162 units proposed for busy Bluffton Parkway intersection. What we know
A developer is exploring plans to bring more than 160 apartment units to a busy Bluffton Parkway intersection, a corridor already facing growing traffic and safety concerns.
On Wednesday, the applicant, Millstone, met with Beaufort County zoning and planning staff to discuss a plan to bring 17 apartment buildings and 162 units to a currently vacant lot at the intersection of Bluffton Parkway and Burnt Church Road.
The 10-acre parcel is located at the intersection’s southwest corner, across the parkway from the shopping pavilion with Planet Fitness. The area is considered to be part of unincorporated Beaufort County, not the town of Bluffton, according to zoning maps.
It was among several projects discussed at the Wednesday meeting, including a final proposal for an RV Park on St. Helena Island and a conceptual plan for a mixed-use, residential development with 136 units in Bluffton.
So far, little is known about the development proposal, which remains in the “pre-application” phase, an early step where developers meet with local officials to discuss plans before formally submitting them. Some proposals never make it out of this stage, while others continue on to conceptual approval, according to county spokesperson Hannah Nichols.
The parkway, which runs from S.C. 170 to Hilton Head Island as an alternate to U.S. 278, is seeing more traffic as the area continues to grow. That increase has sparked concerns about overall safety when traveling the parkway.
A 2025 traffic study for Bluffton Parkway indicated that the corridor saw 1,810 crashes between 2017 and 2023. About 22% of the crashes resulted in some kind of injury, and five people were killed on the corridor from vehicle accidents, the study found.
The intersection of Burnt Church Road and Bluffton Parkway saw the third-highest number of crashes in that timeframe, at 109.
