The ship-to-shore cranes at the new Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston were built to move cargo on some of the world's biggest and most modern container ships.

But on June 9, those cranes were called into emergency duty for an old-fashioned breakbulk vessel with equipment problems.

The 23-year-old Star Maia was supposed to unload its cargo hold downriver at the State Ports Authority's Columbus Street Terminal, but had to sail a few miles north to the Leatherman site after one of its onboard cranes went belly up.

"The ship's number two crane — the second from the forward end — has been broken down since it was in Europe and they can't get it fixed," said Bill Young, head stevedore for SSA Marine. With cargo in hatches on each side of that crane, Young said he had to scramble to find a solution.

"There are no shore cranes on Columbus Street, so I asked Jim Newsome if we could bring my customer up to Leatherman so we could discharge the rest of its cargo," he said.

Newsome, CEO of the State Ports Authority, was quick to oblige since there wasn't a ship scheduled to call on Leatherman's berth that day.

The Leatherman cranes, with 169 feet of lift height, were more than up to the challenge, managing to unload all of the Star Maia's shipment of steel wire rod, which is used in radial tires manufactured by Palmetto State tiremakers Michelin and Bridgestone. 

While a labor dispute with the International Longshoremen's Association has kept Leatherman from receiving any of the 1,200-foot-long megaships the terminal was designed to handle — the site is instead being used by smaller express vessels moving containers of auto parts from Europe — the site came through in a pinch for the 640-foot Star Maia, which is flagged in the United Kingdom.

Estate sale

A historic Summerville home with past ties to cosmetics mogul Elizabeth Arden and fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer is about to get some looks.

The asking price for the 7,400-square foot, two-story Victorian-style residence on 1.2 acres that is within walking distance of downtown is $2.295 million. The listing was flagged by several online real estate websites last week.

The home was originally built in 1897 by A.J. Braid for Samuel Lord, a Charleston attorney.

Arden purchased the property as a summer estate and sold it in 1954 while creating her cosmetic empire. It is said that she painted the front door a different color for each season, but it now remains red, the inspiration for the entrances to her salons.

Arden opened her first beauty salon in 1910 and started selling her products internationally five years later. By the time of her death in 1966, Arden was a household name in the beauty industry, with more than 100 salons bearing her name worldwide.

The current owners are longtime Charleston International Airport attorney Arnold Goodstein and his wife, First Judicial Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein. They purchased the property from Lillian Bostwick Phipps' estate. Phipps was married to the late Ogden Phipps, and Pulitzer was their daughter.

Changes in altitude

Local residents who flee to the North Carolina mountains to escape the Lowcountry’s scorching summers will soon have a local room-and-board option at their disposal.

The Skyline Lodge in the upscale getaway town of Highlands, about 4,000 feet above sea level, has started taking reservations for overnight stays starting June 30, according to an announcement this month.

The 40-room, one-suite retreat is the first hotel acquisition for a Charleston-based company that made its bones on its string of dining establishments. The Indigo Road Hospitality Group bought it through Mid Century Revitalization LLC last July. A deed filed with Macon County showed it changed hands for $2.6 million.

The newly renovated property will include an outpost of Oak Steakhouse, which opened its doors on Broad Street in downtown Charleston in 2005.

The Skyline Lodge is in the so-called plateau area near Cashiers. Its original structure was designed by a former student of Frank Lloyd Wright and was partially constructed near the peak of Flat Top Mountain in 1929 before the Great Depression sidelined the deal. The project was resurrected in the 1960s.

The previous owner was Robert Nass, who operated the lodge for nearly 30 years. 

The hotel isn’t far from Nantahala National Forest and is within driving distance "from multiple substantial feeder markets" in the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee, such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Greenville and Knoxville, Indigo Road said after it bought it.

The Line Street company announced plans to expand into the lodging management and consulting business in early 2020. It's now involved in four F&B-driven hotel deals in North Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

The Indigo Road's roughly two dozen restaurants span several states. In addition to Oak, they include Kingtide, Indaco, O-ku Sushi and Mercantile & Mash.

The property has eight bedrooms, with five inside the main house, and three one-bedroom cottages. Kalyn Smythe of William Means Real Estate is the listing agent.

Chamber change

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce's executive committee had to shift gears near the mid-year point to fill a leadership vacancy.

Todd Buddin, CEO of Holly Hill-based First National Bank of South Carolina, was named president of the group effective June 2. He stepped in to succeed Clarence Wright, a local Dominion Energy executive who was named to the position in March but has since taken a job in Georgia.

“This is an incredibly exciting time to be a part of the business community in Berkeley County,” Buddin said. “There are so many opportunities in the county, it’s growing at a tremendous pace and we’re trying to do everything we can to help our partners succeed.”

The 55-year-old Walterboro native said the biggest challenge facing businesses in the county is finding employees to fill job vacancies.

“I think everyone in the business community is trying to deal with life after COVID,” said Buddin, who graduated from Francis Marion University with a business degree in 1987. “Everyone is looking for help and trying to find those trained, quality employees. We’ve got businesses that want to come to Berkeley County, we’ve just got to be able to supply the work force. We’ve put on a couple of seminars and met with human resource groups to help our businesses find employees."

Retail recipe

A North Charleston couple who found success with a marinade and sauce has not only landed their products on the shelves of two new major retailers. They've also established an online consulting arm to help other small businesses do the same.

Chevalo Wilsondebriano and wife Monique created Charleston Gourmet Burger Co. with a special marinade and sauce in 2012 after moving to the Charleston region from New York four years earlier. Their products can now be found at TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores across the U.S. In 2016, their marinade and sauce landed on the shelves at Walmart and Lowe's home improvement stores.

The couple recently launched a consultancy called Recipe for Retail, which helps entrepreneurs get their products in the marketplace.

The couple, who started selling their products at Charleston Farmers Market, credited Lowcountry organizations and events for putting them on the map.

"It couldn’t have been done somewhere else," said Monique Wilsondebriano, who had tried building multiple businesses in New York.

They found the cost of doing business in Charleston was more affordable and were surprised to experience the support they found, she said.

"People were cheering us on and making introductions," she said. "People wanted to help us more here. It was very easy for us to find our group of people. We never felt like outsiders or that we didn’t belong."