(Blythewood, SC) — A new K-12 charter school, projected to be the largest of its kind in South Carolina, is slated to open in Blythewood by the fall of 2026. The school, American Leadership Academy Blythewood, will serve up to 3,000 students and will be located on the former Policy Management Systems Corp. (PMSC) campus along U.S. 21.
Although the school’s leadership has not officially announced the site, signage and property records confirm that the land is being prepared for the future campus. The Charter Institute at Erskine, which oversees the development of new charter schools in the state, confirmed the scale of the project during a legislative committee hearing earlier this year.
“ALA Blythewood will be the largest brick-and-mortar charter school in state history,” said Cameron Runyan, superintendent of the Charter Institute.
The campus was purchased in September 2024 by Portfolio Charter 44 LLC, a Utah-based firm tied to Corey Brand, a real estate developer affiliated with Charter One—the for-profit charter operator behind the American Leadership Academy network. The company acquired the 85-acre property for more than $8 million. The previous owner, JLAM Blythewood Investors LP, had bought it for $3 million just under three years prior.
The planned school is part of a broader effort to bring American Leadership Academy’s model to South Carolina. The network currently operates one school in the state—ALA Lexington, which opened in fall 2023 and enrolls nearly 1,900 students.
Charter schools like ALA are known for their focus on traditional academics, Western literature and philosophy, and stricter school environments. ALA’s 2023 charter application stated the school would offer a “moral, wholesome, positive, and clean environment to allow students to learn, explore, and reach their individual potential.”
The new development has already begun to impact the surrounding area. A South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles branch that shares the office park recently announced it would close in July, citing a loss of visitor parking due to the sale of surrounding buildings.
It remains unclear whether any major improvements have been made to the 400,000-square-foot campus since its purchase. The property currently appears vacant, and no updates have been confirmed by the previous owner.
