Seabrook is in the news. New amenities, an uptick in real estate activity! Read the article below.

On the horizon

Seabrook Island reinventing itself with $30 million in new amenities, focus on property owners

Granted, Seabrook Island is nowhere near experiencing a housing boom. But there’s enough activity to make some noise.

January was “a pretty good month” for home sales, says Joe Salvo, broker-in-charge of Seabrook Island Real Estate. And there’s been an encouraging number of transactions in February.

“We had a guy who had been looking for a year, who just bought a house,” says Salvo, “This is good news,” he says.

The sales uptick is of interest to Charleston area real estate observers seeking to gauge the market for 2009 and beyond. Seabrook Island’s housing activity serves as one sign of how local resort properties will fare in the upcoming year.

While important to the local real estate outlook, the housing indicators — even sketchy and anecdotal ones — take on even more significance for Seabrook Island itself. It is in the midst of its most ambitious overhaul in decades, a project that will be bankrolled indirectly by the strength of the housing market.

Seabrook Island calls its redesign the Horizon project. Like a youngster getting a new tooth, it will be a hallmark even if there’s some discomfort involved. The plan maps out the island’s transition from a convention-resort center to a beachside village with low key tourist niches such as rental villas and oceanside weddings. It’s supported by many property owners but questioned by some as financially suspect in a slowing real estate market.

Notably, the renewal includes:

-- Construction of the two-level 36,000-square-foot Island House Clubhouse, replacing an aging 15,000 square foot center. The new clubhouse, with oceanfront and golf course views, a large banquet hall, the upstairs Bohicket dining room and private dining areas, two fireplaces, golf pro shop and locker rooms, is expected to be complete by Oct. 1.

-- Raising a new 5,000-square-foot Beach Club, hugging the Atlantic Ocean, to include two sizable swimming pools and expansive boardwalk and decking areas for sunbathing, and the new Pelican’s Nest outdoor restaurant and lounge with Brazilian ipe wood decks. It is set to open Memorial Day weekend and typically will be staffed from late March to early October.

-- Remaking transportation routes, such as designing a rotary circle at the island house and beach club to help with traffic flow along Seabrook Island Road and laying out parking zones for the island house and beach club.

-- Building the 24,000 square foot Lake House community center, located a few miles from the beachfront attractions near the main gate. Situated overlooking a pond, the island Property Owners Association-developed facility will have a 6,000-square foot fitness center with cardio equipment and circuit training, indoor and outdoor pools, kids playground and events lawn. It should open by August 1.

Salvo says the three-pronged development has one highlight in particular. “This is really a local project,” he says. The general contractor, Trident Construction; architect Glick Boehm and consultant Three Oak Landscaping are all from the Charleston area.

Even without the new amenities, the gated island has alluring features. Existing amenities include two golf courses, tennis courts and an equestrian center and riding stables as well as Atlantic Ocean access. People can ride bikes or horseback on miles of trails.

Then there’s housing stock. “Our inventory is not extremely high historically,” Salvo says. “It’s the same at spring 2004,” right before the recent three year runup in home sales and values.

Home sizes vary, but most are in the 2,500 to 4,500 square foot range. Prices are from $400,000 to more than $4 million. There are also townhomes, condos and villas that can be rented. Most home lots are sizable, at 1/2 acre or more, and have lush plantings and healthy yards. There are about 500 lots yet to be built on.