At $4.72M, Sullivan's home is island's most pricey

The sale of a Sullivan's Island home in mid-August earned it the title of Most Expensive Home on the island.

New York businessman Todd Boehly paid $4.72 million for a 4,500-square-foot, six-bedroom Atlantic Avenue house that sits on an oceanfront lot. The previous price record for the island was set in April 2006, when a home on I'On Avenue changed hands for $4.7 million.

Boehly is the managing partner for Guggenheim Partners, a New York-based wealth management company.

"They've been coming down here for four or five years for a week every summer and just really fell in love with the place," said Scott Liipfert, a real estate agent with Disher Hamrick & Myers who represented the family.

The Boehlys will use the property as a vacation home, he added.

The seller, whom property records list as Ellen Davega, plans to stay in the area, said Tim Reese, an agent with Carriage Properties who represented that side of the transaction.

County records show that sales on the island have picked up in the past three months. While only four homes sold during the first quarter, at least 17 sales have been recorded since May. (Those stats exclude $1, $5 and $10 transactions, which often are family transfers.)

"In the beginning of the year, with all the press about the housing market, I think there was a slowdown," said Reese, who also lives on the island. "But people have realized that there are some strong values down here."

Floating a deal

Buyers who are in the market for a boat as well as a home can get both on Saturday at the River Reach Pointe neighborhood.

Developer Summerville Homes will throw in a free boat — either a Sea Ray 175 or a 15-foot Boston Whaler — for buyers who sign up for a home on Saturday. The boats, provided by Sea Ray of Charleston, are worth about $25,000 each.

The Cainhoy Peninsula neighborhood, which eventually will have 72 homes, is being built on the banks of the Wando River. Forty percent of the houses are already built and occupied. The company has five completed homes for sale and four more under construction.

Prices start in the high $300,000 range and escalate to the $600,000 range.

Cheryl Smithem, spokeswoman for Summerville Homes, called the house and boat combination a "convenient" package, similar to one you'd get for cable, phone and Internet service from a cable company.

Apartment action

The new owners of the Planter's Trace apartment complex in West Ashley have big plans to bring the aging development up to speed.

Charleston-based Hudson Capital Investments teamed up with a group of investors from Phoenix to buy the 96-unit complex for about $4.6 million in early August. The group plans to put about $1 million into renovating the units by adding screened porches, washer and dryer connections, new appliances and better flooring. They might also change the complex's name, said Lenny Blevins, Hudson's owner. The work will take place during the next 18 months.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.