Safe Harbor buys Port of Port Royal land for $20.5 million. Here’s what’s planned
Safe Harbor Marinas has acquired the former South Carolina State Ports Authority terminal in downtown Port Royal, setting the stage for development of a “world class” marina and other businesses and housing that would redefine the sleepy, underused seaport.
The transaction closed Nov. 12, Safe Harbor confirmed Tuesday. Safe Harbor did not disclose the sale price, but The Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet confirmed that Safe Harbor purchased the property for $20.5 million from partners under the umbrella of Gray Ghost Properties, which had bought the land from the South Carolina Ports Authority for $9 million in 2017.
“We look forward to working with the town of Port Royal to create a world class boating destination,” Jason Hogg, Safe Harbor’s chief investment officer, said in a statement.
Safe Harbor, the largest owner and operator of marinas in the world, now owns the 240-unit Butler Marine Dry Stack and Sales; a concrete 70,000 square-foot shipping terminal built in 1959; and land that can be developed in the heart of Port Royal.
The sale covers 317 acres of Port of Port Royal property, but only 45 to 50 acres is available for development, as the rest is marshland. The deal paves the way for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of 2 miles of waterfront in the town that’s been in the works for years and highly anticipated by residents.
“They are the right fit to make this project really go,” said Whit Suber, one of the Gray Ghost partners that had been developing that property.
Suber said he will continue to be part of the project.
“They have the gunpowder to make it work,” Suber said of Safe Harbor. “They are a terrific company with a tremendous network and massive asset base.”
Suber has said previously that $250 million to $300 million would be invested over five to seven years in the land at the end of Paris Avenue, bordered by Battery Creek to the south, Sands Beach to the east, Ribaut Road to the north and west and a former railroad bed to the north and east.
Grey Ghost was planning a major marina, several hundred units of housing, a hotel, parks and a promenade.
The port redevelopment agreement between the town and Gray Ghost remains in tact, and comes with the land, but there could be changes, Suber said. He expects Safe Harbor to take some time to assess the project.
“I think the plans will be influenced by them dramatically, particularly with their major mission being a marina company,” said Suber, adding, ‘It’s a project that works well with what Port Royal is and what Port Royal can become.”
It became clear last summer that a sale was in the works as Gray Ghost proposed changes in the town’s port redevelopment plan at the request of Safe Harbor, which, as a marina-based company, needed additional flexibility.
Among the changes approved last summer were increases in the housing density, from 425 to 575 units, and marina boat slips, from 220 to 300. Additional commercial square footage is now possible. And a land swap is suggested that would move proposed housing from sensitive marshlands near Sands Beach. That area would become a public park.
The iconic shrimp docks, which are a favorite photo subject for tourists, are not part of the sale but could be affected by it, Suber said.
In the state budget, lawmakers earlier this year designated a total of $900,000 for repairs and redevelopment of a town-run shrimp dock in Port Royal, where seafood processing operations were suspended after years of financial losses. In recent months, Gray Ghost transferred ownership of the docks to the town, Suber said. Town officials would like to see the shrimp docks remain because of their historic importance. But they don’t want to lose more money in the process.
Suber called the sale of the port property to Safe Harbor “an incredibly positive opportunity” to ensure the shrimp docks remain part of the Port Royal waterfront. There is a process in the works, Suber said, that would keep shrimp boats active in Port Royal. “There’s no question this transition helps get there,” he said.
This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 11:08 AM.
