction for companies seeking a Charleston address on a peaceful island defined by well-manicured neighborhoods, parks, trails, golf courses, reasonably new schools and a downtown area of shops and restaurants. Six months later, local resident Mike White and his partners paid $8 million for the property, and they are determined to return the building to the splendor it enjoyed in its infancy in 1994. “I love returning buildings to their original glory,” said White, broker-in-charge at Charleston Industrial and owner of parts of four other Daniel Island buildings. White is off to a good start. The building is in the process of going through a complete renovation. Within the next three months, the front doors will be redone, and a stairwell to the second floor will be removed, leaving room on the first floor for a concierge station. The original carpet is coming out, a cafeteria that hasn’t been used for a decade is being replaced by office space, traditional lightbulbs are being replaced with LEDs and walls are being moved and removed to create open floor plans. “That’s what companies want these days,” White explained. White is equally concerned with how 146 Fairchild will look from the outside. Neglected crepe myrtles at the front of the building have been removed, and a dead tree has been replaced by a flagpole topped by Old Glory and a yardarm flying flags representing each of his 11 current tenants. He has room for three or four more companies in the building, BY BRIAN SHERMAN Renovation Underway for Daniel IslandOffice Building Mike White. Photos by Brian Sherman.