Beaufort plans to buy Carteret Street property for additional parking

Street view: 500 Carteret St., Beaufort: Click or tap image and drag to explore this area.

The city of Beaufort plans to buy a Carteret Street property to add more than 75 parking spaces downtown.

The 1.14 acre property at 500 Carteret St. also includes an 18,000 square-foot office building the city's Redevelopment Commission would plan a use for. The planned purchase, which city council will consider next week, is in response to a parking panel's recommendations earlier this year that the city provide more parking.

Money for the purchase would likely come from the city's land fund, parking fund or money from the sale of unneeded property, such as the current contract to sell former the former city hall building to Lowcountry Produce for $725,000.

The property addresses the issue of employee parking downtown, city manager Bill Prokop said in a release. If a parking garage is eventually built, the Carteret Street property could be returned to private hands, he said.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Beaufort plans to buy Carteret Street property for additional parking."