Park Circle vs. Hanahan: Why We Made the Move

Why We Left Park Circle for Hanahan

If you look at any relocation guide for Charleston, it is going to tell you the same thing: move to Park Circle. My wife and I loved it so much that we did not just buy one home there, we bought two, a townhome in Oak Terrace Preserve in 2017 and a single-family home in the same neighborhood two and a half years later. We thought we would be there forever. Today we live in Hanahan, and the reasons we moved say a lot about where Charleston Tri-County real estate is actually headed right now, not just about our own family.

Why we loved Park Circle · What actually pushed us out · Why we landed in Hanahan · The inventory number that surprised us · For buyers and sellers · FAQ

Why We Loved Park Circle in the First Place

Back in 2017 and 2018, Park Circle felt like the ultimate Charleston cheat code. It is centrally located enough that if I-26 or Highway 52 backs up, you take the back roads instead of panicking, and you are fifteen to thirty minutes from West Ashley, downtown, Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, Summerville, or Moncks Corner.

The lifestyle is real. You can walk out your front door and grab dinner on East Montague Avenue, hit Commonhouse Aleworks for a beer, or stroll down to the Navy Yard and Riverfront Park. Riverfront Park itself has become a genuine gathering spot, with MOMO for waterfront dining right on site. North Charleston has also been investing heavily in infrastructure during this same stretch, from the new Roper St. Francis Hospital relocating from downtown Charleston to a new North Charleston campus, to the Coliseum for concerts and Stingrays hockey, Tanger Outlets, Topgolf, and an airport that is genuinely just down the road.

What Actually Pushed Us Out

Then COVID changed the calculation. The bars on East Montague closed, we spent a lot more time inside our own walls, and we realized we wanted more square footage and a different footprint, plus room to grow our family down the road. When we looked at what it would actually cost to get that extra space inside Park Circle, prices had climbed into the stratosphere. As the neighborhood grew into a national destination, drawing thousands of people in for major music festivals, some everyday pain points got harder to ignore.

The grocery store situation is a real one. Live in Park Circle and you are in a genuine grocery desert, driving over the bridge to Daniel Island for Publix, out toward West Ashley, or over to the Food Lion on Remount Road. There is no major grocery store right in the heart of the neighborhood.

And then there are the trains. Park Circle is surrounded by active freight tracks, and getting stopped dead by a cargo train sitting in the center of the neighborhood for thirty minutes is close to a rite of passage. You learn the workarounds and the elevated bridges that let you scoot under them, but day to day, it wears on you.

Why We Landed in Hanahan

We started looking just ten minutes up the road, and that is how we ended up in Hanahan. Hanahan has historically been called the forgotten city of the Tri-County area, but right now millions of dollars are being invested here. That grocery store problem we just described has a real answer a few minutes north of Park Circle: the Lowe's Foods at Tanner Plantation, right off Yeamans Hall Road.

That same stretch of Yeamans Hall Road is where the old Blackwell's hardware store has been completely demoed to make way for a new traffic circle and a walkable district called Blackwell's Corner, bringing in new dining and local spots. The local food and park scene here is genuinely exploding right now. In the Piggly Wiggly shopping center off Yeamans Hall Road, Cane Pazzo, a neighborhood Italian trattoria, just opened to strong local acclaim, with a new dessert bar and Johnny's Garage right next door.

If you want water access, Creekside Park opened in 2025 just a couple of minutes down Steward Street, with a playground, a covered pavilion, food truck parking, and deep water access on Goose Creek with a floating kayak launch. If you want a master-planned, golf cart friendly lifestyle, Tanner Plantation delivers that too. From Tanner, you can golf cart straight into Hawks Nest Park, which has miles of trails, open green fields, a beach volleyball court, a dog park, a turf sports field, and a dozen lit tennis and baseball fields. Hanahan Middle School on Murray Drive has also been fully redeveloped and renovated.

What is wild is that with all of this new growth, Hanahan still holds on to its deep roots. The historic 1900s Yeamans Hall Club, a course designed by Seth Raynor, sits right through the front gates from an active railroad track that wealthy families and bankers from Manhattan once rode straight to in order to escape the city. That timeless character is still woven into the neighborhood today.

The Inventory Number That Actually Surprised Us

Here is the piece that matters most if you are thinking about the market itself, not just the lifestyle. Despite having the smallest population in the entire Tri-County area, Hanahan's inventory situation is actually tighter than Park Circle's. There is virtually no room left for new construction, it is close to fully built out. That combination, a quaint, established hometown feel wrapped in mature oak trees, where your dollar buys the space you actually want, while staying five to ten minutes from Park Circle and around twenty to thirty minutes from downtown Charleston depending on traffic and exactly where you are headed, is the whole story.

We did not give up the breweries or the festivals. We just chose a quieter, high-value home base to come back to at night.

What This Means If You're Buying or Selling

For Buyers

If Park Circle's price point has moved past what makes sense for your family, Hanahan is worth a serious look before you rule it out. Limited new construction means the homes that do come up do not sit long, so having your financing and your search criteria ready before you start touring matters more here than in a market with steady new supply. Our VIP Home Search can get you set up with real-time alerts the moment something in Hanahan or Park Circle hits the market, or fill out a quick form and our team will reach out directly.

For Sellers

If you already own in Hanahan, this is genuinely one of the more interesting supply stories in the whole Tri-County area right now, tight inventory, a small population base, and real, funded investment landing in the neighborhood at the same time. If you are curious what that combination means for your own home's value, our team can walk you through a free home valuation with no pressure, ever.

Navigating Charleston's Hidden Pockets

Park Circle and Hanahan are one example of a pattern that plays out across the whole Tri-County area. The neighborhood everyone already knows about tends to price in its own popularity, while the area just up the road is often quietly catching up on amenities and infrastructure while still priced like the forgotten city it used to be called. Finding that next pocket before it is fully priced in is exactly what our team helps people do every day, whether that means Hanahan, Goose Creek, Summerville, or somewhere else entirely depending on what actually matters for your life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Brett Kelley and his family leave Park Circle?

They wanted more square footage and room to grow their family, and by the time they looked at getting that extra space in Park Circle, prices had climbed sharply. Day-to-day pain points also grew alongside the neighborhood's popularity, including a real grocery store gap in the heart of the community and freight trains that can stop and block the center of the neighborhood.

Is Park Circle still a good place to live in Charleston?

Yes. Park Circle is still one of the most walkable, amenity-rich pockets of the Charleston Tri-County area, with East Montague Avenue's restaurant and brewery scene, the Navy Yard and Riverfront Park, and easy back-road access to West Ashley, downtown, Mount Pleasant, and beyond. It is simply a different price point and a different day-to-day tradeoff than it was in 2017 and 2018.

What is Blackwell's Corner in Hanahan?

Blackwell's Corner is a new walkable district on Yeamans Hall Road in Hanahan, built where the old Blackwell's hardware store once stood. The site has been redeveloped around a new traffic circle and is bringing in new dining and local retail, part of a larger wave of investment moving into Hanahan.

How far is Hanahan from Park Circle and downtown Charleston?

Hanahan sits just five to ten minutes from Park Circle. Drive time into downtown Charleston varies depending on which part of Hanahan you are in and time of day, so if commute time to a specific downtown location is a deciding factor for your move, it is worth mapping your actual daily route before you buy rather than relying on a single average number.

Is inventory tight in Hanahan real estate?

Yes. Despite having the smallest population in the Charleston Tri-County area, Hanahan has very little room left for new construction, which keeps its inventory situation tighter than Park Circle's. That combination of limited supply and steady new investment is a big part of why the area is drawing buyer attention right now.

What is new in Hanahan right now?

Hanahan is seeing real, funded growth. Blackwell's Corner is redeveloping the Yeamans Hall Road traffic circle area, Creekside Park opened in 2025 with deep water access on Goose Creek, Hawks Nest Park brings miles of trails and sports fields, and the Yeamans Hall Road shopping center has added several new local restaurants alongside the area's Lowe's Foods.

We didn't leave Park Circle because anything went wrong there. We left because our family's needs changed, and the numbers pointed somewhere else. That is the conversation we have with buyers and sellers across the Tri-County area every week, and it rarely has one right answer.

I work with buyers, sellers, and investors across Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties, and if you want to talk through what a move like this could look like for your own situation, I would love to help. Fill out a quick form to speak with our team directly, start with our Charleston relocation guide, get a free home valuation, or book a discovery call and we will map it out together.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Brett Kelley, The TREAT Team, SCSOLD, LLC. South Carolina Real Estate Commission License #96167. This article is general information only and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Confirm current pricing, inventory, and commute times directly with our team before making a decision based on this article.