Work officially gets under way today on what is one of the biggest commercial real estate projects ever for the Charleston region.

Gov. Mark Sanford and the top executives of Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. and Alenia Aeronautica are scheduled to gather near the Trident Research Center in North Charleston to break ground on the $560 million manufacturing complex the companies are building.

The Vought-Alenia consortium will occupy about 387 acres at the entrance to Charleston International Airport. Of that, 232 acres are able to be developed. The property is bordered by Interstate 526, International Boulevard, South Aviation Avenue and a rental car complex near the airport terminal.

The companies unveiled plans last year to build their sprawling manufacturing complex there to supply Boeing Co. with large structural components for its new 787 passenger jet starting next year. They expect to employ 645 workers.

To date, the companies have committed only to the $560 million first phase. That portion includes two large manufacturing structures totaling more than 726,000 square feet, one for Vought and the other for Global Aeronautica, the joint venture between Alenia of Italy and Texas-based Vought.

The companies also will need offices, a cafeteria, a training center and a 277,250-square-foot aircraft hangar for the specially modified 747s that will transport components to and from North Charleston.

Greenville-based Suitt Construction is the contractor for the first phase. The architect is Melbourne, Fla.-based BRPH Cos. Inc.

What remains to be seen is whether Boeing will pick Vought and Alenia to install the 787 cockpits in North Charleston. The companies are preparing as if they already have landed the job, according to a land-use plan filed with regulators.

The cockpit integration project would create an additional 255 local jobs and require the construction of three large back-to-back manufacturing buildings directly behind the Trident Research Center.

The site plan also shows smaller buildings just to the south, of varying sizes. They are labeled as warehouses, offices and more training facilities. Two of the largest structures depicted are earmarked for Vought-Alenia suppliers.

If the balance of the property is indeed developed, a portion of South Aviation Avenue will have to be relocated, the plan shows.

ENCORE FOR THE ENCLAVE

The 300-unit Enclave apartment complex on James Island has been through several ownership changes in the seven years since it rose from the dirt off Folly Road.

But the new landlord, which recently paid $30.5 million for the property, or $101,666 a unit, already has its exit strategy in place.

Montecito Enclave LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based investment group, is grabbing onto one the hottest trends in the local real estate business by electing to convert the development into condominiums.

At the same time, it is renaming the complex, dubbing it Peninsula, because some of the units look out over the water to downtown Charleston.

Montecito Enclave has tapped locally based Trademark Properties Inc. to help round up potential buyers. The real estate firm is taking $500 deposits for a spot on the "priority appointment list." The money will be applied to the purchase price, said Richard C. Davis, broker in charge of Trademark Properties.

Sales start Saturday. The average unit will be priced in the $160,000 to $175,000 range, with the fancier condos fetching $249,000 or more, Davis said.

"First come, first served," he said.

The seller made a sizable profit on its sale to Montecito. Guggenheim Enclave LLC paid $24.5 million, or $81,666 a unit, in July 2002, according to county property records. Based on the gross sale price, that's nearly a 25 percent return in less than two years.

Davis, whose firm has been involved in about a dozen previous condo conversions throughout the state, said he doesn't think rising mortgage interest rates will dent Peninsula's sales. "It's helping to get people off the fence," he said.

The Enclave was built in 1998 by the Bomasada Group.

Speaking of Bomasada, the Houston-based developer is back in town with another apartment project. This time it's shooting for up-market urban dwellers.

The company is moving forward with a 108-unit loft-style complex near the Medical University of South Carolina. Its Bella Vista project is being built on 1.2 acres at Bee Street and Lockwood Drive, formerly the site of the old Elks Club.

The eight-story Bella Vista structure will have six floors of residential units over two levels of parking and 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Completion is scheduled for summer 2006.