‘This is going to be really nice in about 7 years’: Cautious optimism on port sale

When Jeremy Taylor started his real estate company in 2011, he chose Port Royal.

He felt Beaufort was saturated with real estate agents and liked Port Royal’s laid-back feel. Taylor’s Coastal Real Estate Solutions started in a red caboose on Paris Avenue and has since relocated to a building farther down the town’s main thoroughfare, closer to the water and the gates of a long-locked opportunity.

With news of another potential sale of the Port of Port Royal, the town could be poised to take off. Opening the waterfront to the public will create a space that could eventually rival downtown Beaufort, Taylor predicted.

“If it’s done correctly, I think it’s going to be tremendous for the little town of Port Royal,” Taylor said. “Port Royal has been playing second fiddle to Beaufort for a long time now, even though they’re only five minutes down the road.”

The state Department of Administration reached an agreement this week to sell the 317-acre property to Van Cleve Enterprises for an undisclosed amount after a closed bidding process. The investment group includes local business owners and national developers, broker Whit Suber said.

The real estate market is already improving, with low inventory and rising home values. But the town realizing a bump in investment because of the pending sale could still be a way off.

“I think when they get closed, the property values will step up,” said Beaufort developer Dick Stewart, who has made offers for parts of the property in the past but said he isn’t part of the current investment group. “People will be a little gun-shy because of prior events until it actually closes, and I’m one of those folks who will be nervous about it.”

Stewart tried to buy part of the port property in 2014 when the S.C. Ports Authority controlled the sale. One of the offers was on behalf of the Santa Elena Foundation for an interpretative center, and a later offer was for a larger tract that included a former port terminal building on the water. Both were rejected.

Stewart said he is “on the sidelines” this time but that there might be an opportunity to negotiate with the buyers when the sale closes.

He had been among those critical of how the Ports Authority handled the sale before control was turned over to the Department of Administration.

Town officials and supporters of the port sale were encouraged to learn of agency director Marcia Adams’ ties to Port Royal. Adams lived in Port Royal growing up. Her mother taught at Port Royal Elementary School, and Adams remembers visiting the working waterfront, state Rep. Shannon Erickson said.

“You’ve got somebody who is in Columbia working for us but who also has a real want to see something good happen for the town where she grew up,” Erickson said.

Adams declined an interview request Friday through a department spokeswoman, saying the focus should be on closing the sale and allowing the town to move forward.

Taylor said there is an opportunity for Port Royal eventually to host festivals and other large events like the Beaufort Water Festival because of its planned public connection to the water.

He said the redevelopment effort will thrive if the developers focus on crafting a lasting product like Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park over profits.

But it won’t be overnight.

“It will be two years before you see anything go vertical,” Taylor said. “Every time I think about the port, I think this is going to be really nice in about seven years.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM with the headline "‘This is going to be really nice in about 7 years’: Cautious optimism on port sale."