Massive SC charter school to open on former PMSC campus in Blythewood
A colossal K-12 charter school that emphasizes patriotism and strong moral values appears primed to open next year on a sprawling plot of land along U.S. 21 in Blythewood that was once home to Policy Management Systems Corp., a long-defunct insurance technology company.
The school’s leaders have not publicly announced the location, but property records and the installation of promotional signs near the office park entrance identify the parcel as the future home of American Leadership Academy Blythewood.
At 3,000 students, ALA Blythewood “will be the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in state history,” Charter Institute at Erskine superintendent Cameron Runyan told a legislative committee earlier this year.
The Charter Institute, which recruited the Arizona-based chain of traditional-style schools to set up shop in the Palmetto State, has approved at least six American Leadership Academy schools and touted plans to open as many as 10 of them throughout the state.
Thus far, only one has opened. American Leadership Academy Lexington, located along South Lake Drive in downtown Lexington, opened in the fall of 2023 and is presently the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in South Carolina with just under 1,900 students.
An American Leadership Academy spokeswoman declined to answer questions about the proposed Blythewood school, which is expected to open in the fall of 2026.
Charter schools like ALA that enforce strict dress codes, stress character development and use a curriculum rooted in Western literature and philosophy have gained popularity among conservative parents disillusioned with neighborhood public schools.
ALA Blythewood’s charter application, submitted in January 2023 under the name American Leadership Academy Columbia, said the school would offer a “moral, wholesome, positive, and clean environment to allow students to learn, explore, and reach their individual potential.”
The school’s location came to light earlier this week when a South Carolina DMV branch located in the same Wilson Boulevard office campus as the future school announced it would be closing to customers in July because the sale of several buildings on its campus left the agency without enough visitor parking.
Property records show a Utah-based company called Portfolio Charter 44 LLC purchased the 85-acre parcel in September 2024. Portfolio Charter is registered to Corey Brand, the co-founder of a real estate development company affiliated with Charter One, the for-profit charter management organization that operates American Leadership Academy.
Brand is also the registered manager for Lexington Charter LLC, the entity that owns American Leadership Academy Lexington.
Portfolio Charter paid JLAM Blythewood Investors LP, a Delaware-based real estate investment manager, more than $8 million for the Blythewood parcel, property records show. JLAM, which stands for Jack Lingo Asset Management, had purchased the property less than three years earlier for only $3 million, according to property records.
Following the sale, JLAM trumpeted the deal in a press release that announced it had “secured a niche buyer that delivered prime pricing for our exit.”
It’s not clear whether the real estate investment manager made any improvements to the 400,000-square-foot property during the 32 months it owned the parcel. The buildings are vacant and appear to be in need of refurbishment.
JLAM did not return a request for comment.