Whitehall park, development on hold after potential deal falls through
City and Beaufort County leaders supported the idea of a 3.5-acre park on the outskirts of the Whitehall property on Lady's Island but questioned how to pay for it.
The developers asked the local governments and Beaufort County Open Land Trust for $3.3 million toward the park in order to complete a short-sale deal to buy the entire 19-acre property.
The remaining property was to be developed as a neighborhood with 76 home sites.
That attempted sale ended this week with no deal. The developers, Dick Stewart and Steve Tully, expect the property to be foreclosed on and marketed nationally by First Chatham Bank.
A representative of the bank working with the property declined comment Wednesday.
"I wish we had done better and had more support," Tully said.
The developers still have the first right to buy the property in exchange for turning over surveys and other site plans they commissioned, Stewart wrote in a letter to city and county leaders this month.
The developers had the park property appraised at $3.8 million, with another $1.8 million needed in infrastructure. The Open Land Trust applied for a $1.5 million grant from the S.C. Conservation Bank. That application was later withdrawn.
City and county leaders had discussed possible options for buying the land, including a special tax district or a multi-county industrial park, in which community residents would be charged a payment in lieu of their property taxes.
County Council and representatives from the municipalities discussed in a meeting Monday how multi-county industrial parks work.
Stewart, in his letter to Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling and County Councilman Paul Sommerville on Monday, said the developers are still interested in helping develop the park if the city and county decide to participate.
Beaufort's civic master plan includes a Whitehall Waterfront Park along side a traditional neighborhood setting and envisions the project completed with public and private investment.
Under the master plan, the park would be a passive green space and the Whitehall development a complement to downtown that doesn't compete with the historic district.
Stewart said he envisioned downtown residents crossing Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge to Lady's Island as part of a continuous walking trail and that Lady's Island residents would walk from Whitehall downtown to shop.
Numerous owners have tried to develop the property in past years. Stewart's 303 Associates owned the land for a period in 2005.
Kentucky-based Aslan Whitehall, LLC bought the property in 2006. The owners had planned 300 condominiums, 92 homes and 25,000 square feet of commercial space, said Jim Hicks, of the Lady's Island Business and Professional Association.
First Chatham will likely now direct the sale.
"It's reasonable to assume that a future purchaser will not be committed to a waterfront park," Stewart wrote in his letter.
Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.
Related content:
- Whitehall developers want city, county help to build public park, Aug. 23, 2015
- Whitehall Park plan moving forward; developer says potential buyers showing interest, Jan. 8, 2015
- Developers team up to develop vacant Whitehall Plantation, Oct. 21, 2015
This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Whitehall park, development on hold after potential deal falls through."