$7.5 million upgrade coming to Beaufort marina. New docks, gangplank part of plans
A $7.5 million investment is coming to Beaufort’s front door: Its marina.
Among the major upgrades are additional dock space for transient recreational boaters, and new office and bathroom facilities, currently located onshore, that will float on the water.
The marina, an important gateway to the city, can hold as many as 100 boats on any given day. Some are parked in slips year-round. Temporary space also is set aside for visiting vessels, called “transients.”
“We look forward to being the front door of the city,” said David Rogers, regional vice president for Safe Harbor Marinas, which operates the city-owned marina.
Safe Harbor Marinas, a fast-growing network of 125 marinas worldwide, took over management from the city in 2019. At the time, the city had a backlog of deferred maintenance. Safe Harbor leases the marina from the city, which also gets a cut of sales from fuel and a store.
The current marina is a mix of flexible-use side tie berthing space (2,864 linear feet), 32 dedicated wet slips and 1,002 linear feet of space for transient boaters.
The improvements, contingent on permits from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, include adding 1,503 linear feet for transient boaters, 165 linear feet of flexible-tie berthing space, and eight new dedicated wet-slip spaces.
Linda Roper, the city’s director of Downtown Operations and Community Services, says Safe Harbor is “planning a whole new marina, pretty much.”
Upgrades to the marina, and drawing more traffic to it, are important because they will increase overnight stays, which means more revenue for businesses and the city, she said.
“It’s another mechanism for tourists to come and frequent our Beaufort,” Roper said.
Cost estimates to overhaul the municipal marina, once $6.1 million, have risen to $7.5 million, Rogers said.
The increase is due to COVID-19-caused supply chain issues, which have also complicated the work timeline, Rogers said.
If permitting goes as planned, construction could begin in December 2022 and conclude in June 2023, Rogers said.
Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray said increasing the amount of space available to transient boaters is important because it will bring additional people to town.
“The Beaufort River is the I-95 that runs right through our door,” Murray said.
Safe Harbor won a $1.5 million boating infrastructure grant through a program designed to increase access for transient recreational vessels that it will put toward the Beaufort project. Remote mooring for an additional 16 transient vessels will be created, along with an expansion of the electrical systems on the transient docks, Safe Harbor says.
Plans also call for replacing most of the docks. In addition, onshore facilities, including restrooms, laundry, office space and a reception center, will be moved onto the water. A new gangplank also is planned. Rogers says the current gangplank is “pretty steep,” especially when it is raining.
Safe Harbor already has made $550,000 in improvements that might not be noticeable to the public because they involve electrical work or items underneath the docks, such as replacing corroding moorings, Rogers said.
Costs to boaters who tie up in Beaufort will likely increase, but Rogers says rates will remain competitive with other marinas in the market, Rogers said.
The condition of the marina has improved since Safe Harbor took over, Murray said, and he’s pleased with its investment. Under the agreement with the city, Safe Harbor was required to invest at least $1 million in the docks during the first 10 years of the lease.
However, the mayor criticized Safe Harbor for increasing boat slip charges without notice. The city, he added, did not realize Safe Harbor would have a near monopoly on harbors in the region when it turned over management a few years ago. Safe Harbor is in talks with the developer of the Port of Port Royal to buy that property and project, which includes a new marina. It already runs Port Royal Landing, another marina in Port Royal, and Skull Creek on Hilton Head.
“We’ll have to hope you treat us well,” Murray said.
The lack of notice of the boat slip fees was “something we could have done better,” Rogers said.
Rogers acknowledged that the new company is growing fast. When the city signed its 10-year contract with the company, it was the 78th marina under the company’s umbrella. Two years later, Safe Harbor manages 125 harbors.
