If you've spent any part of this summer on Folly Beach, you've had an opinion about Center Street. The fencing. The excavators parked where a parking spot used to be. The walk to Center Street Coffee that somehow took four extra minutes because the sidewalk you'd normally use didn't exist anymore. By July, "have you tried getting to Rita's lately" had become its own genre of small talk on the island.
So here's the part that doesn't match the mood on the ground: the town's own traffic counter on the bridge logged more cars coming and going this year than at the same point last year, and rental occupancy on Folly homes ticked up too, according to AirDNA data cited by Mayor Chris Bizzell in a recent Folly Current report. The island, in aggregate, had a fine summer. It just didn't feel that way if you were standing in the wrong spot on Center Street.
What the Bridge Counter Actually Said
The project causing all the noise is the Center Street Stormwater Infrastructure Improvements Project, a drainage overhaul the City of Folly Beach has been running through the island's commercial core. It's designed to fix chronic flooding on Center Street and create what the city calls a model for resilient drainage in coastal towns. Worthy goals. Miserable to live next to.
Planet Follywood co-owner DJ Rich, who also sits on Folly Beach's City Council, has watched the timeline slip in real time.
"Look, originally it was going to be 18 months. Then it was 14 or 15... We always knew this was most likely going to be a 12–16-month project."
Rich told Folly Current the contractors hit the kind of surprises that only show up once you start digging: redundant water lines, unexpected gas line conflicts, plus the ordinary friction of scheduling around street festivals and weather. None of that shows up on a project brochure. All of it shows up as a longer summer of orange barrels than anyone on Center Street had budgeted for emotionally.
And yet the traffic count went up anyway. That's the part locals arguing about parking on the neighborhood Facebook group tend to skip.
Who Actually Absorbed the Hit
The citywide numbers are real, but they're an average, and averages hide who paid the price. For businesses that depend on people wandering by, the summer was genuinely rough.
Richard Brendel owns Flipper Finders, a boat tour and kayak rental company positioned near the entrance to the island. His office was already outside what he calls the tourist loop before construction started. Add fencing and rerouted sidewalks, and the walk-up customers who used to find him by accident stopped finding him at all.
"When you add the construction, the tourists don't know where to go," Brendel told Folly Current. His business still had an okay summer, but almost entirely because of pre-booked reservations made online or by phone rather than anyone strolling past. He used the slower foot traffic as an excuse to remodel the shop instead of fighting for walk-ins that weren't coming.
That's the real shape of this story. The island absorbed the disruption fine as a whole. The businesses that depend on someone glancing sideways while looking for parking did not absorb it evenly at all.
What Changes When the Fencing Actually Comes Down
Once the punchlist wraps, Center Street will look different in ways beyond fresh pavement. The city's own project page lays out the net changes:
| Change | Detail |
|---|---|
| Parking removed | 4 parallel spots, for green infrastructure |
| Parking added | 39 parallel spots within the project footprint |
| Trees | Removed and replanted, including palmetto reinstallation |
| Streetscape | Engraved and plain bricks reinstalled on the west side between Cooper and Erie |
A net gain of 35 spots is not nothing on an island where parking arguments are a competitive sport. Mayor Bizzell has said the city hopes to hold an islandwide celebration once the work wraps, aimed squarely at getting people spending money at local businesses again after a summer most of them would rather forget.
The Pier's Own Reinvention
While Center Street was tearing itself up, the Folly Beach Fishing Pier was going through a quieter transformation. The pier itself had been closed since October 19, 2020, before its reconstruction brought it back. This spring, the restaurant on it changed hands and identity entirely.
Pier 101 is gone. In its place, under the Tides Folly Beach hospitality family that also runs Pinky's on the Beach and Roasted Coffee + Shop, is Koko's on the Pier Tiki Kitchen & Bar, which held its launch celebration in the first weeks of May 2026 with steel pan music, a hula performance, and live music running into the evening.
The name isn't random. It's a nod to Kokomo's Lounge, a 1950s-era watering hole on the island once associated with servicemen passing through for rest and relaxation. Tides Folly Beach general manager Phil Owens told Folly Current the change was about creating something better matched to the energy of both out-of-town guests and the local community, not simply swapping a sign.
The menu splits the difference between memory and reinvention. Longtime regulars will still find po'boys, fried shrimp, and the classic she-crab soup that Pier 101 was known for. New additions lean tropical: Folly Fire Shrimp in a sweet-and-spicy tiki sauce, a jerk chicken sandwich with pineapple and pepper jack, teriyaki rice bowls, and BBQ nachos piled over wonton chips instead of tortilla chips. Drinks come in souvenir "Koko-nut" cups, which is either charming or a little much depending on how many you've had.
Food and beverage director Halee Brinson put it simply when she said the vibe is "relaxed but intentional," which is about as accurate a description of Folly Beach itself as you're likely to find.
The Island Keeps Adding Chapters, Not Just Fixing Old Ones
Center Street's overhaul and the pier's new restaurant are really the same story told twice: an island willing to disrupt its own summer for something better on the other side. The city's broader planning process backs that up. A Post and Courier report on Folly's 10-year comprehensive plan notes the Folly Beach History Museum opened its doors this year alongside an islandwide 25 mph speed limit and ongoing water main improvements. None of these are flashy on their own. Together they read like a town quietly deciding what kind of place it wants to be once the barrels finally come down.
If you've been holding a grudge against Center Street all summer, you've earned it. But the next time you're annoyed about where you had to park, it's worth remembering the bridge counter doesn't share your mood. The island did fine. Some of its businesses just had to work a lot harder to make sure they did too.
Folly Beach has always been the kind of place that changes on its own terms and mostly for the better. If you're curious what a summer like this one means for the island's homes and long-term value, Island House Real Estate knows this stretch of coast block by block. Find Your Island — Schedule a Private Consultation.
