Ted Turner owns an island in SC. He’s offering the state a deal to buy it

Ted Turner owns a private island in Beaufort County, and he’s offered the state a deal to purchase it for $5 million, according to The Post and Courier newspaper.

The media mogul has owned the 4,680-acre St. Phillips Island since 1979. It’s located between St. Helena Island and Prichards Island, just north of Hilton Head Island, and is accessible only by boat.

In 2014, he listed the island on the market for $23.7 million.

Now, the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism is asking state lawmakers to approve $5 million to purchase the property and add it to Hunting Island State Park, The Post and Courier reported Thursday.

“It’s not often such a great opportunity is presented to the state of South Carolina,” Duane Parrish, state parks department director, told the Charleston newspaper.

Hunting Island has long battled erosion. The island took hard hits from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and, just after it reopened, was hit again by Tropical Storm Irma in September. With its iconic lighthouse and natural landscape, it had been the most visited state park in South Carolina, counting more than a million visitors annually.

St. Phillip’s Island includes a main house with a broad, screened front porch and a separate home for a caretaker. It also has its own water tower with a solar panel.

The Turner family and friends have used St. Phillips Island as a retreat for sailing, fishing and entertaining.

Turner’s son, Teddy Turner of Charleston, told The Island Packet in 2015 that visiting the island — with its large alligators, towering trees and old Tabby ruins — is like taking a trip back in time.

“It’s kind of like Jurassic Park meets Fripp or Hunting islands,” he said at the time. “When you explore the island, the best time is to do it in the winter when all the creepy crawly things are in bed.”

Future development is restricted by a conservation easement Ted Turner has with the Nature Conservancy, limiting construction on the property to 10 additional homes.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Ted Turner owns an island in SC. He’s offering the state a deal to buy it."