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Washington, D.C., developer buys Stono River marinas
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Two marinas on the Stono River have been sold to a Washington, D.C., development firm that plans an upscale renovation of the property, located off Maybank Highway beneath the Paul Geligotis Bridge at the northeast edge of Johns Island.
Buzzard’s Roost Marina, on the north side of the bridge, and Stono Marina, on the south, were purchased in August for approximately $22 million by Stono Marina Partners LLC, a group that is wholly owned by IBG Investors LLC.
IBG Investors is also developing the 500-acre Rushland Plantation, an upscale community of 125 home sites off River Road on Johns Island. River Reach at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant is another of the company’s Lowcountry developments.
Anthony Harrigan, managing partner of IBG, said the project is in the study and design phase.
Buzzard’s Roost and Stono Marina cover about six acres and contain about 340 boat slips, a fuel dock and a ship’s store. The property also includes the Noisy Oyster restaurant. The restaurant holds a short-term lease, Harrigan said, adding it is too soon to say what will happen to it in the future.
“There are a variety of issues but also of opportunities in a property like this. It requires a lot of study,” Harrigan said.
The permanent sale of boat slips is another aspect the company might consider.
“We’ll make a determination after all the design phase is complete and the costs are fully analyzed,” Harrigan said.
Harrigan founded IBG Partners LLC with a partner in 1995. The firm has been responsible for the acquisition, development and financing of more than 1.5 million square feet of urban property valued at more than $400 million in Washington, D.C., New York, Baltimore and Charleston. In May 2000, IBG Partners and Greenfield Acquisition Partners II LLC, a Connecticut-based investment fund, formed IBG Investors to acquire and operate significant urban real estate in the eastern United States.
“I’ve always known (the area’s) pleasures and opportunities,” said Harrigan, a Charleston native.
Permanent residents of the marinas are wondering how the proposed changes may affect them in the future
Tish Anderson lives at Buzzard’s Roost and works at the ship’s store. Her husband, Dennis Jones, is the marina’s dock master. The couple lives on a 35-foot sailboat with a 90-pound malamute named Woofy.
“I’ve lived here for 11 years,” Anderson said. “Everybody here is concerned about whether there will be price changes to compensate for the alterations, but so far, everybody loves the new staff.”
Slips rent for $8.75 per foot per month when leased for a minimum of a year; prices are slightly higher for six-month and monthly leases, Anderson said.
Bob Pilcher, who manages both marinas, said they are being operated for now just as they have been in the past. The marinas employ about 10 people, he said.
Anderson said she believes the new owners will widen the docks and make the marinas more compatible to newer boats.
“This boat landing was originally built when boats had a narrower beam width,” Anderson said, referring to the measurement across the widest spot of a boat. “That’s one of the problems we have when newer boats are coming into the marina. The newer boats are built with 10- to 15-foot beams where old boats were built with 6- to 8-foot beams.”
Harry Brunson, who built Buzzard’s Roost in 1979, said he couldn’t remember whether he paid $139,000 or $159,000 for the property. He bought Stono Marina from the family of a friend, Ben Foreman, after Foreman’s death. Brunson said he never dreamed his investment would increase so phenomenally.
“It really has changed in Charleston,” Brunson said.
Brunson said he decided to build Buzzard’s Roost because he thought Charleston needed another marina and the property was on deep water.
“It was just a nice place,” Brunson said. “It was kind of disheartening (to sell it), but I’m getting up in age and I had to let it go. I have a lot of memories there.”
Anderson said the place grabbed her heart 11 years ago when she went “marina shopping.”
“I loved the location, the isolation, yet it’s so close to Charleston,” Anderson said. “The isolation aspect is changing because it’s already developing at a high rate of speed. I’m the last dock out on the river and I overlook the Intracoastal Waterway. I’ve got dolphins, I’ve got cranes, and the sunrises and sunsets are just spectacular. I’ve got my own little paradise.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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