PORT ROYAL, S.C. — After years of inactivity and prolonged negotiations following its acquisition in 2017, the once dormant East Coast port is finally poised for revitalization. The Town of Port Royal, in collaboration with Safe Harbor, has unveiled an ambitious vision for a thriving community and marina industry.

On Wednesday evening, Safe Harbor shared detailed renderings of a master plan, illustrating the future transformation of the Port Royal Waterfront.

Port Royal’s Mayor, Kevin Phillips, expressed that this marks the first occasion since Safe Harbor acquired the port that they’ve received a comprehensive and formal development plan.

“We’re thrilled to share with the public what we’ve been working towards and the path we’re embarking upon,” Phillips stated. “This isn’t just redevelopment; it’s building something entirely new from the ground up.”

In February, the town and Safe Harbor finalized a settlement agreement, which included exchanged properties and a commitment to innovative development plans.

It was a several year battle to get to the master plan presented Wednesday night.

Phillips said the town and the Dallas, Texas based marina company went back and forth to find a balance between what both wanted.

Safe Harbor hosted a public forum with residents in the town to show them different phases of what the town calls the Marina Village.

The images showed several acres of vacant waterfront property between Shell Ring Aleworks, Fishcamp on 11^th Street and the current Safe Harbor facility.

The property is looking to be transformed into multiple community open spaces, a waterfront promenade and newly built roads that will interconnect a town center to parks, the water, businesses and more.

Nick Borreggine, the owner of Shell Ring Aleworks in Port Royal, said he came to the area decades ago when the port was still owned by the South Carolina Ports Authority.

“My realtor drove me through the town of Port Royal and said, you should buy a house here because the port’s getting ready to be developed. That was 25 years ago,” he said.  

Borreggine said the reason for opening his brewery business in Port Royal was based off the future development that was planned for the town.

“I mean, the whole reason why I’m here, why I’m in that location,” he said.

He noted that seeing an actual plan brought him excitement as a business owner in the growing town.

Safe Harbor is also looking to build what they call a “world class marina.”

The company is currently planning to build several docks, with more planned for the future.

The plans also show a marina parking lot, which will include marina slips and public parking spaces.

Retail and restaurant spaces, and eventually housing, are also included in the plans.

The first phase according to Safe Harbor officials will start with the marina, the parking lot, roads and a central town park.

“First steps is really just going to be building that infrastructure in the marina,” Mayor Phillips said. “And so that’s what you will see first, exactly what date that it will start on. We really don’t know that at this time, but you know, it’s coming.”

The settlement agreement also included a promise by Safe Harbor to continue to meet every three months with town officials and the public to give updates on the project.

As Mayor Phillips said, there is no clear date yet on when construction will start, or a final finished timeline.