Upscale waterfront living on Winyah Bay

GEORGETOWN — The southern extremities of this small coastal city, at once quaint and industrial, are opening up to new residential neighborhoods just as Georgetown County carves out a park and boat landing along the south bank of the Sampit River.

Realizing the potential from these changes, developer Harry Huffman has mapped out Craven's Grant on Winyah Bay.

The community is named for one of South Carolina's Lords Proprietors and for the scenic alcove that hugs Georgetown while separating it from beachfront resorts further north.

"It's a diamond in the rough," Huffman says.

Craven's Grant, a gated community in Georgetown's Maryville section south of the Sampit River bridge, has 292 inland and waterside home sites. There will be eight man-made ponds, a pool, tennis courts and a clubhouse.

About 80 percent of the lots sold in 14 months, says Huffman, who has built a few upscale communities in the Charleston area and has a house on Folly Beach. The project also got permitting approval for 200 boat slips on the bay and river, with direct access to the Intracoastal Waterway. There also will be available dry-stack slips.

Houses will be custom constructed, where buyers "pick the builder," he says. The predominant style will be raised, two-story Charleston single homes of 2,400 square feet or more. Prices of the 1/5 of an acre lots are $199,000 to $599,000, and homes including the land are expected to be in the $450,000 to $1.1 million range.

Huffman also will sponsor the Georgetown Freedom Boat Club, where homeowners can buy a $15,000, five-year membership with $600 a year dues to charter the club's boats.

Craven's Grant will be attractive to people who are water-oriented, who want homes on the river or marsh. There likely will be a share of older, retired buyers, he says.

Huffman, who bought and remodeled a downtown condo above a restaurant on Front Street, where he lives in Georgetown, says the area is "ready to explode" development-wise.

Craven's Grant is across U.S. Highway 17 from the new Georgetown County park and boat landing.

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source: charleston.net