Wendy’s will move to make way for a new Beaufort park. Here’s what’s happening
A fast food restaurant is one of the last impediments to a long-planned open park space along one of Beaufort’s busiest commercial thoroughfares.
An effort by the city, county and nonprofit Beaufort County Open Land Trust to buy and demolish property along the south side of Boundary Street is nearing a close as the city prepares to purchase the Wendy’s building. The fast food chain is eyeing a location at Boundary Street and Neil Road to build a 2,480 square-foot restaurant.
“It’s part of Boundary Street (road project). Part of the purpose of Boundary Street was environmental, to prevent more runoff from going in to the creek, as well as safety and aesthetics,” outgoing Mayor Billy Keyserling said. “Having a park that’s a buffer between roads where a large percentage of runoff comes from will be a benefit that way.”
Keyserling said preserving the space is also important for the historical significance of Battery Saxton, a site with the remains of earthworks built by Union troops during the Civil War.
All told, the city, county and Open Land Trust will have spent several million dollars to clear the land and reveal and preserve views of the marsh and Battery Creek. The entities spent more than $1.5 million to buy Sea Eagle Market, a vacant Huddle House and a former United Way building.
The city and county also combined to spend $650,000 to acquire a gas station on the site, the bulk of the money coming from the county’s taxpayer-funded Rural and Critical Lands Program.
Beaufort is set to pay $525,000 for Wendy’s from money generated by a special tax increment financing district that was also used to help pay for a $33 million road project to beautify and reshape Boundary Street. A new road running parallel to Boundary Street is also planned with money from the tax fund.
City Council chose not to dip into general fund money set aside for land purchases. City finance director Kathy Todd said that money might be needed as a reserve amid a revenue hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.
City Councilman Phil Cromer maintained his opposition to the project Tuesday as the lone vote against the Wendy’s purchase. He restated his desire not to take property off the tax rolls.
After Wendy’s comes down, the United Way building will be the only structure left standing. The county is leasing the space from the Land Trust for its engineering department while a new administrative building is built on Ribaut Road.
County officials have said the lease is temporary until the new building is finished and that the building will be torn down. Because of construction delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that could happen in late 2021 or early 2022, interim county administrator Eric Greenway said.
The county will be responsible for the United Way demolition and cleaning up the site.
A visitor’s center could eventually replace the Wendy’s, Moss said, with a smaller building set back from the road .
There is still work to be done to clean up the area along the marsh. A walking trail could eventually wind along the water.
The Land Trust is looking at other opportunities to open views of the water on other areas of Boundary Street where the water is close, Moss said.
“There’s lots of opportunities,” Moss said. “It’s just time and money.”
