Plans approved for 250-unit apartment complex behind Bluffton’s Buckwalter Place
Plans for a large apartment complex, 252 units behind Bluffton’s Buckwalter Place, were approved unanimously by the Bluffton Planning Commission Wednesday night.
The apartments, which will be located next door to the 248-unit Mystic Bluff apartment complex, were among several development plans the planning commission considered Wednesday.
Proposed by Indianapolis-based development company SC Bodner Co. Inc., the apartment complex is the latest in a handful of big development projects planned in the Buckwalter area. Town leaders have long touted Buckwalter Place as a technology-based town center to complement the town’s new and expected growth.
Also on Wednesday, the planning commission gave preliminary approval to a text amendment allowing indoor go-kart facilities in Belfair and an O’Reilly Auto Parts store on Bluffton Parkway. The commission also asked the developer of a proposed large marketplace with an outdoor pavilion along Buckwalter Parkway to return for a follow-up meeting to prove community support and provide a sound impact study.
But the apartment project worries some residents, who are concerned about its impact on the area’s schools and nearby wetlands. They say high density housing will lead to a loss of trees — hurting air quality — and will load up the area’s already crowded schools.
One resident who spoke against the development cited a prediction from Beaufort County School District Chief Operations Officer Robert Oetting that every school in Bluffton will be at full capacity by 2022.
“We do not have to pave over every inch of our town,” resident Donna Brooks told commission members during the virtual meeting.
Planning Commission members briefly addressed worries about school overcrowding and wetlands impact, saying that the master plan for the apartment complex was approved 20 years ago. That master plan, they said, was used in future planning for school construction and wetlands impact.
The commission approved the plans for the project on the condition that the developer provides additional landscaping and improves the sidewalks.
Kevin Icard, Bluffton’s planning and community development manager, said Wednesday night that the developer now must submit a stormwater plan to the town. Construction of the apartments can start after the town’s development review committee approves the final development plan.
According to the plans, developers expect to begin construction in the third quarter of 2021 and complete the project in 20 months.
The apartment complex
The apartment complex was approved for land owned by The Reed Group, the prominent developer of local communities such as Hampton Lake, Hampton Hall and Berkeley Hall.
The 252 multi-family unit complex will have amenities similar to the ones at Mystic Bluff. They would include walking paths to Buckwalter Place, a swimming pool, 24-hour athletic club, business center, coffee bar, outdoor kitchen and grilling area, pickle ball courts, fire pit, dog park and “social outdoor space,” according to development plans.
While based in Indianapolis, SC Bodner Co. has developed apartment complexes across the country, including in Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia.
Marketplace and go-karts
The apartment complex behind Mystic Bluff was one of four development projects before the planning commission Wednesday. The others were:
▪ Plans from Loftin-Moore to build a marketplace with a restaurant, shops and outdoor pavilion across the street from Washington Square near The Reserve at Woodbridge. The planning commission asked the developer to return for a later meeting with a letter of support from surrounding communities and an updated report on the potential sound impact of the pavilion.
▪ A proposal from NLM Services LLC to add “Indoor Go-Kart Facilities” to the Belfair Planned Unit Development’s list of allowed uses. The amendment would allow NLM Services to be the franchise owner of a new indoor go-kart facility in Bluffton’s old Stein Mart building. The planning commission forwarded the request to town council for final approval.
▪ A preliminary development plan to build an O’Reilly Auto Parts store at 4362 Bluffton Parkway. The planning commission approved the plan with some minor landscaping requirements.
Development near Buckwalter Place
The apartment plans approved Wednesday will join a section of Bluffton booming with new and expected development. The area is already home to the headquarters of health care management company eviCore, one of the town’s largest employers.
Nearby, development is underway on Technical College of the Lowcountry’s new Culinary Institute of the South behind Kroger.
And developers have proposed a miniature golf course between Publix and Station 300 at Buckwalter Place.
Prepping for the area’s influx of development, Bluffton and Beaufort County leaders are considering a controversial $2.5 million realignment of the intersection of Bluffton Parkway at Buckwalter Parkway.
Critics of the proposed realignment argue the plan would be too expensive, harm nearby neighborhoods and put taxpayers on the hook for improvements that nearby developers would profit from. Residents worry the project is a behind-the-scenes way of reigniting the massive 5B project that would straighten and extend Bluffton Parkway.
