What’s going on at Port of Port Royal? Here’s the latest on the waterfront redevelopment
Preliminary site and design work is in progress at the multi-million-dollar Port of Port Royal redevelopment that the developer says will result in construction of a “first class” marina at the former shipping port at the confluence of the Beaufort River and Battery Creek.
In December, Safe Harbor Marinas bought 317 acres and buildings from Grey Ghost Properties along 2 miles of Battery Creek. About 50 acres are suitable for building with the rest marshland.
The sale did not include Sands Beach or the boardwalk and tower, which the town of Port Royal owns.
Grey Ghost had purchased the property, located on the western waterfront of the town, for $9 million from the South Carolina Ports Authority in 2017 and developed plans to transform the waterfront, which is marred by old and underutilized buildings.
Now those plans are in the hands of Safe Harbor Marinas. A new “mega-yacht” marina with more than 300 boat slips is planned. The marina is expected to attract traffic because of its location between New York and Key West and Charleston and Savannah.
Aesthetic improvements also are planned at the 240-unit Butler Marine Dry Stack and Sales, a large building that Safe Harbor Marinas acquired in the purchase. And 575 units of housing with views of Battery Creek and Parris Island were part of the mix, along with restaurants and retail.
Here are some other details about the project:
When will construction begin?
Safe Harbor, the largest owner and operator of marinas in the world, is currently in design development to determine the most-effective layout for the marina, said Ashley Hamlin, Safe Harbor Marinas’ public relations and communications manager.
Once that work is complete within the next two months, Safe Harbor Marinas will engage with the various permit agencies, Hamlin said. That will likely take up to a year. At that time, construction would begin.
Heavy equipment and construction crews are now on site as Safe Harbor proceeds with preliminary work on some of the components of the plan that residents have been anticipating for years.
What other work is underway?
Safe Harbor has submitted plans to the town that detail aesthetic improvements to the large and plain-looking dry stack boat storage building that has long been a sore spot with residents because of its look and location. The former Butler Marine is now being operated by Safe Harbor Marinas.
Under the development agreement, Safe Harbor must complete between $30,000 and $100,000 in improvements by Dec. 31. Town Manager Van Willis said Safe Harbor is proposing improvements that will cost significantly more than what the town is requiring.
Low Coast Construction, a local contractor, is doing cleanup work that involves removing old foundations and obsolete materials in advance of the work on the dry stack and marina.
What are the pipes for?
Pipe is stacked along the waterfront at the end of Paris Avenue but it’s not for use in the local marina construction, Hamlin said. Those pipes are being staged for transport to Safe Harbor Charleston City as part of a marina expansion project. The transfer to Charleston will occur over the summer.
How much is being invested
The total investment is still being refined, Hamlin says. As previously reported by the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet, Safe Harbor Marinas purchased the property from Grey Ghost for $20.5 million in December.
What is the vision for this site?
Safe Harbor Marinas aims to develop a first in class marina, dry stack, and service facility that “will seamlessly incorporate into the fabric of Port Royal,” Hamlin said. “Port Royal has incredible opportunity as both a home port and transient facility for visiting boaters,” Hamlin said.
Have the initial plans changed?
Grey Ghost primarily focused on the development of a proposed marina facility, Hamlin said. Safe Harbor Marinas has used that concept as a guide in refining its strategy and is building upon that design.
What about the shrimp docks?
Port Royal is moving ahead with a plan to demolish the town-owned dock, build a new one and, eventually, partner with a third party to build and run a facility that would process seafood caught by the owners of working shrimp boats.
Owners of the old boats tied up at the dock had been given an April 15 deadline to move, which was a two-week extension. Willis, the Town manager, said Friday that two vessels met the original deadline, and one boat met the extended deadline. Now the town is moving forward with legal proceedings and removal, disposal and arrest of the boat owners who failed to relocate.
Port Royal has acquired the rights to remove two additional boats, Willis said, while six of the original vessels remain. And a sailboat has recently arrived, despite the termination of all wharfage at the Shrimp Dock.
“Given the circumstances,” Willis said, “the Town will soon be forced to pursue legal action to remove the remaining vessels.”
Safe Harbor Marinas’ Hamlin said Grey Ghost had come up with a conceptual dock layout in the area of the current shrimp docks. However, Safe Harbor Marinas’ design team is refining that concept to better account for various user groups, including commercial shrimp operations, and the area’s tidal currents.
What’s the development schedule?
The project’s build-out is expected to be five to seven years, according to the development agreement, although that will depend on national and local economies and demand.
The estimated population of the area is projected to be about 1,000 by then.
