RFP-2026-3500-WP-02 Western Peninsula Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture Services

Location:	South Carolina
Posted:	Aug 10, 2026
Due:	Sep 21, 2026
Agency:	City of Charleston
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	C - Architect and Engineering Services - Construction R - Professional, Administrative and Management Support Services
Solicitation No:	RFP-2026-3500-W-02
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

Bid Number:	RFP-2026-3500-W-02
Bid Title:	RFP-2026-3500-WP-02 Western Peninsula Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture Services
Category:	Procurement Bids
Status:	Open

Description:

RFP Data Room:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ydx2jdwby0ui4gdq83zfn/AGmds9sWGCkOdRPz1Lq78NI?rlkey=cdsqz75fh16nwzsgrhnd4d5c0&dl=0

There will be a Mandatory Pre-Proposal Site Visit on August 24, 2026 @ 1:00pm at WestEdge Redevelopment Parcels.

Questions are due no later than 5:00pm on August 28, 2026.

Publication Date/Time:

8/10/2026 10:22 AM

Closing Date/Time:

9/21/2026 2:30 PM

Pre-bid Meeting:

08/24/2026 @ 1:00pm

Contact Person:

Gary Cooper
cooperg@charleston-sc.gov

Business Hours:

8:30am - 5:00pm

Fax Number:

843-724-7354

Plan Holders List:

N/A

Attachment Preview

CITY OF CHARLESTON

Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

CITY OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Office of the Mayor

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture Services

Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

INVITATION TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

OPEN TO QUALIFIED CIVIL ENGINEERING AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FIRMS

Site Infrastructure, Stormwater, Utilities, and Landscape Design Emerging from the City of

Charleston’s Affordable Housing Design Charrette

Primary Site: WestEdge Redevelopment Parcels | Alternate: Gadsden Green

RFP Number

Issuance Date

Response Deadline

Submission Method

Response Limit

City Contact

Phone

Contact Address

Deliver Proposals

RFP-2026-3500-WP-02

August 10, 2026

Sept. 21, 2026 | 2:30 p.m. Eastern

Sealed Hard Copy Only — Mailed or Hand-Delivered

20 Pages Maximum (Exhibits per Section 8 are excluded)

Gary Cooper, Director of Procurement

COOPERG@charleston-sc.gov

843-724-7312

2 George Street, Suite 3600, Charleston, SC 29401

City of Charleston Procurement Division, 2 George Street, Suite 3600,

Charleston, SC 29401

This RFP is issued as part of Project 3500, the largest affordable housing initiative in Charleston’s history,

targeting 3,500 net new affordable units by 2032.

Issued: August 10, 2026 | City of Charleston, South Carolina | Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

Page 1

CITY OF CHARLESTON

Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

1. Overview and Invitation

The City of Charleston, South Carolina, through its Office of the Mayor, hereby invites qualified civil

engineering and landscape architecture firms to submit comprehensive proposals to provide Civil

Engineering and Landscape Architecture services for the Western Peninsula Offering under Project

3500.

The selected firms—or a joint team of a civil engineer and landscape architect—will be responsible

for designing site infrastructure, stormwater management systems, utility layouts, grading and

drainage plans, and landscape and open space frameworks for the Western Peninsula sites. This

work must complement and integrate seamlessly with the architectural designs produced through

the Affordable Housing Design Charrette and the Architect of Record services awarded separately

under RFP-2026-3500-WP-01.

Project 3500 has attracted nationwide attention as a potentially replicable model for how cities can

produce beautiful, permanently affordable housing at scale. As reported by the Congress for the

New Urbanism in May 2026, the City’s approach—pre-designing and pre-permitting sites on city-

owned land, driven by private capital, rooted in Classical architecture and community

engagement—is “nationally unprecedented.” The Civil Engineer and Landscape Architect for the

Western Peninsula Offering will be visible participants in a nationally significant project.

2. Project 3500 Context: The Affordability Crisis and the City’s

Response

Charleston faces a housing affordability crisis that threatens the economic diversity and social fabric

of one of America’s most storied cities. A comprehensive assessment conducted by Bloomberg

Associates documented the structural forces driving displacement: rising Area Median Income

levels that exclude working families from existing affordable housing programs, escalating market

rents, loss of naturally occurring affordable housing, and a persistent gap between housing supply

and workforce demand. At the time of assessment, more than 621 homeless school children were

enrolled in Charleston County schools, and essential workforce employees—teachers, nurses,

firefighters, hospitality and service workers—were increasingly unable to live in the communities

they serve.

Project 3500 is Mayor William Cogswell’s response: the largest and most ambitious affordable

housing initiative in the City’s history, targeting 3,500 net new affordable units by 2032 on 100+

acres of Charleston Housing Authority-owned land on and near the historic peninsula. The program

is not an aspirational framework—it is a fully executable strategy with site-specific plans, identified

financing pathways, and federal partnership commitments.

Project 3500 is structured as a modernized version of the HOPE VI program—one that adds

turnkey design and permitting by the City in partnership with HUD to the New Urbanist, mixed-

income neighborhood framework that HOPE VI pioneered. A landmark Harvard study published in

2026 confirmed that HOPE VI-style redevelopments improved upward mobility and reduced

intergenerational poverty among children who grew up in public housing, providing powerful

evidence for the long-term community benefit of this approach.

The Affordable Housing Design Charrette from which this RFP emerges was the design engine of

Project 3500’s Western Peninsula sites. The charrette brought together the City’s design team—

including Sottile & Sottile, Ben Pentreath, and Hugh Petter, all CNU Charter Award recipients with

Issued: August 10, 2026 | City of Charleston, South Carolina | Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

Page 2

CITY OF CHARLESTON

Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

extensive experience in Classical architecture and affordable housing—alongside community

residents, neighborhood leaders, CHA staff, and City officials. The resulting designs reflect both

design excellence and community voice. The Civil Engineer and Landscape Architect will carry that

foundation forward, ensuring that site infrastructure and open spaces are as thoughtfully designed

as the buildings they serve.

3. Site Descriptions — Western Peninsula Offering

Proposals must address the Primary Site. Respondents may elect to include the Alternate Site. The

Alternate must be scoped, designed, and priced separately and in addition to the Primary Site.

Primary Site — WestEdge Redevelopment Parcels, Charleston, SC

The WestEdge Redevelopment Parcels are the required and central component of all proposals.

These City of Charleston-owned parcels on the Western Peninsula—comprising approximately 15

acres adjacent to the WestEdge district along the Ashley River—are targeted for a cohesive, mixed-

income, mixed-use residential community consistent with Project 3500’s design standards. The site

benefits from proximity to major employment and medical centers, public transit, Brittlebank Park

and the Ashley River waterfront, and established neighborhood infrastructure. Civil engineering and

landscape architecture charrette concepts for this site—including grading, stormwater management

frameworks, utility routing, streetscape design, and open space plans—will be provided to

respondents through the RFP Data Room. The selected team will be responsible for translating

these charrette concepts into fully permitted, construction-ready civil and landscape documents.

All civil and landscape work at the WestEdge Redevelopment Parcels must conform to the City’s

design standards, applicable stormwater and land disturbance regulations, and SCDOT and

SCDHEC requirements, and must satisfy Board of Architectural Review (BAR) scrutiny. Firms must

demonstrate familiarity with the Charleston peninsula’s unique infrastructure context, including low-

lying topography, tidal flooding considerations, aging utility infrastructure, and the design continuity

requirements of a Classical, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood.

Alternate Site — Gadsden Green, Charleston, SC

The Alternate Site comprises the Gadsden Green properties, a Charleston Housing Authority-

owned community of approximately 11.3 acres on the Western Peninsula. Respondents electing

the Alternate must provide a separate scope, schedule, and fee for civil engineering and landscape

architecture services at these parcels—independent from and in addition to the Primary Site.

Proposals must demonstrate sufficient team capacity to serve all sites simultaneously or in defined

sequential phases. Charrette civil and landscape materials for the Gadsden Green properties will be

provided through the RFP Data Room.

RFP Data Room for all Sites:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ydx2jdwby0ui4gdq83zfn/AGmds9sWGCkOdRPz1Lq78NI?rlkey=cd

sqz75fh16nwzsgrhnd4d5c0&dl=0

Issued: August 10, 2026 | City of Charleston, South Carolina | Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

Page 3

CITY OF CHARLESTON

Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

4. Scope of Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture Services

The following scope applies to all sites included in the awarded contract. The City will negotiate a

final scope and fee schedule with the selected firm(s) prior to contract execution. The anticipated

scope includes:

4.1 Site Civil Engineering

• Review all charrette civil design outputs and prepare a written Civil Infrastructure Intent

Summary for City review and approval prior to advancing to design development

• Prepare grading and drainage plans, earthwork calculations, and erosion and sediment

control plans consistent with charrette intent and City design standards

• Design stormwater management systems compliant with City of Charleston, Charleston

County, and SCDHEC stormwater regulations, including low-impact development and green

infrastructure approaches where feasible

• Design site utility layouts including water, sewer, electrical, and telecommunications

coordination in close collaboration with the Architect of Record and MEP consultants

• Prepare paving, curb, and hardscape plans for roads, parking areas, and pedestrian

circulation

• Coordinate with SCDOT, Charleston Water System, Dominion Energy, and all applicable

utility providers through design and permitting

• Present civil packages at SD, DD, and CD milestones to the City, CHA, and community

stakeholders

4.2 Landscape Architecture

• Review all charrette landscape and open space outputs and prepare a Landscape Design

Intent Summary for City review and approval

• Develop Schematic Design and Design Development landscape documents consistent with

charrette intent, Classical neighborhood design principles, and the Project 3500 open space

framework

• Design pedestrian streetscapes, courtyards, pocket parks, playgrounds, and all community

open spaces with attention to permanence, maintainability, and the character of

Charleston’s historic neighborhoods

• Select planting palettes appropriate to the Lowcountry climate, consistent with the Classical

architectural language of the project, and resilient to coastal environmental conditions

• Coordinate landscape design with stormwater management features including bioretention,

rain gardens, and permeable surfaces

• Prepare complete landscape construction documents, plant schedules, and irrigation plans

• Coordinate with the Architect of Record on all site and landscape elements subject to BAR

review

4.3 Regulatory Approvals and Permitting

• Prepare and submit all civil and landscape-related applications for Board of Architectural

Review (BAR) approval

• Manage all stormwater, land disturbance, utility, and right-of-way permitting through final

permit issuance

• Coordinate SCDHEC, SCDOT, and City of Charleston Development Review approvals

Issued: August 10, 2026 | City of Charleston, South Carolina | Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

Page 4

CITY OF CHARLESTON

Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

• Prepare documentation required for LIHTC financing compliance, HUD design review, and

applicable environmental certifications

• Prepare FEMA floodplain documentation and coordinate any required floodplain

development permits

4.4 Construction Documents

• Prepare complete, fully coordinated civil and landscape construction document sets for all

site improvements

• Lead coordination with the Architect of Record, structural, MEP, and other sub-consultants

on all site-related elements

• Ensure full compliance with applicable codes, ADA accessibility requirements, energy

standards, and funding source design requirements

4.5 Community Engagement

• Facilitate a minimum of three community design review sessions during Design

Development using accessible visual materials including site plans, landscape renderings,

and open space diagrams

• Maintain a Community Design Log documenting all resident and stakeholder input regarding

site and landscape design, and the firm’s written response to each item

• Coordinate with the City’s community engagement team, the Architect of Record, and any

resident advisory structures established by the CHA

• Proactively engage community members who may be affected by grading, utility work,

stormwater features, or construction phasing

4.6 Construction Administration

• Provide full construction administration services through certificate of occupancy for civil and

landscape work within the award scope

• Conduct regular site visits; respond to RFIs; review and approve submittals; evaluate

change orders for civil and landscape compliance

• Coordinate final inspections and close-out with permitting agencies, utility providers, and the

Architect of Record

5. Proposal Schedule

RFP Issuance

RFP Data Room Access

Pre-Proposal Site Walk

Questions Due

Addenda Issued

Proposals Due

Firm Interviews

August 10, 2026

Aug. 17, 2026

Aug. 24, 2026 | 1 p.m. Eastern (Mandatory,

WestEdge Redevelopment Parcels)

Aug. 28, 2026 | 5 p.m. Eastern

On or before Sept. 4, 2026

Sept. 21, 2026 | 2:30 p.m. Eastern (Sealed Hard

Copy — Received, Not Postmarked)

Week of Oct. 5, 2026 (shortlisted firms)

Issued: August 10, 2026 | City of Charleston, South Carolina | Project 3500 — Western Peninsula Offering

Page 5

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.

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RFP-2026-3500-WP-02 Western Peninsula Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture Services

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See also