A $7.2M ‘spec’ building planned in Beaufort’s Commerce Park. Here’s what it could attract

Karl Puckett

Magnus Development Partners is planning to start construction of a $7.2 million warehouse at Beaufort Commerce Park this spring with the help of more than $200,000 in cash incentives from the public.

The end goal of constructing the building, which is backed by the city of Beaufort and the Beaufort County Economic Development Corp., is attracting new industry, spurring jobs and tax revenue.

The 196-acre commerce park, which is owned by the city, is located off of U.S. Highway 21 and S.C. Highway 116 about 4 miles west of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.

The city, which announced the construction of the building this week, is selling eight acres to Columbia-based Magnus Development for $200,000. Magnus will pay the city $1 in earnest money and $5,000 when the building is done and at least $5,000 annually until the $200,000 is repaid.

For its part, the BCEDC is providing $215,000 in cash incentives to Magnus to help cover its development costs.

Magnus’ commitment calls for building a $7.2 million, 72,000 square-foot building Class A spec building at 123 Schork Road.

The commitment by the city and the BCEDC to improve the park and spur light industrial and warehouse development are part of an effort to diversify the economy beyond the military and hospitality industry, Mayor Stephen Murray said last year after it was announced that two businesses had agreed to occupy the first “Class A spec” building that Magnus constructed.

A “spec” building is built on the speculation that it will be leased or sold after it is constructed. Class A means it is high quality.

The first 64,000-square-foot facility that Magnus constructed, located at 74 Schein Loop, cost $6.1 million. It was leased to Norman USA, a La Palma, California-based company that manufactures and distributes window blinds and other windows treatments, and Critical Role, a multi-platform video gaming company headquartered in Los Angeles.

Between them, the companies, which are using the building for distribution, are expected to employ more than 80 employees between them.

“Buildings in Charleston don’t lease as quickly as our first spec building did,” John O’Toole, BCEDC’s executive director, told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet.

Members of the Beaufort City Council break ground Wednesday at a new 64,000 square-foot commercial building at Beaufort Commerce Park in 2021. Magnus Development Partners is now planning to build a 72,000 square foot “spec” building in the park.
Members of the Beaufort City Council break ground Wednesday at a new 64,000 square-foot commercial building at Beaufort Commerce Park in 2021. Magnus Development Partners is now planning to build a 72,000 square foot “spec” building in the park.

Both companies are in operation, or in the midst of standing up their operation, said O’Toole. “They have employees there and they are starting to function out of those spaces.”

Even in today’s struggling economic, O’Toole expects that the second building will be quickly leased as well.

The second building will be designed for light manufacturing or distribution as well. It can be subdivided into spaces as small as 16,000 square feet.

Commercial real estate company Avison Young, which is marketing the building for Magnus, is now advertising the space. It can be subdivided into spaces as small as 16,000 square feet.

Construction is expected to begin by the end of April, the city said.

The city bought the Commerce Park out of foreclosure for $1.8 million in 2012 from S.C. Bank and Trust. It had been owned by the Lowcountry Economic Network before it went bankrupt.

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