Here are 5 Hilton Head housing projects to keep an eye on this year
Five housing developments in various stages of planning and construction are set to add hundreds of units to Hilton Head Island in the coming years.
Multifamily housing projects are a magnet for controversy on Hilton Head Island, as long-time island residents fear too much growth could destroy Hilton Head’s natural beauty and bring congestion to its roads.
Four of these developments will involve long-term rental housing, which some say is in short supply on the island. Only two traditional apartment complexes exist on Hilton Head, and rental prices are sky-high.
Here’s what’s on the table.
Broad Creek Apartments: 254 units
The half-finished concrete skeleton of a failed condo building along the Broad Creek — a “relic” of the 2008 financial crisis, in the words of Orange Capital Advisors President McFaddin Blanding — is finally coming down.
The Orangeburg-based firm is proposing a 254-unit long-term rental community at 10 Verbena Lane, on the Broad Creek property that Ephesian Ventures, LLC bought for $9 million in 2008. The derelict four-story structure abandoned by a previous developer in 2006 will be demolished. The one completed condo building, now called Residences at Edgewater, will remain.
Three apartment buildings will rise around an existing stormwater pond, if approved: two at six stories and one at four, with ground floors reserved for parking. Units would range from 980 to 3,917 square feet across one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom floor plans. Amenities will include a pool, clubhouse, spa and fitness center.
The plan was presented to the Town of Hilton Head Island Design Review Board on June 24. It must pass through Development Plan Review, receive final DRB approval and then go before the Planning Commission. A traffic study has been submitted to the South Carolina Department of Transportation, Blanding told The Packet, and the town has asked the developer to add a right-turn lane on Marshland Road at the community’s entrance and to improve the existing left-turn lane.
If approvals proceed, construction is expected to begin in early 2027 and take about two years. Apartments would be ready for rent in 2029.
Driftwood: 58 townhomes across from the Otter Creek rookery
Charleston-based Material Capital Partners is proposing a 58-unit long-term rental townhome community called Driftwood on 11.31 acres at 229 Marshland Road, bordering the private Indigo Run community and sitting directly across the creek from a bird rookery that residents say draws hundreds of roosting spoonbills, egrets, herons, wood storks and ibises each year.
MCP Driftwood HH Property Owner LLC bought the parcel for $7.2 million in February 2026. The property was, for more than a century, part of a 37-acre tract owned by the descendants of Dennis Allen, an early Black landowner who purchased land following the Civil War. The tract was divided after a lengthy heirs property dispute, court records show.
Rental homes are proposed at three to four bedrooms, ranging from 1,900 to 2,100 square feet. Amenities include a pool, clubhouse and fitness center.
Neighbors say the buffer between the new townhomes and the creek is too thin. David McNair, President of the Indigo Run Community Owners Association, has argued that larger setbacks and more tree preservation could reduce the impact on the rookery.
“They have a right to develop the property,” McNair said. “They just need to do it in a way that’s considering nature and the trees and the environment … what Hilton Head’s all about, really.”
Some residents have asked whether the town’s land-acquisition program — funded in part by real estate transfer fees — could purchase the site and turn it into a park. The town’s Communications and Marketing Director Kelly Spinella told the Packet the Driftwood property “was recently acquired and is not currently for sale.”
Conceptual plans were submitted to the DRB on May 13; the board has yet to review the project, as of July 2. In a statement, MCP said it has engaged “constructively and transparently” with the review process.
The Maidencane: 166 timeshare units near Islanders Beach Park
Construction is well underway on The Maidencane, a 166-unit timeshare resort at 15 Wimbledon Court, off Folly Field Road near Islanders Beach Park. The project, helmed by Myrtle Beach-based Hilton Head Island Acquisition Partners LLC, replaces the former Port Royal Racquet Club Tract with three four-story and four three-story buildings containing one-, two- and three-bedroom units, plus roughly 221 parking spaces.
The Folly Field area was rezoned in 2015 to allow resort development, over sustained opposition from nearby property owners and the Hilton Head Island Beach and Tennis Resort. When the DRB granted approval in 2021, then-chairman Michael Gentemann wrote that the board had “no true authority to limit the overall height and scale of the structures.” The original 2018 final approval had lapsed, and the unit count grew from 132 to 166 in the intervening years.
Northpoint on Jarvis Creek: 157 workforce units
Site work began in January on Northpoint, an 11-acre, 157-unit workforce housing community next to the post office on north-end Hilton Head Island. It is a partnership between the Town of Hilton Head Island and OneStreet Residential LLC, with the town contributing $1 million and a 65-year ground lease.
The project is aimed at addressing a shortage of on-island housing that’s affordable for people who work on the island. A fall 2023 town assessment found roughly 14,800 people work on the island but live elsewhere — a figure that has grown 26% since 2002.
Officials say Northpoint will be the first community on the island to require that 100% of its residents work on Hilton Head. Rents will run from $1,600 to $3,600 depending on income and bedroom count. At least 79 of the 157 units are reserved for households earning between 60% and 80% of area median income; the remainder can be rented up to 150% of AMI.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Feb. 12. The first apartments expected to be available in early 2027.
Novant Health worker housing
Novant Health announced plans in January 2025 to develop workforce housing near Hilton Head Medical Center. Originally, 140 units were announced, but officials are now planning for between 80 and 100 units in response to feedback from the town and the Hilton Head community, according to Novant Health Manager of Public Relations for South Carolina, Carter Mello.
Units will be a mix of one, two, and three bedrooms, and will be reserved for individuals and families working on Hilton Head Island. Thirty percent of units will be offered to households earning less than 80% of the median income for the area, while others will be reserved for those earning between 80% and 150% of the area median income, Mello said in a statement. A minimum of one third of the units will be reserved for Novant Health employees.
Site work is expected to begin soon, Mello said. A firm date will be announced once confirmed.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
