By Mindy Lucas
Plans to purchase the last remaining parcel along a stretch of land in the Boundary Street redevelopment project are finally moving forward.
Beaufort City Council gave approval at is recent meeting, on Tuesday, Nov. 24, to purchase the Wendy’s on Boundary Street, after the restaurant chain agreed to an offer.
Negotiations and plans to purchase the property have been in the works since September of 2015, Beaufort City Manager Bill Prokop said, when the city along with Beaufort County.
The plans were part of the Boundary Street redevelopment project and would clear the way for an unobstructed view of the marsh and a passive park along the corridor once the buildings were torn down.
“It was basically the county was putting $1.5 million, the Open Land Trust was putting up … $500,000 and $1 million was coming from the city,” Prokop said.
In addition to the Wendy’s, those funds were earmarked and used to purchase the former United Way building, now being used by the county, the Sea Eagle Market and a Huddle House.
The city has agreed to purchase the Wendy’s building and property for $525,000, city officials said. Wendy’s is considering a move to a lot on Boundary and Neil Road, near a Burger King and McDonalds.
While the county has been leasing the United Way building from the Open Land Trust for its engineering department, the county intends to tear down the building but exactly when that will happen is unknown.
At Tuesday’s meeting, city council members discussed whether to take the money for the purchase of the Wendy’s from the city’s land acquisition account or a TIF fund, or money from the area’s Tax Increment Financing District or combination of the two.
The council agreed to take up which fund to use closer to the time of purchase in March or April of 2021.
