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The Page family (Tony, Ashleigh, Courtney, and Chase) took the slow and steady route to culinary greatness, launching their restaurant in a smallish space on Mount Pleasant's Coleman Boulevard in 2006 and moving to a larger building down the street five years later. Now, long after Page's Okra Grill was established as one of the most popular eateries in the Lowcountry, its owners are about to take their recipe for success into other parts of the tri-county area and other aspects of the dining industry.

Although Page's already operates food trucks in Nexton and Moncks Corner; the restaurant will soon add catering to its repertoire, and, before long, another Page's Okra Grill will open its doors in Nexton.

"We always wanted to get into catering, but we wanted to wait for the right time so we could do it right - up to Okra Grill's standards," says Chase Page, the founders' brother and currently the operations manager for the two mobile units. "Great food, great value and great service. We feel like we can take everything we have learned over the years and provide great catering for our community - weddings, corporate events, sit-down catering, buffets, office lunches, private food truck events, and family dinners. We are excited to meet new folks and provide great food for them but also to serve our same loyal regulars, just in a different way."

The new 10,000-square-foot restaurant, to be built where the Nexton food truck currently does business at 142 Brighton Park Blvd, will include a large catering kitchen and private dining areas. It is expected to start serving customers sometime in the 2023 calendar year. Until then, the catering business will operate out of the Mount Pleasant location, with a menu offering many of the same dishes that have propelled Page's to the top of many of the area's "Best Of" lists, including Ashleigh's iconic Shrimp & Grits.

Chase says catering customers can expect "some surprising items" as well.

The Nexton version of Page's Okra Grill and the catering business will mirror the traditions that have been a hallmark of the restaurant for nearly 17 years.

"One of the most important things in the business is culture - the way you treat your staff and customers. It's totally separates from your processes. We kind of captured lightning in a bottle at Coleman," Chase points out. "Part of that is the quirky personalities of everybody involved. When our family started Okra Grill, it grew like wildfire, and we had to learn the hard way how to run a restaurant. It's all about the little things we like to do to make staff and guests feel like family."

Chase says he hopes the new restaurant will take some of the pressure off the Coleman Boulevard location. Page's Okra Grill in Mount Pleasant has become so popular, there are times when customers must wait for an extended period of time to be seated. Next year, Lowcountry residents will have the option to enjoy Page's Okra Grill's food and hospitality at either of the two locations.

With both the catering business and the new restaurant, Page's Okra Grill follow the same business model that has been proven so successful since 2006.

"We'll do it the way we've always done it," Chase explains. "Slow and steady. We don't want to lose any of the magic we've built up over the years."

To learn more about one of the Lowcountry's most popular restaurants, visit www.pagesokragrill.com.

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The school board in Berkeley County will discuss several new school projects during a meeting Tuesday night.

The first phase of several projects for the Berkeley County School District is a plan to construct a new elementary school at the corner of Black Tom Road and Cane Bay Boulevard.

Darlene Thigpen and her husband, Gary, purchased a home in the Nexton community when moving to the Lowcountry from New York.

“It’s a weird story,” she said. “My husband looked on Google Maps, found out there was water here, and we just decided to move here from New York – that’s how we picked Nexton.”

But there is one minor issue: their middle school-aged son attends classes at a different school from the one they expected.

“Well, they actually do need another school in this area because actually, this area is booming. We have a son who’s 13 and he goes to Sangaree which is on the other side of town,” she explained. “When we moved here, we were just assuming he was going to go to Cane Bay, but it’s overcrowded so they actually do need a school in this area.”

The overcrowding is why Berkeley County residents passed a sales tax referendum to build new schools. The district anticipates about $385 million from the one-cent tax that begins in March.

School board members are set to discuss, and possibly pass, approval for phase one of that plan during a meeting Tuesday night. The plan would build a new middle, or possibly even K-8 school at the corner of Nexton Parkway and Blueway Avenue.

A new elementary school would be built at the corner of Cane Bay Parkway and Black Tom Road. Hanahan Middle School would have a new wing built as part of that phase.

Another K-8 school and major renovations at several other schools are planned for later phases to address the growing population in the district.

Darlene and Gary say they are looking forward to the new school in Nexton.

“We’re happy to have the school in the area. The kids need a school, someplace to go. I mean look at all the homes they are building back there,” said Gary Thigpen.

The regular session of Tuesday night’s school board meeting is expected to begin around 6:30 p.m.

Local engineer Chris Wood’s presentation of SCDOT’s $179 million-plus structural undertaking comprising the widening of I-26 and new SC 27 Interchange was no mundane nuts-and-bolts rundown.

During his appearance at the Rotary Club of Summerville’s Nov. 2 meeting at the Nexton Hilton Garden Inn, organization members peppered the keynote speaker with doubts and concerns about two forthcoming roundabouts along the interchange site area near the Walmart Distribution Center in Ridgeville.

Wood, a construction services project manager for the HDR design firm of North Charleston, led off the PowerPoint overview by describing the multilayered roadwork as a “substantial” and “challenging” project aimed at expanding seven miles of the I-26 from mile marker 187 to mile marker 193. Further, the one-time Naval officer walked the audience through a summary of an interchange construction — in the form of a 192-foot bridge — at Ridgeville Road to promote better traffic flow.

The mere mention of the soon-to-be-built interchange set off a series of questions from multiple club members in attendance, with one Rotarian pointedly asking Wood to list the advantages— if any — of two roundabouts and/or traffic signal/signage alternatives near the Walmart storage facility.

The civil engineer offered that the tight circular roundabout structures serve the purpose of adding a constant flow of traffic that — he estimated — works well with mid-level conditions of highway car travel.

“In other words, this isn’t high volume yet, so it keeps traffic moving under mid-level volumes of traffic,” detailed Wood, who reminded listeners that he is neither the design engineer nor a DOT authority who selected the roundabout method.

A fellow PE in the room questioned the functionality and purpose of roundabouts and the difficulties that they would present to regular drivers in light of the preponderance of large trucks that would traversing the make-shift, circular junction.

Wood explained that the roundabouts would be large enough to handle trucks coming from the Walmart site. He also mentioned how the curving of the circling structures would allow the trucks to navigate the roundabouts, while pointing out that the surrounding concrete would be sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the large vehicles.

Roundabouts are nothing new and have, in fact, been in existence for over 100 years, according to reports. However, their usage hasn’t always garnered public support due to instances where cars entering the traffic circle wind up frequently having the right-of-way over cars that are already in that same circle.

Other traditional cons concerning the viability of roundabouts stem from driver uncertainty about yielding, the overabundance of merge points, driver speed, motorists who try to cut the roundabout and cyclist/pedestrian shoulder lanes that are sometimes deemed as too narrow, potentially endangering those parties.

Wood’s description of the work continued with his narration of project elements regarding the construction of the S-32 Cypress Campground Road Bridge and the new I-26 bridge over Cypress Swamp.

The most formidable challenge of the DOT venture, he observed, is the installation of six box culverts (i.e. structural drainage that spans from one side of the road to the other).

“They’re substantial in size. You’re talking about this one here is a 287-foot, triple-barrel, 10′ x 9′ box culvert across the highway, so I mean, I hope it would be adequate to prevent situations like what you’re talking about,” said Wood in response to a Rotarian’s recollection of the addition of the 1-26 negatively impacting and/or impeding the backflow of area waterways.

“I would think that the new systems would be larger than the existing [ones] to handle these larger rain events. You make me want to check that when I go back, but rarely do you ever go smaller for a box culvert or any drainage component,” replied Wood.

In closing, the presenter maintained that the DOT is doing a fine job of planning ahead in reference to three future bill packages impacting the I-26, U.S. Highway 176 and South Carolina Highway 187.

Other details communicated by Wood pertaining the 1-26 widening and new interchange/bridge construction included a Nov. 30, 2026 contract completion date, as Banks Construction of North Charleston has been hired to handle the labor-and-materials aspect of the project.

“In summary, I’d just like to say that the I-26, mile marker 187 is a major component to the South Carolina transportation planning, which supports the local growth by improving the essential freight corridor essentially out of Charleston with all the port activities and with Walmart, Volvo and other companies moving in,” concluded the married father of three, who has previously managed over $200 million of construction in the Lowcountry.

The master-planned Nexton community will soon become a medical destination for Berkeley County.

Medical University of South Carolina has proposed a $130 million hospital within the Summerville community. The 128-patient bed facility will include four operating rooms, eight labor and delivery rooms, diagnostic testing and imaging, and emergency services, MUSC Health Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Bacik said.

“A large percentage of our current patients originate from Berkeley County, and this is going to really allow our patients to have access within our communities,” Bacik said. “It’s not a surprise to anyone that the growth has outpaced some of the infrastructure.”

MUSC has asked the state for approval to build the community hospital through a certificate of need.

The build is expected to take two and a half years.

Nexton’s Vice President of Operations Brent Gibadlo said a hospital offers a service to the surrounding areas and residents because health care options have become a growing priority for homebuyers.

“There are certain basic things that are important for everyone that don’t change,” he said. “Certainly good schools if people have children and then good health care options. So having a world-class hospital in close proximity is always a wonderful compliment to a community."

Downtown Charleston’s MUSC campus will remain the hub for the educational hospital, while the Nexton campus will book end it with satellite campuses and ambulatory services in between, Bacik said.

“We’re full downtown, and we need to make sure that we can continue to have access to those more acute patients,” Bacik said. “It’s really about getting the patients the right level of care at the right place.”

The need for a community hospital in Berkeley County is critical, said Dr. Dave Zaas, CEO of the Charleston division of MUSC. The hospital’s co-location in Nexton will help with the area’s continued growth.

“That is a lot of our strategy not just in tri-county but around the state,” he said. “Not only delivering the highest quality ... but more convenient and ideally at a lower cost. I think that drives our ambulatory growth as well as our statewide strategy.”

Gibadlo said Nexton is just starting to explore the possibilities with MUSC and its idea of community health care, of being more proactive and going out into the community to initiate health and wellness programs. Preventative care could then decrease the need for hospital visits.

“We’ve had conversations with MUSC on how to incorporate some of those programs into Nexton,” Gibadlo said. “That’s everything from community gardens to community fitness programs to even potential opportunities for some of the coordination between MUSC and some of the companies at Nexton.”

Other suggestions include incorporating companies’ health care programs through MUSC and creating wellness programs employees can participate in.

Bacik is already excited for both caregivers and patients because she believes the best care is delivered conveniently to patients, many of whom come from across the state.

“A lot of our patients and staff travel to the peninsula today to receive care or to care for our patients ... so if they could receive care 30 minutes closer, that’s a benefit for the communities as well,” Bacik said.

Gibadlo is going on 13 years at Nexton and said there is has another 13 or 14 years left in the business plan. He still remembers those early years, though, sitting in a Welcome Center trailer praying that builders and homebuyers would think outside the box.

Convincing people to give Nexton a chance was hard a decade ago given the location.

Over time, Gibadlo has found that if he pushes the envelope to create value, the innovation is well-received.

“I think the potential for Nexton is really evolving continuously. What we used to think was possible we’ve exceeded now. Maybe we can take it another step,” he said. “A hospital was something we only dreamed about 10 years ago. Now that’s happening.”

Nexton now receives calls almost daily from groups, retailers and home builders who want to create something exciting at the community. Gibadlo said the biggest challenge is prioritizing. If he reacts to every call, he risks losing focus of the long-term vision that Nexton is systematically moving through.

“At the same time, you have to be flexible enough that if you get a call, like from MUSC, you change track a little bit because that’s a great opportunity,” he said.

A community with a master plan allowed Gibadlo and his team to be deliberate about adding a hospital. They could look at the map of the 5,000 acres to find a plot that was accessible, wouldn’t disrupt homeowners with traffic and had surrounding space for businesses the hospital could bring in. Gibadlo believes they will come.

As an educational institution, MUSC’s research and development could lead to job opportunities and potential spin-off businesses, he said.

Together, Gibadlo and his team’s vision for Nexton stem from a love for the region. He knows, however, that with any growth, there will inevitably be challenges. The objective then is to figure out how to make those obstacles positive.

“We look at it and say hey, we can create this employment center in the Charleston region, take some of the pressure off downtown, 526, everyone commuting and bring some of the great things that people love about this region from a quality of life and bring them to another location that can spread them out a little bit,” he said. “Maybe we can play a small role in helping this region continue to be a great place to live. At the heart of it, that’s what motivates us every day.”

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The Nexton community in Summerville continues to see new growth right off of I-26 and Highway 17A.

Nexton Vice President of Operations Brent Gibadlo says the community can expect to see new restaurants, parks, employments opportunities, offices, and a variety of homes coming in the next few years.

“Nexton is already in a really great location, right off of I-26, so it’s very accessible. I think the other thing is a lot of employment here,” Gibadlo said. “So, this isn’t really just about homes, it’s a lot about businesses. So, it’s this idea of integrating where people work and where people live and getting those things more inter-connected.”

The Midtown area of Nexton opened about six months ago and currently has about 100 homes on site, but within the next 10 to 15 years, Gibadlo says they plan to have around 3,000 homes there.

“I think that’s the biggest thing that we’re trying to do at Midtown Nexton is offer housing options across the board,” Gibadlo. “So whether you’re a young person looking to buy your first home or you’re an empty nester looking to downsize, and everything in between.”

Gibadlo says the Midtown space will have apartments, townhomes, and individual houses. They also just broke ground on the Midtown Club which will have a resort pool, lap pools, exercise facilities, and other amenities.

Downtown Nexton is expected to break ground later this year. It will be separate from the existing Nexton Square with restaurants, stores, and offices. It will be about 100 acres along Sigma Drive. Gibadlo says it will have hotels and apartments in a more urban and city-like area of the community.

He says he’s excited for Nexton to also become a health and wellness hub for the area. That includes new offices already and the anticipation of a MUSC Community Hospital expected to open in 2022.

Gibadlo also says they realize the growth of this area may not seem beneficial for everyone.

“You know, it’s very fair for folks to have concerns about growth. What we always think about is we want to make sure that there’s far more positives than negatives associated with growth,” Gibadlo said. “So I think first it starts with a good, thoughtful master plan. And that’s one thing that we’re lucky in the case of Nexton. This is a plan that’s been in the works now for over 10 years.”

He adds that Nexton has a master plan for the road networks and stormwater plans that come with the rapid growth here.

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