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Island buys Welcome Center for $2.3 million

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Say goodbye to the Welcome Center as you know it.

Hilton Head Island on Tuesday announced a major deal to buy the 3.3-acre site of the Welcome Center and the Coastal Discovery Museum gift shop for $2.3 million.

The purchase frees the museum from the aging building and allows it to focus money on its new Honey Horn site,town manager Steve Riley said.

The Welcome Center, operated by the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, has the opportunity to become a "state-of-the-art" facility, Riley said. Chamber officials long have been unhappy with the moldy, former restaurant building at 100 William Hilton Parkway.

In addition, operating the museum at the sprawling, 69-acre Honey Horn site has been expensive, and the Town Council already has invested significant tax dollars to get the museum on its feet. The museum opened its expanded operation at the new campus in

October, but continued to use half of the Welcome Center building for its gift shop and some exhibits.

"In many ways, this is trying to help many people out," Riley said. The situation "created an issue for both of them (the museum and the chamber)."

The town benefits from the purchase by gaining control over a key parcel with scenic views of the marsh in a highly trafficked area the town has targeted for redevelopment.

Within three years, the museum will move its facilities out of the building and to Honey Horn. The chamber will be able to stay on the site for 50 years. After that, the land and any buildings on it become town property.

The purchase also comes weeks after the town started what is one of its tightest budget years in recent history. Earlier Tuesday, the town announced the fund it uses for buying land -- one of the town's preferred methods of growth control -- is virtually empty. The welcome center purchase will be paid for through hospitality taxes -- a 2 percent charge on prepared food and beverages. Riley told the council they have a month to decide whether they want to ask voters to approve a bond referendum for more land buying before the Aug. 15 deadline to file. But it might be a hard sell, Riley said.

"It's a tough time to be asking for more money," he told the council.

Chamber officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday

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