Clemson gets judge’s OK to demolish historic West Ashley veggie lab By Jason Ryan Oct 20, 2026 Updated 2 hrs ago WEST ASHLEY — A judge’s approval of a legal settlement between Clemson University and the City of Charleston means a historic veggie lab is likely cooked.
Circuit Judge Dale E. Van Slambrook signed off Oct. 19 on a deal that allows Clemson to demolish the former U.S. Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, a 90-year-old landmark located at Clemson’s Coastal Research and Education Center along Savannah Highway.
The federal lab was built during the Depression in an effort to improve the health and longevity of Southern crops. After the U.S. Department of Agriculture vacated the lab in 2003 for new facilities across the highway, Clemson obtained the buildings in 2019 and soon sought permission to demolish the abandoned structure, which lies within its 325-acre research facility on the south side of the highway.
City planning staff objected and scuttled Clemson’s plans, at least for a while.
In early 2026, the university tried again, only to be told by the city’s Design Review Board that demolition of the building should be denied because of its unique and important history.
Clemson responded by suing the city over the design review board’s decision, leading to a reversal by the City Council, which voted in February to allow the demolition despite dozens of residents writing to object to the veggie lab’s destruction.
Van Slambrook’s approval of the agreement means the wrecking ball may start swinging soon.
Return to the earth In the end, the lab’s life cycle was similar to the plants studied and bred within its white masonry walls.
The two-story, Colonial Revival building sprang from the ground in the spring of 1936 and was completed within a year.
Its operations initially flourished. Surrounding fields were planted with experimental crops by scientists who worked in the lab, including acres of tomatoes, corn and zinnias planted during the facility’s first growing season.
Beside the main lab facility, the complex also included three large greenhouses and other outbuildings, which staff also used to grow new and improved crops that could better withstand threats from disease and pests.
Over the next few decades, the lab bore continual fruit, both literally and figuratively. Among the lab staff’s most celebrated early innovations were the creation of the Charleston Grey Watermelon and various snap beans and cabbages, according to a history of the facility compiled by Clemson titled “The First of its Kind in the World.”
But the harvest would not last forever. The USDA moved across the street in 2003 to modern scientific facilities and left the original lab untended.
The building languished and continued to do so when Clemson took over the lab. In recent years, the lab’s roof weathered away until it partially collapsed, allowing rainwater to infiltrate the building.
The city required Clemson to put tarps over the holes in the roof in 2025, but the tarps soon failed. Then the city reversed course and approved the demolition.
Now the building stands on the side of a highway like a withered, weathered stalk waiting to be scraped from the soil.
Despite the opposition of dozens of residents and members of the city’s own Design Review Board, City Councilman Ross Appel of West Ashley previously defended the city’s decision to give a green light to the demolition.
He said in the recent cases of both Clemson and Ashley Hall — a private, all-girls school in Charleston — council members must take into account the educational missions of these institutions. Ashley Hall has obtained tentative approval from the city to demolish a shed-like building in its parking lot that may be part of a historic Black dance hall.
“I think that counts for something,” Appel said in June to The Post and Courier. “They’re not purely profit driven.”
Appel distinguished the schools from land developers and said that the historic value of the buildings slated for destruction was just one of many considerations for council members.
Similar to the situation with Clemson, the city’s Board of Architectural Review for small projects denied Ashley Hall’s request to remove Dash Hall but was then overruled when City Council voted in August to allow the demolition, subject to a judge’s approval.
“It is true that the council has been vetoing these boards, but these are unique situations,” said Appel. “We give those (educational) entities a little closer look.”
The councilman said that while the city’s board members were volunteers, council members were elected officials with broader mandates.
“It is our job to make sure the city is striking the right balance,” said Appel, and not impeding the growth of academic institutions.
Other city business Beyond the veggie lab, Clemson has struck other recent deals with the city and its leadership.
The university has allowed the city to erect a temporary fire station on a parcel it owns on Meeting Street for three years at a cost of $1 a year. And since 2021, Clemson has leased 30,000 square feet of office space from Cigar Factory Development, LLC, a company for which Mayor William Cogswell is listed as the registered agent.
Clemson paid more than $1 million a year in rent for a five-year lease at the old Cigar Factory building on East Bay Street, according to an agreement provided by the university. In 2025, the university wrote to the mayor’s wife, Lucile Cogswell, to indicate it wished to extend the lease for a sixth year for $1.2 million.
The mayor, who has a family company that owns an 11 percent stake in the Cigar Factory, recused himself from the February vote on the veggie lab’s demolition. He is one of a number of Cigar Factory owners who jointly make decisions about the business, including major leases, according to a City Hall spokeswoman.
Clemson could not be reached for comment about a timeline for demolition and its future plans for the property.
As Clemson sought to gain permission to demolish the former lab in previous years, its staff also discussed transferring the greenhouses on the property to local landscaper Chad Husselbee, who would reinstall them on property in Colleton County.
When Clemson decided to keep the greenhouses, which have been put to use by the current director of the university’s West Ashley campus, Husselbee filed a federal lawsuit against Clemson in 2025.
That lawsuit was dismissed. But when the settlement between Clemson and Charleston came before a judge earlier this year, Husselbee filed a motion to intervene in an attempt to stop the demolition.
Van Slambrook denied Husselbee’s motion in June, as well as an appeal in September, setting the stage for the judge’s October approval of the agreement.
As part of the legal settlement, Clemson has promised to install a historical plaque on its farm campus and contribute $25,000 to a West Ashley architectural survey.
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