Charleston Battery home stadium sold

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MUSC Health Stadium, home to the Charleston Battery soccer team, has sold for $6.48 million, Berkeley County land records show (.pdf).

HP1990DI LLC, a division of Atlanta-based Holder Properties, bought the stadium, located at 1990 Daniel Island Drive in Charleston. The sale closed late last month.

The purchase of the stadium comes just over a month after Holder Properties bought the office building located at 2000 Daniel Island Drive, which Blackbaud Inc. has occupied on Daniel Island for nearly 20 years.

“Because of the way the parking works and how all that plays together when there are games, with people coming and going, it makes a whole lot more sense if you have control of both properties to manage that better,” said John Holder, chairman and CEO of Holder Properties.

Holder said his company is working on plans to redevelop the property after the Charleston Battery relocates.

The Battery will finish the 2019 season at MUSC Health Stadium before potentially moving to downtown Charleston, according to ownership representative Melissa Britton.

“When we look at where the majority of our fans are, that’s where,” Britton said. “We want to be in a place that’s accessible to the broadest number of our fans, and for us, that’s a downtown location.”

The team’s top choice, she said, would be returning to Stoney Field, where the Battery started in the 1990s. Britton said conversations have already begun with stakeholders, such as the neighborhood groups, the city of Charleston and Burke High School, and the team has committed to contributing $2 million to $3 million of money and assets to redeveloping the field.

Assets include the giant screen from MUSC Health Stadium, seating and equipment.

“We’ve also committed to contributing to the long term maintenance of the site, and when the Battery played there in the ’90s, that was the arrangement that they had at the time, and everyone we’ve talked to from a historical neighborhood perspective is very supportive of that type of contribution,” Britton said. “It really kept the site in great shape.”

Last month, Charleston City Council discussed the possibility of the Battery playing at Stoney Field but said that talks were just beginning.

“There’s many considerations that are going on,” said District 11 Councilman William Moody Jr. “The couple that owns the Charleston Battery franchise … they’re interested in bringing that equipment — bleachers, big sign, scoreboard, all that kind of stuff, kitchen equipment, locker room equipment that’s professional grade — and putting it at Stoney Field so that Burke High School would probably have the best football field in the country. But anyway, all that’s got to be worked out.”

Britton said the Battery has other options it’s considering as well and the team hopes to make an official announcement soon.