Beaufort Co. Sheriff’s Office is moving its headquarters. What’s the plan?
Facing a shortage of space and an influx of new employees, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office will be moving its headquarters to the vacant courthouse building along Beaufort’s Bay Street.
The move, which will cost about $3 million, is expected to happen this spring, said Sheriff PJ Tanner.
“We’ve outgrown the building,” he said of his department’s current spot along Ribaut Road.
As Tanner plans to move his department’s headquarters, Beaufort County is also floating an estimated $300 million revitalization of its government buildings in Beaufort.
That revitalization, still conceptual at this point, would consolidate the county’s buildings to increase efficiency and reduce long-term maintenance, according to Assistant County Administrator Jared Fralix.
Fralix said plans for the government campus are in early stages. It will likely take 10 to 15 years to complete, he said.
Among the three options for this proposed campus: demolishing the sheriff’s current headquarters at the Beaufort County Government Robert Smalls Complex along Ribaut Road and replacing it with a modernized detention center.
Tanner said he plans to keep some of his offices at the Ribaut Road location for now. His move to the courthouse will split operations between the two buildings.
The current headquarters will maintain the emergency management division and dispatch center on the second floor, and records management, civil division and investigative division for northern Beaufort County on the first floor.
Emergency Management handles disasters, including hurricanes and ice storms, he said. The dispatch division handles all police, fire and emergency medical services calls for the county.
Tanner said the decision to leave the criminal investigation division at the Ribaut location is ideal because the location is close to the Beaufort County Detention Center and magistrate court.
“If our criminal investigators need to go interview an inmate at the jail or receive search or arrest warrants, they just need to walk across the parking lot,” he said.
Plans for the move started about 18 months ago, when then-County Administrator Ashley Jacobs offered Tanner the courthouse building to address space needs, Tanner said. The current office on Ribaut Road has been in the same location since 1989, despite the staff having more than doubled in size, he said.
The courthouse, which many in the community call the “old courthouse,” was built in the late 1800s and is one of the county’s original court buildings. For 20 years starting in 1991, it was a federal building used for mediation of federal cases. Then it was returned to the county. Between 2012 and 2018, it was used by The Santa Elena History Center, and since then the facility has been vacant.
Tanner said moving a portion of the department’s operations into the old courthouse would be most cost effective. The other option would’ve required the department to find land and build a new law enforcement center, which would cost close to $15 million.
To accommodate the Sheriff’s Office, the old courthouse needed renovations. The air conditioning units were replaced; the Beaufort County Information Technology department updated the IT; it got a new paint job; and, the carpets were replaced with laminate floors, Tanner said.
“The current design of the building is very good for our needs,” he said. “There are not a lot of modifications that need to be done within the interior.”
The courthouse building does not have an ample parking lot, but two lots are being negotiated. The County Council made a motion this month to acquire the two lots adjacent to the courthouse for $1.9 million from the GG Dowling Family Trust.
Tanner said it is imperative the county purchase the lot, and if it does, that would allow an additional 50 to 75 parking spaces. They are desperately needed, he said.
That purchase is still waiting for full County Council approval.