8/3/2019 From the archives: Built by the Mungos, May 17,
2009
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1958 HOMERIVERSIDE PARK(Off Broad River Road and I-20)
Size: 1,800 square feet, one storyAverage cost :
$15,000Bedrooms: ThreeBathrooms: 1Appliances: Free-standing
rangeCountertops: FormicaAir conditioning:NoCarport/ garage:
CarportLot size: 105 feet by 156 feet
A10 SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2009
WWW.THESTATE.COM
THE STATE, COLUMBIA,
SOUTH CAROLINA
BUILT BYTHE MUNGOS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM DOMINICK
The Mungos are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their
building of Whitehall this year, one of the first projects the
company developed.
Firm expands, diversifies, keeps it simple
1954: Year the company wasfounded
23,965: Homes built in Richland andLexington counties
$179,627: Average price of a Mungohome in 2009
3,200: Homes in Friarsgate, thecompanys largest subdivision
118 Homes sold in 2007 inCharleston, one of the cities wherethe
company has expanded inrecent years
$143 million: Annual revenue in2008
106: National ranking amongbuilders three years ago
38: National ranking among builderslast year
92: People on the payroll
M U N G O B Y T H E N U M B E R S
M U N G O H O M E S : T H E N A N D N O W
The Ascot subdivision is a high-end neighborhood developed by
the Mungos.
Over its 55-year history, the homegrown, Irmo-based Mungo
companyhas become the largest residential home builder in the
Midlands and South Carolina.
Mungo homes, like customer tastes and expectations, have changed
a lot in a half-century. Heres an example of an average home then
and now.
SOURCE: The Mungo Cos.
1978, he had a heart attack at 50.Stewart Mungo stepped in at
age 26
close to the age his father was when hestarted the company.
Steven Mungo joinedthe firm after college at age 21.
Dad basically just said, I quit. Im not go-ing to let this kill
me. If you guys want to takea crack at this, go ahead, Steven Mungo
re-called.
Ever since, a major factor in the com-panys success has been
Stewart Mungosability to get his hands on the right
property,observers agree.
Company representatives scout farmlandalong remote two-lane
roads where thecounty intends for sewerage transmissionlines to
eventually flow.
County staffers and policymakers tend togive the Mungos the
green light despite farm-to-market roads in outlying areas, said
MichaelCriss, Richlands planning director during theresidential
building boom of 2002-03.
I remember them being told, Not yet. Idont remember them being
told, No, Crisssaid.
Stewart Mungo said its not hard to figure
out where growth will occur, on the basis of the countys
sewerage master plan, developedin 1995.
Once the company buys land for a newsubdivision, Stewart Mungo
often contactsschool officials the company primarilybuilds in
Richland 2 and Lexington-Richland5 to offer tracts for a new
school.
In a half-dozen cases, Stewart Mungo said,the company has
donated or sold land at adiscount to the two school districts,
whichthen built schools within walking distance of a Mungo
subdivision.
Other developers have coordinated pro- jects with local school
districts as well.
Critic Kim Murphy says the new schoolshave proved to be a
valuable asset for theomnipresent Mungo business.
Like Smith, Murphy, the mother of Dis-trict 5 students, said the
public unfairly paysfor infrastructure when the district
acceptsMungos offer of remote land for new-schoolsites. The
developer, not taxpayers, shouldpay those bills, she said.
Murphy is especially critical of the dis-tricts plans to build a
new high school acrossBroad River Road from the site of a
futureMungo subdivision, Portrait Hill. Five yearsago, the rural
241-acre tract was rezoned amidcontroversy. The project and school
site are just this side of the Newberry County line.
Stewart Mungo is unapologetic, sayingtheres nothing wrong with
an arrangementthat is mutually beneficial.
If youre good at what you do, he said,people are going to say
bad stuff about you.
Besides, he noted, its nothing new. Hisfather did the same thing
as far back as the1960s.
PLAYING HARDBALLRichland County has had a long-standingpolicy
allowing developers to build sewerage
lines onto its treatment system.That way, developers and their
new cus-
tomers not existing taxpayers pay thefront-end costs to expand
the system.
The county reimburses developers in theform of a tap for each
new home added tothe system.
Simply because of its size, the Mungo firmhas used the countys
expansion and reim-bursement policy more than any other de- veloper
has, utilities director Andy Metts said.
However, residents complaints aboutsurging development in the
rural northwesthave Richland County Council members ques-tioning
whether the growth policy is still inthe countys best interest.
When it comes to Mungo, they may nothave a choice.
In 1994, County Council settled a lawsuitover a notorious and
expensive flub: Thecounty accidentally sold, at a tax sale, a
sew-erage treatment plant on Nicholas Creek in which the Mungo
business had invested.
Stewart Mungo takes the position that thesettlement requires the
county to OK any ex-pansion hes willing to fund as long as his
new sewerage lines follow the routes shownon a long-range
service plan.
We have a better deal, essentially, thananybody else, he
acknowledged. But we putup all the money and took all the risk.
For Councilwoman Smith, a 2004 tele-phone call to Mungo
crystallized the reper-cussions of the 10-year-old legal
agreementbetween Mungo and the county.
Smith found out the county hadnt ap-proved a sewer line. She
placed a conferencecall to Stewart Mungo to ask him about it.
He told her flatly: I dont need approval.I can put it wherever I
want to, she recalled.
Weve never challenged that position.From Mungos point of view,
the countys
sewer-extension policy forces developers toprovide interest-free
money so the county canbuild its system.
We cant set public policy, he said.Were just helping them
facilitate their plans.
Last year, however, council decided toplace a moratorium on new
extension agree-ments until getting policy advice from a
con-sultant. A report is due by years end.
THE NEXT BIG THINGDespite its continued high profile, Stew-
art Mungo says the company has struggledduring the recession
that began nationally inDecember 2007.
The firm has weathered difficulties before,notably in the 1980s,
when interest rates were well into the double digits and houses
lin-gered on the market.
The brothers have run the company likebusiness people, not
builders. Thats an im-portant distinction, said Mike Lowman, a
Co-lumbia builder for more than 20 years.
They study other markets, he said, thengive national trends a
foothold here. Theyhave a hunger for learning the next big
thing.
The company was the first to bring thefurnished model home to
Columbia, so po-tential customers could see a house complete with
homey touches.
They are going green at Rosewood Hills,a publicly funded project
blocks from down-town Columbia. It meets some of the
highestenvironmental standards in the country, withextra insulation
and low-flow toilets.
Instead of swimming pools and sidewalks,some new Mungo
communities will featuredog parks and bike trails, amenities not
seenin Columbia but popular elsewhere.
The company has expanded beyond itscore Columbia market into
Charleston, theUpstate, even North Carolina and is mak-ing strides
in diversifying its offerings.
This year, the company has added abranch of commercial building
to the mix. Italso has begun competing for governmentcontracts to
build neighborhoods. The rentalside of their business is expanding,
too.
Another key to the companys success iskeeping it simple.
While it has a small slice of Columbiasupper-end market, with
million-dollar homesnear Lake Murray, most of its homes are
builtfor the average buyer.
Houses in 10 of Mungos 16 communitiescurrently under
construction in the Midlandsare priced at, or below, the areas
medianprice range of $140,000.
Look at all of the builders that are sittingthere with houses
they cant sell becausetheyre too expensive, developer Tomlin
said.
Despite averaging more than 435 newhomes a year in the Midlands,
the companyhas had few complaints lodged with con-sumer and
regulating agencies.
Further, the firm was recognized last yearby peers, becoming the
first in the state to win a National Housing Quality Award.
A NEW GENERATIONThe Mungo Companies future may lie
with the four young people of the next gen-eration Matt, 28, and
Mary, 24; Ward, 19,and Emily, 16.
They stand to inherit a family company with a proud history, one
that started withnothing and grew to national notice.
But Stewart and Steven Mungo say they wont tell their kids what
to do or how to doit.
Theyll let them find their own way justas they did, and their
father before them.
HOME BUILDER FROM PAGE A1
2009 HOME VINTNERS WOOD(Off U.S. 378 in Lexington, near
I-20)
Size: 2,977 square feet, two storiesAverage cost:
$306,000Bedrooms: FourBathrooms: ThreeAppliances: Built-in range,
garbage disposal,
dishwasher, refrigerator, microwave, washer and
dryerCountertops: GraniteAir conditioning:YesCarport/ garage:
Two-car garage with automatic door openerLot size: 75 feet by 120
feet
