Anonymous buyer paying $4 million for coastal land USC foundation considered for development

A business association is paying a University of South Carolina foundation nearly $4 million to protect the Prince George Tract, prime coastal property near Pawleys Island that the foundation had considered selling for development, officials said.

It’s unlikely the public will have access to the 1,200 acres, but the Prince George property is being taken off the table for commercial, residential or golf course development, said Phillip Lammonds, a Georgetown County real estate agent who brokered the sale and will become land manager.

PG Preservation LLC acquired the property last week from the USC Development Foundation. The sales price was just under $4 million, said Cheryl Stone, recording clerk with the Georgetown County Register of Deeds office.

The principals who founded PG Preservation have so far chosen to remain anonymous.

While the Prince George property isn’t expected to be available for public use, conservationist Dana Beach said the accord is nonetheless significant.

The most important goal is to keep the land natural and undeveloped, which will protect important wildlife and plant habitat, he said. Thousands of acres of land across the state, including property in the Lowcountry’s ACE Basin nature preserve, have been protected through conservation easements.

“This property is wonderful ecologically,’’ said Beach, who heads the S.C. Coastal Conservation League. “The $4 million paid for this is a fabulous price for a piece of property of this size that otherwise would be immensely developable.’’

Prince George, which contains a small area along the beachfront, includes rare long-leaf pine trees and habitat for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, as well as marshes frequented by alligators, wading birds and bobcats.

But the forested Prince George land was one of the largest tracts potentially open for development east of U.S. 17 near the oceanfront in Georgetown County. About 600 acres of the original 1,900-acre Prince George Tract were kept for development years ago.

Located just south of Myrtle Beach, the land is in an area between Murrells Inlet and Georgetown that is increasingly under development pressure. The area still contains sizable slices of undeveloped land. But it is growing as vacationers move down the coast to Pawleys Island and Litchfield from Horry County’s densely packed beaches.

Some of Georgetown County’s undeveloped land is in nature preserves, such as Hobcaw Barony and USC’s Baruch Marine Laboratory. Consequently, that has put a premium on the remaining undeveloped property – including Prince George – for housing communities or commercial construction.

When the development foundation’s plan to sell the Prince George Tract surfaced in 2013, it drew a barrage of criticism. Previously, the university foundation had said it would retain the land in a natural state for scientific research. But the foundation said it needed the money at a time of dwindling revenues for Carolina.

Now, Beach said the foundation appears to have accomplished the goal of conservation and gaining needed revenues to support the university.

“I’m just very proud of them,’’ Beach said. “I hate to say it, but this is not the kind of behavior that is common among foundations and institutions. It is often the case that they say it is our job to maximize our return and sell to the highest bidder – but everybody wins on this.’’

USC spokesman Wes Hickman agreed the arrangement is a sound resolution for everyone.

“The USC Development Foundation has a long track record of being a responsible landowner, good community partner and philanthropic citizen,’’ Hickman said in an email Monday. “We are pleased to see a buyer committed to the preservation of the land and the sale will provide financial resources to support mission-related purposes – the academic and research endeavors of our students and faculty.

Carolina’s foundation acquired the Prince George Tract from the federal government more than two decades ago.

PG Preservation plans to put together a conservation easement, a legally binding document that will keep the land in a natural state in perpetuity, said Lammonds and Cheryl Smithem, a public relations consultant working with the new owners.

Lammonds said a principal associated with PG Preservation may want to put a home on the property “for his family, as a retreat,’’ but the rest will remain undeveloped. The company also receives two boat slips at a marina on the Waccamaw River as part of the agreement, according to the deeds office.

Lammonds said Monday he expects the principals associated with PG Preservation LLC will be revealed at some point.

“He’s going to say who he is eventually,’’ Lammonds said. “It’s not that clandestine by any means. It will be divulged.’’

PG Preservation lists Paracorp Inc., a company headquartered in California, as its registered agent, records show. Paracorp offers services as a registered agent, according to its website.

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Anonymous buyer paying $4 million for coastal land USC foundation considered for development."