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Clarendon County land purchase signals region’s growth
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
Charleston-based real estate developer The Beach Co.’s recent purchase of 3,880 acres in Clarendon County could indicate the direction of the Lowcountry’s future expansion.
Although The Beach Co. has no detailed plans for the site, the land will be a mixed-use development containing homes, retail and other businesses, recreational amenities and will take 10 to 15 years to develop, Beach Co. President John Darby said.
As South Carolina’s coastal communities fill up with more new residents from out of state, Clarendon County, which has a population of about 33,000, and other rural, inland counties can expect significant growth and development during the next decade, experts said.
“We’re trying to get ready,” said Dwight L. Stewart, chairman of Clarendon County Council. “For several years we’ve been trying to get a countywide water and sewer system in place. We want to see improvements to all of our infrastructure.”
Clarendon County is about an hour from Charleston, Columbia and Florence and could become a bedroom community for those growing metropolitan areas.
“This is an area that will want the development as the economy there is not nearly as strong as it is here,” said Charleston Southern University economist Al Parish, comparing Clarendon County with the Lowcountry.
About 25% of Clarendon County’s workforce is employed in manufacturing, with retail the second-largest employer at 11.9% of the workforce, according to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau. The median household income is $27,131.
An influx of new residents could spark the county’s economy, experts think.
“Many of these residents will be retirees—they spend money that did not originate in the local economy without taking up a position in the workforce and without making demands on the schools,” Parish noted.
“Some will be workers looking to Charleston and Columbia for employment and making a commute.”
The Beach Co.’s forthcoming development “certainly has a tremendous potential” for a strong economic impact, Stewart said. The development could end up being larger than most of the county’s towns, he added.
Clarendon County’s largest town is Manning, with a population of about 4,025.
The Beach Co.’s Clarendon County site, called The Saint Paul Tract, includes more than 1.5 miles of frontage along Lake Marion. This will help meet the continued demand for waterfront property and will lure prospective residents, Darby said.
“There’s not much waterfront property left on the East Coast,” Darby said. “We saw this as having high appreciation value because of Lake Marion.”
He added that lakefront property is less expensive than oceanfront property but still has a high appreciation rate; therefore, potential primary and secondary homebuyers will be drawn to the Saint Paul Tract.
Additionally, the site offers frontage along Interstate 95 and U.S. Highway 301, which could be advantageous to distribution companies and other commercial businesses, Darby noted.
“Since we closed on the property, the phone has been ringing off the hook because of investors and homebuyers,” Darby said.
The Beach Co. purchased the land for an undisclosed price from The Springs Co., a textile manufacturer in Lancaster County. The property is part of the Smyth plantation.
The company will take at least a year to conduct market studies to determine how exactly to develop the property. Additionally, the land has to be rezoned for master planning, and water and sewer services need to be developed.
Charleston-based landscape architecture firm DesignWorks LLC will layout the property, and Mount Pleasant-based Thomas & Hutton Engineering Co. will handle the site’s civil engineering.
The Saint Paul Tract is The Beach Co.’s first investment in Clarendon County.
“We are always looking for opportunities in the path of progress,” said Darby. “The growth is going that way.”
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.
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