By Delayna Earley
The Island News
After months of hope that the long-vacant Naval Hospital property could become a new U.S. Coast Guard training center, local leaders say Beaufort County ultimately lost out when federal officials selected a site in Alabama.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced March 4 that the Coast Guard will establish a new national training center at the former Birmingham-Southern College campus in Birmingham, Alabama, ending a nationwide search that had included the historic hospital site in Port Royal as a potential location.
Local leaders react
Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips said local officials were told Beaufort’s proposal finished near the top of the list.
“I was told by Rep. Nancy Mace’s office that we were the second choice,” Phillips said. “But it seems as though the Alabama decision was baked in from the beginning and the request for proposals was just a formality.”
Phillips said local leaders were disappointed by the outcome but believe the effort helped draw attention to the Naval Hospital property at the federal level.
“We’re not happy about it,” he said. “But at least we got the VA decision. We also put a very big spotlight on the Naval Hospital. More people at the federal level are looking at it now, so something will happen.”
Questions about the selection process have surfaced elsewhere as well.
According to reporting by Military.com, at least one member of Congress has raised concerns about whether the competitive bidding process for the new training center was largely a formality and has called for greater transparency about how the site was ultimately chosen.
Port Royal Town Manager Van Willis said the proposal submitted for the Naval Hospital site was comprehensive and well suited for the Coast Guard’s needs.
“I am not exactly sure where we were on the list, but I can tell you that the response submitted on behalf of the Naval Hospital was comprehensive and an extremely good fit for the potential training facility,” Willis said.
He also questioned the decision to place the facility far from the coast.
“As to placing the facility five hours from the ocean, I do find that perplexing,” Willis said.
Congressional support for Beaufort
Earlier in the process, members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation had backed Beaufort’s bid.
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem supporting the Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation’s proposal to use the former Naval Hospital site for the project.
In the letter, the lawmakers described Beaufort as a “mission ready military community” with existing infrastructure capable of supporting Coast Guard personnel and their families.
Rep. Nancy Mace, whose district includes Beaufort County, had also expressed support for bringing the training center to the Naval Hospital site and worked with local officials as the proposal was developed.
A spokesperson for Mace’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement.
Beaufort’s proposal and economic impact
The Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation submitted a formal proposal in December nominating the former Naval Hospital in Port Royal as the site for the training center. Local leaders described the property as an underutilized federal asset with existing infrastructure that could support a Coast Guard training facility.
An economic impact analysis commissioned during the proposal process estimated the project could generate more than $320 million in annual economic activity and support roughly 2,200 direct and indirect jobs across the region.
Why Alabama was chosen
Coast Guard officials said the Birmingham site was selected in part because the former college campus could be converted quickly into a training facility at a lower cost than building a new installation. The service has been searching for an existing campus capable of housing about 1,200 recruits along with classrooms, dining facilities, medical services and housing for instructors and staff.
The new site will serve as the Coast Guard’s second recruit training center alongside its long-standing training base in Cape May, New Jersey.
The expansion is part of the service’s Force Design 2028 initiative, which calls for growing the Coast Guard by roughly 15,000 personnel in the coming years.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.