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The development near Exit 33 would include 400 to 500 units in a mix of single-family housing for sale and rent, apartments and senior housing, county officials and developers say. The development also would include shops, offices and restaurants.
The land, known as the Frampton Tract, is listed for sale for $4 million on the Zinn Asset Management Corp. website.
County officials, who discussed the deal in closed session last week, say they need to see an independent market study and a master plan before deciding. County Council asked the developers to provide that information to help determine whether the project would be viable, according to county planning director David Jirousek.
"I trust you can appreciate our wish to fully understand the financial risk associated with the project and our obligation to county taxpayers to protect our bond rating," Jirousek wrote in a letter to the developers.
The developers, known as Frampton Partners, include Tom Zinn, who is developing Buckwalter Place in Bluffton, and a North Carolina company called QuintonEli. They are basing their proposal for Frampton Commons largely on a 2008 housing needs assessment in which consultants for the county concluded rising construction and land costs have led to a lack of affordable housing that is hurting the local economy.
Developers say a public-private partnership could help the county fulfill its goals of creating affordable housing and spurring economic development in the Point South area.
In a separate effort to spark development there, the county plans to create a community improvement district that would impose special assessments and use projected tax revenue increases to pay for landscaping, signs, lighting and improvements to roads and drainage.
By using federally subsidized bonds and other financing options available to local governments, the county could ensure Frampton Commons results in truly affordable housing, a need the private sector has not met, said Joe Grant, a spokesman for Frampton Partners.
Jirousek said the county should consider how it would pay for the services -- building inspections, public safety and schools, for example -- that such a development would require. Developers would pay for some of those services under a previous agreement governing the land, but the county might need to dissolve that agreement if it buys the property, Jirousek said.
County Council Chairman George Hood said it's not clear whether the developers' current proposal is viable, and it could change depending on the results of the market study.
He would support a proposal that could successfully lure economic development, he said.
"It's time for things to get moving again."
