Abstract
Charleston South Carolina is rapidly becoming the “it” place in the Southeastern US with the city constantly being listed by magazines such as Travel and Leisure and Traveler as a top destination for travel, along with Forbes ranking it as in 2015 as the 7th best destination for jobs. Invariably all of this has not been lost on the real estate industry which is building at a rapid pace in the city. While at the same time that development is bursting at the seams in the city, Charleston is also ground zero when it comes to the impacts of climate change. The city already is prone to flooding at high tide thus with sea level rise this flooding that will be more pronounced as well as the threat of ever increasing in occurrence and strength of hurricanes. On average the city has 180 days of minor flooding each year with each yearly major flood costing the city $12.4 mil and often during extreme high tides or King tides much of the city becomes unnavigable by car resulting in traffic issues and loss of revenue. Furthermore, some climate projections for Charleston are showing sea level rise of almost 5 feet in some locations in the city by the year 2100. This paper explores how the real estate industry in Charleston is folding in issues of climate change into their developments to make them more resilient, with the caveat being that they are adding these standards based on underwriter demands.
