PATRIOT'S SITE PLAN CALLS FOR CENTER, SHOPS

Mount Pleasant-The Florida-based leaseholder of 14 waterfront acres at Patriot's Point unveiled a conceptual plan Tuesday that calls for a 9,000-square-foot conference center, changes in the layout of a future boulevard and 146 cottages.
     

After acknowledging that some details must be worked out - such as the developer's desire for 2.6 more acres - the Patriot's Point Development Authority voted unanimously to approve the plan.

In May, Brothers Property Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla., bought the Hilton Charleston Harbor hotel and the Charleston Harbor Marina and assumed the long-term lease of 14 nearby acres. Brothers paid $17.5 million to Charleston Harbor Partners I, II and III.

Officials with Patriot's Point Development Authority were overjoyed with the news because Brothers, a subsidiary of the Great American Insurance Co. and the publicly traded American Financial Group Inc., brought both the money and the experience to make something happen on the land.

Previous efforts to develop it have sputtered over the last half- dozen years.

On Tuesday, Charles Broeman of Brothers Property presented the company's conceptual plan, which is modeled after Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod, Mass. Chatham Bars features a 1914 hunting inn surrounded by cottages housing 100 hotel rooms.

Broeman said the plan basically calls for an expansion of the Hilton with between 220 and 250 rooms and suites in one- and two-story cottages. The plans contrast with previous schemes, which included 120 condominiums, 45,000 square feet of office space and 46,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Brothers' plan calls for 11 shops, measuring 650 square feet each, that would be oriented toward smaller, specific uses, such as selling T-shirts or fudge.

"Not Denny's or The Gap," said Broeman. "We don't think we'll compete with (Mount Pleasant) Towne Centre."

Besides the conference center and cottages, the plan also shows a restaurant addition to the hotel building, plus new tennis courts and a spa.

"It is well below the previous capacity," said Broeman of the prior master plans and currently approved zoning.

Of utmost concern for Broeman, however, were pending plans for the realignment of Patriot's Point Boulevard, which currently calls for a T-intersection across from the Hilton entrance. Instead, he proposed a roundabout located about 400 feet northwest of that entrance that would disperse traffic in three different directions.

To do so, Broeman said Brothers wants 2.6 more acres, a large portion of which would be used for parking and "overflow" parking for the cottage development. The company also is willing to provide $200,000 for the construction of the roundabout and associated roads.

Broeman said Brothers can't proceed until it gets the green light on road changes and additional acreage.

Patriot's Point Chairman Jack Meetze expressed some concern that the S.C. Budget and Control Board - which has oversight on the authority's leases - would have to sign off on adding the acreage to the lease.
 

"This would be a substantive change in the lease," he said.

But board member Ellie Thomas said he does not think the Budget and Control board would object because it is "economically advantageous" to Patriot's Point to add the property to the lease because the authority receives additional revenue by getting a share of rents.

Meetze's concern was not the only one expressed Tuesday.

Jack Theimer, who holds leases on two adjacent properties, said the tennis courts and spa would cut off vital access to existing cottages next to the Hilton.

He also said the Brothers' road plan also needs to assure access to an 11-acre parcel he leases.

The San Francisco-based Theimer has two optional plans for the latter, undeveloped property.

Those plans include a condo building, 40 "garden units" measuring 2,500 square feet each, a pool, deck and tennis facilities.
    

The Post and Courier, 09/25/02, David Quick