Interior designer Michael Mitchell is bringing his luxury home-furnishings business back to the island where he grew up. Mitchell has signed a lease for space inside South Island Market, a mixed-use development taking shape on Johns Island, where his company plans to open a flagship showroom and full-service design studio.
The lease covers 12,156 square feet, according to scbiz.com, which reported that Pinckney Partners signed Mitchell to the deal. A separate report from Designers Today described the planned showroom as 12,000 square feet, a modest discrepancy between the two accounts that hasn't been resolved. Either way, the space will be sizable for a company known for sophisticated residential interiors, bespoke furnishings, and Lowcountry-inspired design, per the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.
A Flagship With Deep Roots
Mitchell is a Johns Island native, and according to the chamber, he brings a personal connection to the project. The South Island Market location will serve as both the company's flagship luxury showroom and a full-service interior design studio, the chamber said, expanding the firm's reach across the Charleston, Kiawah, and Sea Island luxury residential markets. Mitchell's company was founded in Charleston in 2004 and is headed by the designer himself, who has been recognized in Architectural Digest, Robb Report, and The Wall Street Journal, according to the company. Per WhatNow, the showroom will offer products for dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, and outdoor spaces, along with antiques sourced from Europe.
Charles Darby of Pinckney Partners said the designer was exactly the kind of tenant the development was built for. “Michael Mitchell Inc. represents exactly the caliber of business we envisioned for this center,” Darby told Designers Today.
Inside the South Island Market Project
South Island Market sits on 34 acres at the corner of Betsy Kerrison Parkway and River Road on Johns Island, according to The Post and Courier. When finished, the project is expected to include roughly 82,000 square feet of commercial space spread across eight buildings, along with 79 luxury townhomes and 16 acres of preserved open space, the paper reported. The first phase alone comprises five buildings totaling 45,000 square feet of commercial space, and more than 53 percent of that had already been leased, the newspaper's report noted. Roper St. Francis Healthcare and Daniel Ravenel Sotheby's International Realty are the development's two regional anchor tenants, per the same account.
Delivery of the project is anticipated for late 2026, with an opening projected for spring 2027, according to the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. That timeline places Mitchell's homecoming showroom among a wave of new commercial space arriving on an island that has changed dramatically over the past decade and a half.
An Island Still Filling In
Johns Island's population has grown by approximately 40 percent since 2010, according to U.S. Census data cited by The Post and Courier, a surge that has fueled demand for new retail, medical, and residential space across the island. Mitchell said the move carries personal weight beyond the business opportunity. “Johns Island is home,” he said, according to WhatNow, adding that building his firm's next chapter there is meaningful to him.
