Georgetown
County considers buying historic building with waterfront view
While Georgetown County considers what to do with the former port of Georgetown it is looking at acquiring the port’s former customs house.
The building at 1001 Front St. also served as the post office when it opened in 1906. Since 2001, it’s been used as offices. It is now on the market for $5.85 million.
“We’re just looking at it,” County Council Chairman Clint Elliott said. “We’re going to have a strong presence in the city. That’s one that came open.”
The council voted last year to perform due diligence on the building following an executive session that referred to it only as “Project Sampit.”
A contractor hired to inspect the building and assess its condition and the cost of preserving it fell ill, Elliott said. The county is now hiring his replacement.
Jack Scoville, the county attorney for 17 years, had his law office in the building. It’s located next to the 18th century Kaminski House and Rainey Park that anchors the west end of the Harborwalk, “all that lends itself to being a governmental-type use,” he said.
He urged the council last week to go through with the purchase.
The county acquired the port property in 2023. The adjacent Liberty Steel mill and International Paper mill closed in 2024. All three sites are the focus of redevelopment efforts.
“All the property in Georgetown is becoming more valuable,” said Scoville, who is also a former mayor of the city. The Customs House and Post Office “is going to be in the middle of all that.”
The council also heard from Derek Harrelson, a Georgetown area resident, who is a certified appraiser. He said the county has plenty of unused property, including an industrial site farther up the Sampit River and a vacant office building on the Georgetown waterfront.
He urged the council to focus its attention on employee pay before buying more property.
That message resonated with Council Member Bob Anderson, who said afterward that he opposes the purchase.
“I love the building,” he said. “If we had our wages and salaries up there where they should be it wouldn’t be a problem.”
If the county decides to purchase the customs house, it would likely sell off some other property, such as the former house across from the courthouse that currently serves as administrative offices, and a nearby building that is the office of the Public Services department, Elliott said.
The county got an estimate of $1.3 million for the administration building on Prince Street, he said.
As for spending the money on employees, “we’ve been giving them pretty good raises,” Elliott said.
