Beaufort County Council OKs Bloody Point redevelopment

A months-long bureaucratic process that clears the way for the transformation of a failing Daufuskie Island golf course into a residential and hospitality area came to an end Monday night.

The Beaufort County Council unanimously approved a plan to build build 125 residential units, 25,000 square feet of commercial space and a 60-room inn on the Bloody Point golf course site.

That plan, however, was a scaled-back version of property owner Brian McCarthy’s original vision for the development.

McCarthy, who sank $2 million into restoring the golf course after purchasing it out of bankruptcy in 2011, initially sought to build 150 homes, 50,000 square feet of commercial space and a 120-room inn.

In meetings over the past several months, County Council members and local residents balked at that proposal, arguing to would cram too many new buildings onto the small, remote island.

Monday’s decision by the council to allow the new development to proceed likely comes as a relief to the course’s owners, who have said the course is hemorrhaging cash at a clip of $125,000 a month.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Beaufort County Council OKs Bloody Point redevelopment."