Georgetown County
Council agrees to buy historic building for $5.2 million
Georgetown County Council agreed this week to buy the historic Customs House in Georgetown for $5.2 million to use as administrative offices.
The 4-3 vote followed a closed-door executive session.
Council Chairman Clint Elliott, who supported the purchase, said the vote could have gone either way.
“It was a surprise to us,” he said of the result.
The county had already received two extensions on a contract to buy the building, which anchors the west end of Front Street. If the council hadn’t voted to go through with the deal, it would have needed to vote to terminate the contract, Elliott said.
Council Member Stella Mercado, who made the motion to buy the building didn’t name the price, but Council Member Louis Morant said during the council’s debate that it was $5.2 million.
And Morant said that was too much for the county to spend on an office building when the county has other needs such as drainage and employee pay to address.
The Customs House went on the market last year for $5.85 million.
“There’s a bit of negotiation that’s going to go on with it,” Elliott said, so $5.2 million may not be the final price.
The county got an appraisal and an assessment of the building, which opened in 1906. It was also the city’s post office. It has also been used as a bank, the offices for Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments and, since 2001, law offices.
Morant, who is an attorney, said he had spent time in the offices, which feature high ceilings, wood paneling and a marble floor in the lobby. He questioned their state of repair.
“The facilities are not that decent from what time I spent over there,” he said.
There are also issues with parking and handicapped accessibility, he added.
“We have other needs that are move vital,” Morant said.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Council Member Raymond Newton said.
“I’ve been on council now for over six years, and I’ve never seen this much enthusiasm about a single entity,” he said. “How many ditches and stormwater runoff could we fix with $5.2 million?”
The county plans to move its administration from a 19th century house on Screven Street opposite the courthouse to the Customs House.
“We’re not pleased with the bathrooms in our present facilities. Maybe we should look for some of the surplus Katrina trailers and set those up; put some bathrooms in there,” Newton said. “That would be a lot better than what some of my constituents live in.”
He acknowledged the Customs House is a landmark and said he would like to have an office there himself, but said he couldn’t justify the cost based on the current level of county services.
Mercado said the choice isn’t between the Customs House and improved services and employee pay.
“Two things can be right at the same time,” she said. “This is an opportunity that came up.”
It ties in with the county’s redevelopment of the former state port, she said.
The county has $175 million worth of property, some of which it doesn’t need, but all of which requires money to operate and maintain, Mercado said.
Selling the current administration building and other property will fund the Customs House, she said.
“We have health issues in some of those buildings,” Mercado added. “Those employees will move to this building, which will not have health issues.”
Council Member Bob Anderson, who said previously he opposed the deal, joined Morant and Newton in voting against it.
Council Members Ron Charlton and Ernie Cooper joined Elliott and Mercado in support.
Elliott said afterward the county would like to have all its employees in one building eventually, possibly outside the city.
The Customs House may only be a temporary site for county offices, but with redevelopment on the Georgetown waterfront “we won’t lose any money on it,” he said.
