Boats In A Row: Marinas and the like lure homebuyers eager to moor vessels and relish waterway views

By JIM PARKER

The Post and Courier

Styling your life around a marina is a good move for the active sailor, owner of a large yacht or boater who cruises the Intracoastal Waterway.

Yet people who buy homes, townhouses and condos within an anchor toss of in-water or dry stack marinas or have private docks or ramps aren’t exclusively fans of watercraft.

That’s why Robin Reeves, a Realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/The Beach Co., promoted a piece of property at The Bristol Condominiums on the Ashley River this way:

“Luxury penthouse with stunning water, marsh and marina views.”

The residence, priced for less than $900,000, overlooks the Bristol Marina. While the boat dock is adjacent to the high-end condo property, it is a separate entity.

She says The Bristol owners who keep boats at the marina, which sports 148 wet slips and 38 drive-on docks, gain convenience. The facility meanwhile is offering a special price of $10 a foot per month — $300 a month for instance on a 30 foot boat — for the first year of new dockage contracts.

At the same time, Reeves keys on the sights from the three-bedroom 2,330-square-foot condo with parking, gym, pool and clubroom access.

Even property buyers who don’t own a boat can be drawn in by the serene images across the river. “The ambiance, the ever-changing view,” she says. “Being on the water, you never have the same view.”

Across the Charleston area, home shoppers are keying in on places that store, launch, park and manage sailing rigs, motor boats and yachts, touting the lifestyle and proximity to water for boating excursions.

A marina trade group, the South Carolina Marine Association, lists 35 boat-docking properties in the state, including 11 marinas in metro Charleston. The list does not include all local marinas, and the exact total maybe in the higher teens.

Many marinas attract residential development, or are part of a planned community that includes the boat parking spaces.

Case in point is Ripley Light Marina west of the Ashley, which has dozens of adjacent upscale homes and condos. Carey Burnett, agent with Carriage Properties, is listing two houses on Transom Court. A victim of the housing slide, the residences were worth $2.5 million apiece in 2007. Now they’re both on the market, one for $890,000. Boat slips are available at the marina.

The upper crust homes attract Medical University of South Carolina executives and physicians, since the property is a short drive across the Ashley River.

“I’ve had some success with it,” Burnett says. In the summer months, “MUSC brings a new crop of doctors.” The property is off Albemarle Drive close to Porter Gaud School.

The community struggled until recently. He quips, “It’s hard to have a neighborhood without neighbors.” The financial tide is turning, however. “Hopefully, they will sell this summer.”

Meanwhile, some buyers might follow the lead of an Anderson couple. They paid $1,050,000 for a lot near Ripley Light at the height of the housing boom. “Instead of building a home, they bought a very nice Grand Bank cabin cruiser,” he says. The trawler is moored at the marina, and the husband and wife live on the boat during weekend trips.

Another place to reside close to water and keep boats there is the former pier and surrounding property where crews barged bricks along Horlbeck Creek in Mount Pleasant.

The four-acre site includes a parcel in old Brickyard on the north end of Brickyard Plantation, as well as a dock that reaches a small island in the creek. The high ground island, now deserted, is where 19th century workers used to unload bricks.

“It’s really a one of a kind opportunity,” says Burnett, noting that the property is priced for sale at $655,000.

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com.