Hair Salon inDaniel Island, SC

A Midwest company has purchased 215 Benefitfocus Way, the 145,800-square-foot building on Daniel Island for $61.5 million.

CBRE arranged the sale of the Class A corporate headquarters office building, which Benefitfocus leases long-term, CBRE said in a news release.

Chicago-based Zeller, an office owner and operator that’s been active in the Southeast since 2017, purchased the four-story, single-tenant property from an undisclosed seller.

The acquisition is part of a long-term commitment to invest in “growth-oriented markets with high-quality assets,” according to the release.

“Charleston’s impressive demographics, specifically job growth and population growth, continue to attract new capital sources from outside of the market,” CBRE's Patrick Gildea said in a statement. “Class A properties with nearby amenities continue to be the top targets for capital.”

Gildea, Matt Smith, Grayson Hawkins, Charles Carmody, Chip Shealy and Cathy Delcoco represented the seller. The company’s Southeast Institutional Debt and Structured Finance Team, lead by Harris Ralston and C.J. Kelly, represented the buyer in the debt financing.

Zeller currently has 1.3 million square feet of assets under management in the Southeast.

Here are upcoming development plans before the City of Charleston and results specific to Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. All meetings are open for public comment except the Technical Review Committee (TRC) meetings. Learn more online at charleston-sc.gov/AgendaCenter/.

Date: Jan. 13

• Site plan for Project Throughput at Charleston Regional Parkway on Cainhoy (fourth review). This is an early site work plan for 172 acres for a new container handling and storage facility. The owner is South Carolina Ports Authority. The applicant is Thomas & Hutton. Contact: Scott Greene, [email protected].

• A site plan for Southern Eagle Expansion at 1600 Charleston Regional Parkway in Cainhoy (first review). This is a 4.2-acre site plan for a warehouse expansion and construction of expanded truck court, trailer parking areas, and existing utility relocation. The owner is Southern Eagle Distributing. The applicant is Thomas & Hutton. Contact: Scott Greene, [email protected].

Date: Jan. 6

• A preliminary subdivision plat for Cainhoy Del Webb Phase 1 at Clements Ferry Road and Cainhoy Road (first review). The site is a 160.9-acre plat for a major subdivision that would include 164 lots for single family residential development. The owner is Plute Home Company, LLC. The applicant is Thomas & Hutton. Contact: Will Cox, [email protected]. Results: Revise and resubmit to TRC.

• Road construction plans for Cainhoy Del Webb Phase 1 at Clements Ferry Road and Cainhoy Road (first review). The site is a 160.9-acre plat for road construction plans that would include 164 lots for single family residential development. The owner is Plute Home Company, LLC. The applicant is Thomas & Hutton. Contact: Will Cox, [email protected]. Results: Revise and resubmit to TRC.

• Road construction plans for the Marshes at Daniel Island Phases 1A & 1B for a major subdivision at 144 Fairbanks Drive on Daniel Island (eighth review). This is a 16.78-acre plat for road construction plans on a 56-lot subdivision. The owner is SM Charleston, LLC. The applicant is SeamonWhiteside. Contact: Zim Fant, [email protected]. Results: Approval pending final documentation. Submit plans to engineering for stamping.

• A site plan for Woodfield Cooper River Farms II at Enterprise Boulevard on Cainhoy (pre-application). This is a 2.7-acre plat for a 71 multifamily unit development. The owner is Woodfield Acquisitions. The applicant is SeamonWhiteside. Contact: Hampton Young, [email protected]. Results: Submit to TRC for first review.

• Berkeley County Council meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley County Administration Building, 1003 Highway 52, Moncks Corner.

• Berkeley County Board of Education meetings are held twice each month. Executive Committee meets at 5:30 p.m.; meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

• Charleston City Council conducts its meetings on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 5 p.m.

From the 106-pound weight class to heavyweight, Philip Simmons High School wrestling coach Anthony Sardelli has some athletes who have personality – and talent.

Take 106-pounder Alex Watson, who is in his first year in the program. Sardelli first saw Watson on the football field and could only dream of what he could do on the wrestling mat after seeing a dose of Watson’s athleticism. Despite being a wrestling newcomer, Watson is currently ranked fifth in the state in Class AA-A by SCMat.com. and owns a 20-3 record.

And then there’s the heavyweight Abram Wright.

“He’s like a big teddy bear until the match begins,” Sardelli said. “Then a switch flips, and he’s on the go. He’s another outstanding leader.”

Welcome to Sardelli’s world. He’s the coach of the No. 8 team in the state among Class AA-A teams. The Iron Horses are a group that doesn’t have a long history because the school has been open only a few years. But the Iron Horses are getting to the top with one eye

on the competition and the other on COVID-19 pandemic.

Two seasons ago, the Iron Horses sent seven wrestlers to the state. However, that number dropped to only four last winter as COVID-19 affected the schedule and the number of playoff entrants was limited.

This season, the Iron Horses have seven wrestlers who are ranked in the top 10 of the 14 weight classifications. That’s not too bad for a program that Sardelli built with a somewhat different recruiting pitch.

“If you’re breathing, fairly athletic and not playing basketball, I’m going to recruit you,” was Sardelli’s pitch in the hallways of the school a couple of years ago.

Freshman Jimmy Chambers finished third over the weekend in the Skip Parker Invitational, which was hosted by Fort Dorchester High School. He’s currently ranked No. 7 in the state in the 113-pound division.

Sophomore Drew McDonnell is ranked third in the 120-pound division. He was a state qualifier last winter in the 106 class.

Zion Beaufort has been slowed by injury for most of the season, but is ranked No. 5 in the state after qualifying for the state last winter at 120 pounds.

Senior A.J. McLanahan is ranked No. 3 at 132 pounds after qualifying for the state last winter at 138 pounds.

“He’s the rock of the team,” Sardelli said of McLanahan. “He’s the best leader I’ve ever been around. He sets an example by the way he works and never stops grinding.”

Sophomore Isaac Schimpf was a state qualifier at 170 pounds last winter and will bid for a state title in the talented weight class.

Wright, the heavyweight, is currently No. 6 in the state.

The Iron Horses have some stiff competition in the Lower State this season, including Berkeley County foes Cross and Timberland.

Timberland and Philip Simmons will battle for Region 6-AA supremacy.

“To win the Region 6-AA championship, you have to beat one of the best teams in the state,” Sardelli said. “You have to be one of the best teams in the state to win the region.”

Like so many players who have played under the golden dome before him, University of Notre Dame football player Leo Albano gives his school a rousing thumbs-up for its football and academics. But the former Bishop England standout student-athlete, who is a senior academically in South Bend, takes it one step further.

“Notre Dame totally exceeded any expectations I had in terms of faith, football, academics, the family aspect,” Albano said. “Everything was what you would expect and only dream about and then some.”

Albano recently concluded his career as a member of the Fighting Irish football team. His academic and athletic success germinated at Bishop England, where he was all-state in three sports, including football, baseball and basketball.

As a football player at BE, Albano rewrote the school’s record book. He set school records for a single season in rushing with 1,639 yards in 2017. He also set the school record for touchdowns in a single season with 28.

Albano also owns two career records. He scored 67 career touchdowns and owns a school-best 4,017 career rushing yards. He had nearly 7,600 total yards.

When it came time for Notre Dame to cast its recruiting nets, Albano’s senior year (2017-18) at BE, coach Brian Kelly saw that Albano’s skills, passion, dedication and work ethic would make him a perfect fit for the fighting Irish. Albano joined the Fighting Irish as a preferred walk-on and most of his time was as a member of the scout team. But Albano continued to work hard, and he made the traveling squad his senior year, quite a Rudy-esque accomplishment for a walk-on.

He played in four games this season for the Fighting Irish, who began the season with Kelly at the helm of the program, and concluded it with Marcus Freeman as head coach after Kelly departed to coach at LSU.

Albano played in four games, and carried the ball for the first time in his career in his last home game in South Bend. He gained a yard. He also saw special teams’ action in road victories.

“Playing in those games was really a crazy experience,” Albano said. “I got to play in two of the most hostile environments in college football (Florida State and Virginia Tech), and just to see all of the hard work start to pay off was really rewarding. I am just thankful for the opportunity.”

Albano has a 3.33 GPA, working toward a bachelor of science degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering. After college, he’s planning to use his chemical engineering degree in the oil and gas industry or the chemical industry. He has no set plans yet though.

Albano has played on Notre Dame teams that have qualified for the College Football Playoffs and major bowl games.

The final game of the season was a loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl, spoiling Freeman’s head-coaching debut. Still, Albano says Notre Dame made the right hire.

“I think the team responded remarkably to coach Freeman,” Albano said. “You can really tell he cares about his players and wants to prepare us to the highest degree. He does a fantastic job of motivating and just getting people where they need to be and making sure everyone knows their role and competes as hard as they can in everything they do.”

Leo is not the only Albano on campus. His sister, Emma, is a member of the Bishops’ track and field team after a most impressive prep career.

“I see my sister about one to two times a week on campus whether that is in passing or at Sunday Mass,” Albano said. “Hopefully with more time this semester I will be able to spend even more time with her.”

Voters in Charleston City Council District 1 have several choices come Jan. 11 when they will pick among five candidates to fill the remainder of Marie Delcioppo’s term, but businessman and political newcomer David A. Winkler stands out.

Though new to Charleston — Mr. Winkler retired from his accounting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and moved here a few years ago to be closer to his children and grandchildren — we believe his extensive experience with finance and management will benefit City Council as it continues to grapple with major challenges such as flooding, affordable housing and recovering from the pandemic.

In these politically divisive times, it’s refreshing to hear Mr. Winkler campaign on a platform of listening to others and attempting to be a unifier who seeks practical solutions to common problems.

District 1 is one of the largest, oddest and most challenging on council: It covers the entire city portion of Berkeley County — the vast areas of Daniel Island and Cainhoy — as well as part of the peninsula’s most historic core: the area roughly between Calhoun, King and Broad streets and the Cooper River.

The district also faces similar challenges to the city as a whole, particularly in how growth stresses its infrastructure, and Mr. Winkler was among several candidates who list that challenge as their No. 1 concern. Specifically, Mr. Winkler says he was motivated to run partly because of concerns about impacts from widening Interstate 526, the main artery that links most of District 1 with the rest of the metro region. It’s not a city project, but the interstate work promises to have a major effect on Daniel Island and even Cainhoy residents.

We also appreciate Mr. Winkler’s open mind about the city’s future cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers regarding a new barrier that would protect the Charleston peninsula from flooding. The City Council’s decision on whether to move into the next phase of preconstruction engineering and design on the sea wall could be one of the most significant votes cast by whoever wins this election.

Mr. Winkler is not eager to critique the city’s well-intended if still controversial steps to combat COVID-19 by closing businesses and requiring masks in public early on and more recently requiring its employees to get vaccinated. Instead, he vows to learn what went right and apply that knowledge as needed in the future, and he recognizes that the council has to find the right balance between preserving individual rights and taking actions that will allow the city to keep providing services.

Indeed, Mr. Winkler’s conservative approach takes care to avoid the political hot buttons and instead focus on practical matters. For example, he notes: “We do not need to belabor the point of climate change. We need to recognize that flooding is occurring, and what are the solutions.”

With such a large field, there’s a very likely chance that no candidate will win outright by getting more than 50% of the vote on Jan. 11, so the top two vote getters would face off on Jan. 25.

Just after the holidays is an odd time to have an election, but state law and the timing of Ms. Delcioppo’s resignation in October determined the election’s date. We urge voters to take part in this important process, and those who do cast a ballot will likely have an outsize say given the relatively low turnout expected. And we urge voters to choose Mr. Winkler.