Ask anyone who spent the summer dodging orange barrels on Center Street and they'll tell you the same story: it was a rough season for Folly Beach. Sidewalks torn up. Parking gone. A ten-minute walk to the surf shop that used to take thirty seconds. The kind of summer that should have sent visitors looking for an easier beach to park at.
Except that's not quite what happened. Mayor Chris Bizzell has pointed out that the traffic counter on the bridge onto the island logged more cars this year than at the same point last year, and that occupancy rates on Folly's home rentals were slightly up too, according to AirDNA data the city has been tracking. People kept coming. What the construction actually did was sort out which Center Street businesses had built something visitors and locals would seek out on purpose, and which ones had been quietly depending on someone walking past the front door.
A $7 Million Fix for a 1940s Problem
The project causing all the disruption is the Center Street Stormwater Infrastructure Improvements Project, and it's been a long time coming. City officials have called it the largest and costliest stormwater upgrade on the island since the original pipes went in during the 1940s. It broke ground in February 2026, funded mostly through the South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program, with the city administering roughly $8 million through the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority. Center Street is the only road on and off the island, which meant there was no way to do this work without touching the one route everyone has to use.
The timeline slipped more than once. What was originally projected to wrap by May stretched into August, then September, as crews worked through underground pipe replacement before moving into paving, streetscape work, and landscaping. Around the Fourth of July, with one of the busiest weekends of the year bearing down, the city and its contractor agreed to pause construction so visitors and locals could actually get around for the holiday. That pause is a small detail, but it says something about how tight the balance was between finishing the job and not strangling the businesses that depend on that stretch of road.
Locals Places Held. Drive-By Places Didn't.
Walk down Center Street this summer and you'd have found two very different seasons happening at the same time.
Pinky's on Folly Beach had one of its best summers on record. General manager Jeff Caudill said the two properties combined broke a million dollars in revenue, and he credited some of it to visitors feeling freer to spend again after a couple of tighter years. DJ Rich, who co-owns Planet Follywood and also sits on Folly Beach's city council, said his bar felt the disruption but got through it fine, largely because it was never built to chase seasonal tourist spikes in the first place. His bar stays steady year round because it's a neighborhood spot for people who live here, not a summer-only draw for people passing through.
Compare that to Surfer Betty, the beauty supply shop co-owned by Kate Ferrara and Melissa Anderson, which opened in April at the corner of Center Street and West Erie Avenue specifically for the visibility and foot traffic that corner offers. With construction equipment staged right outside and a trailer blocking the storefront, that visibility disappeared. Ferrara said some days brought in less than $100 in sales, and the shop had to rely on hand-painted signs and easels just to let people know it was still open. A few doors down, The Pineapple Hut had its slowest summer since opening in 2019, according to manager Taylor Connor, who said the seasonal soft-serve shop couldn't afford to close during what should have been its busiest months, so it just absorbed the hit. Richard Brendel, who runs the boat tour and kayak rental company Flipper Finders near the island's entrance, said his walk-up traffic dropped noticeably, and what carried him through was the business that had already been booked online or by phone before people even arrived. He used the slower months to remodel his shop instead.
The pattern across all of these conversations is consistent. Businesses that depend on someone noticing them from the sidewalk took the hardest hit. Businesses with a customer base that shows up on purpose, whether that's a regular at a neighborhood bar or a kayak trip booked two weeks in advance, made it through largely intact.
What Changes When the Barrels Come Down
As of early August, most of the underground work was done. New pipes are laid and connected, and what's left is the finishing work: repaving, tree planting, new rain gardens, and streetlight replacement handled by Dominion Energy. The project is on track to be substantially finished by the end of September, which means the version of Center Street residents walk down this fall will look different from the one they've been navigating around all summer.
The most immediate change for anyone who drives here regularly is parking. The project removed four parallel spots to make room for green infrastructure, but the city's plan adds 39 parallel spots back within the project area, a net gain that should ease some of the same parking crunch that's been a long-running complaint on the island. The new rain gardens and permeable pavers are designed to let stormwater drain through the surface rather than pool in the road, which is the whole point of a project that started because Center Street has flooded during ordinary summer rainstorms for years, especially when a downpour lines up with high tide.
There's also been turnover on the street that has nothing to do with construction. The Sand Dollar Social Club, a Center Street fixture since 1981 known for live music and being the unofficial gathering spot for the island's motorcycle crowd, sold this summer for $2.4 million to Greenville-area developer Ron Rallis. It's currently closed for renovations with no reopening date announced. Meanwhile, at the pier, Koko's on the Pier Tiki Kitchen and Bar has opened at 101 E. Arctic Avenue, bringing a Polynesian-influenced menu and beachfront seating to a spot that's seen several restaurant concepts come and go over the years. Both are reminders that Center Street's businesses are always in some state of change, construction or not.
Reasons to Head Back Downtown
Mayor Bizzell has said the city hopes to put together an islandwide celebration once the project wraps, as a way to draw people back downtown and thank businesses for getting through a difficult summer. Whether or not that materializes on a specific date, the fall calendar already gives residents plenty of reason to return to Center Street. Mermaids & Mateys, the annual seaside festival with live music, local art vendors, and a costume contest, returns to Center Street on Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Later in the year, the Folly Beach Christmas Parade rolls through on December 12, and the island closes out 2026 the way it always does, with a fireworks show and the midnight Flip-Flop Drop on December 31.
None of that changes what this summer actually proved. The people who kept coming to Folly Beach never really left. What construction exposed was which businesses had built something worth seeking out, and which ones had been leaning on the crowd walking by. As Center Street gets its finishing touches this fall, that's worth remembering the next time a storefront on the island seems to be struggling or thriving for reasons that have nothing to do with the weather or the tourists.
If you're thinking about what any of this means for property values or timing a move on or off the island, that's a longer conversation, and it's one Synergy Group Properties is glad to have whenever you're ready. Contact Us.
