Spartina incentives, a new road and school land: 3 items from Bluffton council meeting

Spartina 449’s Bluffton expansion, new land for the Beaufort County School District and a road extension were among the issues discussed at the Bluffton town council’s meeting on Tuesday.

Town leaders approved an economic development incentive agreement for the women’s clothing brand, an extension of a road between Buckwalter Place and Washington Square and an exchange of land to the school district, which has identified it as an ideal spot for future use.

Here are three things you need to know about what’s coming in Bluffton.

Funds for Spartina 449 headquarters

Spartina 449, founded on Daufuskie Island in 2009, plans to invest about $6.1 million in a 14,100-square-foot Bluffton Village Town Center facility that will become its corporate headquarters.

Council members approved an economic development incentive agreement between the town and the company. Spartina will get up to 50% off business license fees and permitting fees and up to 100% off Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority capacity fees for up to five years, totaling about $196,487. The town is expected to net revenue of $140,112 over five years as a result of the project, said David Nelems, director of special projects at the town’s Don Ryan Center for Innovation.

Spartina looked at larger cities like Charleston and Savannah but wanted to stay in Bluffton, Nelems said. The headquarters will be in the northeast corner of Bluffton Road and Thurmond Way, near the current corporate address of 23 Johnston Way. The company is expected to create 15 new jobs as a result of its expansion, with an average pay of $40.71 per hour. Groundbreaking is scheduled for later this year.

“This is a reimbursement grant, so they pay the money first and then we reimburse them on the back end on the anniversary of their business opening,” Nelems said.

Since the town passed its economic development project grant ordinance in September 2023, the program has resulted in $56.1 million in capital investment, 90,500 square feet of office space and 161 new jobs, Nelems said.

Washington Square road extension

A new road will be constructed between the Buckwalter Place and the Washington Square developments west of Buckwalter Parkway.

Southeastern Development Associates (SEDA), the owner of a 25-acre parcel of land between the two complexes, will build a road that extends from the intersection of Discovery and Innovation drives in Buckwalter Place to Washington Square. The road will run behind the Kroger gas station, and cost no more than $654,849.72, split evenly between the town, Beaufort County and SEDA.

The developer of Washington Square has already built its portion of the road to the property line, said Heather Colin, assistant town manager for planning and projects. The future connector road is already identified in the Buckwalter Place initial master plan, according to the town.

New land for potential school if sale goes through

Bluffton will exchange about 20 acres of town-owned land with the Beaufort County School District for a potential new school, as long as the district is able to purchase the land it plans to swap from its current owner.

The school district is looking to purchase a total of 142.5 acres in the Willow Run Tract owned by Indian Hill Associates LLC. The land is located south of U.S. Route 278 and north of Pebble Beach Cove. If the sale goes through, the town will swap 19.75 acres of its own land adjacent to the property with about 11 acres currently owned by Indian Hill. Bluffton Director of Growth Management Kevin Icard said Indian Hill’s sale of the land to the school district is close to happening.

If there’s a sale, the town will purchase development rights associated with the Indian Hill property: 260 residential units, two 150-unit hotels and 162 acres of general commercial space for $2.5 million.

The school district identified the land as a good place to put a lower school and athletic facilities, administrative offices or support operations.

“It’s one of the last known large tracts of land, which is why they are actively trying to move forward with the purchase of this property,” Icard said. “They’re not 100% sure what they will do with it, but it’s better to have the land readily available so that way they can plan for it in the future.”

Rather than put school facilities on the highway-adjacent Indian Hill land, the school district instead wants to put whatever it builds on the land now owned by the town because it’s further away from 278.

“We’re teeing up all the processes that we have so that way, when the school district hopefully purchases the property, we then have documentation ready to go,” Icard said.