Beaufort apartment plan aims to help cops, firefighters and nurses

A planned Beaufort apartment complex aims to fill a need for workforce housing in the area, the project’s manager said.

Plans are still in the design phase but would include 60 units with one or two bedrooms at Ribaut Road and Pine Court. The concept is for the apartments to average about 850 square feet and average $1,000 rent, developer Geoff Grout said.

He emphasized that the rent prices are not set but would target those who earn 80 percent to 125 percent of the area’s median income. Firefighters, police officers and nurses are among the targeted tenants.

The 3  1/2 acre property is convenient to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, a fire station and numerous other medical offices. Beaufort Middle School and Mossy Oaks Elementary School are also nearby.

“We want to make sure these rents stay within people’s affordability range — 29 percent or less of their income,” Grout said.

The site was previously approved for an office park before the Great Recession.

The apartments wouldn’t include otherwise seemingly standard amenities like a pool and garages. Though not classified as luxury like some recent new apartment offerings, the estimated $6 million project is “designed to appeal to people who work for a living,” Grout said.

Developers aren’t asking for tax incentives, he added.

The plans are in contrast to recent developments like the Parc at Broad River off Savannah Highway, which offers granite countertops, water views, a fire pit and media center. Another planned complex off Parris Island Gateway proposed 272 units with a boat dock, pool and cabana, fire pit and community garden.

One three-story building of the Pine Court apartments would include 12 one-bedroom units, and the remaining four buildings would include two-bedroom apartments. Plans show laundry and storage areas and a small deck for each apartment.

Plans will go before the city’s design review panel next week for preliminary approval. The project will then require looking at costs of construction, water, sewer and permitting to make sure the apartments can be built while offering the targeted rent.

“I’m optimistic,” Grout said. “It is something the city sorely needs.”

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Beaufort apartment plan aims to help cops, firefighters and nurses."