Safe Harbor plan for Port Royal property blends working marina with public benefits
A new master plan for some of the last remaining undeveloped waterfront in Port Royal puts a premium on public access to the water and sets aside land for new restaurants and retail while also including a working marina.
The plan by developer Safe Harbor Marinas, which has officially been submitted to the town, was unveiled to the public for the first time Wednesday before a packed house of residents. No residents commented, but the plan received favorable remarks from town council members.
Besides the marina, two parks, a promenade fronting Battery Creek and restaurants and retail are part of the plan. One element that is absent, for now, is a residential housing development, which has long been envisioned for the area.
Port Royal considers the land overlooking Battery Creek its front porch and wants to see development that allows people to live and play there. Port Royal’s deep water port was attractive to Safe Harbor for marina services including boat storage and repair. The site is one of hundreds in its vast network of locations in the United States.
The master plan satisfies Safe Harbor’s desire for a working boatyard and marina and the town’s long-time quest for improved access, public space and restaurants and retail on Battery Creek, said Mayor Kevin Phillips. He described the plans as “beautiful.”
Competing visions
The competing visions of the small town and big marina operator clashed almost immediately after Safe Harbor purchased the 317-acre former South Carolina Ports Authority Property from Grey Ghost Properties in November 2021 for $20 million. About 50 acres of the site are buildable.
But past differences seemed to be in the past Wednesday when Phillips called Safe Harbor a “great partner” and Carla Ferguson, Safe Harbor’s Port Royal general manger, described the development pictured in the master plan a “generational” investment in modernizing and revitalizing the waterfront.
It was the first time since 2017, when developer Grey Ghost still controlled the property, that a real plan has been submitted to the town for approval, Phillips said. Others have just been concepts, he said.
Dan Keefer, a landscape architect with Witmer Jones Keefer, Ltd, a land planner hired by Safe Harbor Marinas, presented the master plan for the site.
The marina, he said, is permitted and “ready to go.” “Getting it permitted is probably harder than building it,” Keefer said.
Initial plans for Safe Harbor
Besides construction of the marina, here are highlights of the initial plans that Safe Harbor has for the property:
- Paris Avenue, the town’s main street, will be connected to a pocket park south of Seventh Street with parking spaces and a turnaround. It will allow pedestrians and golf carts and cars more direct access to the water.
- Seventh and Eighth streets, which currently end at Paris Avenue, will be extended west to access a larger town park overlooking Battery Creek that will be about the size of an entire town block.
- A pedestrian promenade will be accessible on 7th street and stretch along the entire area and front Battery Creek, but won’t hang over it. It will connect to a new Spanish Moss Trail extension at some point. “It was something this town wanted,” Mary Beth Gray Heyward said of the promenade. “You don’t know how much we appreciated that.”
- A harbor master and marina operations building will be constructed.
- Mixed-used retail and commercial properties, including restaurants, are planned north and south of the town park along the water.
Phillips says residents will be able to walk or drive their golf carts to the water’s edge to enjoy the promenade or restaurants. The original plans did not have as much retail and restaurant space as the town wanted, but that has changed in the master plan submitted to the town, Phillips said. The town also wanted public space that could serve as a “centerpiece” for events such as concerts and festivals and the park satisfies that need, he said.
The park and the roads will be publicly owned, and the town expects to assist paying for them with a tax-increment financing district.
One piece that is still missing is residential housing.
Safe Harbor plans to sell that portion of the property to a residential developer, Phillips said. So who will buy it and what plans they will present remain unclear at this point.
Town, Safe Harbor were at odds over new project
The town and Safe Harbor were at odds for a few years over the differing visions for the area.
Negotiations culminated in a settlement agreement in February. Then in June, Town Council members approved key amendments to development and planned unit development agreements.
The agreement required Safe Harbor to submit a master plan for the property in six months, which the plan presented to the Town Council Wednesday satisfied, said Lawrence Flynn, an attorney for the town.
Flynn said the settlement agreement “reset” the conversation between the town and Safe Harbor “and recognized both needed each other.” The agreement gives Safe Harbor development rights for up to five years. The first phase of work runs from 2025 to 2028. The second phase will primarily be the housing and will run from 2028 to 2030.
Safe Harbor will build its own marina-related facilities and also be responsible for building the infrastructure. The areas set aside for retail and commercial development will require private investment.
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM.
