By Lolita Huckaby
PORT ROYAL
Two weeks ago, The Island News headline announced, “Port Royal, Safe Harbor reach agreement.”
Those who have watched the evolution of development at the former S.C. Ports Authority property for the past four decades were a little skeptical but willing to accept that maybe, just maybe, the proposed marina project and accompanying commercial and residential projects might actually take place.
Well, hold on there.
Word came late last week, via the internet, that lo-and-behold, the international Safe Harbor Marinas, LLC is being sold by Sun Communities to an even larger conglomerate, asset manager Blackstone Infrastructure for $5.65 billion.
Since Safe Harbor, which purchased the Port Royal waterfront property in 2021 for $20.5 million, owns and operates 138 marines across the county, no one seems sure yet what the sale will mean for its local entities, which also include the lease of the city of Beaufort marina and the Port Royal Landings marina.
Port Royal leaders haven’t indicated they even heard one peep about the pending sale during those extensive mediation meetings they had with Safe Harbor recently to reach the most recent apparent agreement.
In the cases of the Port Royal property and the City of Beaufort Marina, there are legal documents binding on the different parties. Of course, the city’s lease agreement with Safe Harbor signed in 2019 has now been questioned in a lawsuit filed in November by a new nonprofit Protect Beaufort.
While the impact of this latest sale works its way down the corporate chain, it’s a sure bet the lawyers are going to be busy.
In the meantime, local citizens, particularly those in Port Royal whose may have bet their futures on development of that project, will have to continue to wait.
Blackstone’s public relations did issue this statement, for what that’s worth:
“Our approach to infrastructure investing is one that focuses on responsible stewardship and stakeholder engagement to create value for our investors and the communities we serve. ”
We shall see.
Get ready for Lafayette
BEAUFORT – It’s March and the Marquis de Lafayette is coming to town.
In case you’ve missed the massive planning effort that’s underway to produce a re-enactment of the Lafayette’s visit to Beaufort 200 years ago, it’s definitely happening.
Led by the Historic Beaufort Foundation, the City of Beaufort and a host of other organizations and individuals, the program, which has been in the planning stages since last summer, will include multiple lectures around town, a fancy-dress ball and a potential cast of hundreds.
On March 18, the actual date of Lafayette’s arrival in 1825, there will be a procession from the waterfront through downtown Beaufort to the Verdier House on Bay Street, where the French visitor greeted his hosts.
Well-known historical interpreter Mark Schneider will be portraying the Marquis.
Lafayette’s “Farewell Tour of the Nation” began in Staten Island and included 24 states. His South Carolina stops included Cheraw, Camden, Columbia, Izzard’s Plantation north of Charleston, Charleston, Edisto and ended in Beaufort.
For more information, or to get involved, contact the folks at Historic Beaufort Foundation or take a look at historicbeaufort.org.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
