New place to play planned for Folly

A Folly Beach landmark known as a haven for the down-and-out could soon be demolished as part of a $2.8 million beachfront land deal to create a new Charleston County park.

The county Park and Recreation Commission plans to buy the Front Beach Inn and four other properties at East Arctic Avenue and East 2nd Street. The five properties add up to less than one acre.

On Wednesday afternoon, inn manager Hugh Tomlinson was working to salvage trees, lumber and other material from the building, which was shut down several weeks ago due to fire-code issues. The county deal calls for the land to be cleared by the owner as part of the sale.

"I'm going to take a couple (of trees) to my house and give some to my neighbors," Tomlinson said. "That way we can save some of them."

The building is a testament to the Folly Beach casualness that's often described as Bohemian. The front entrance is decorated with artificial flowers, headless statuary and odd bits of detritus. For nearly 30 years owner Donald "Brother Don" Constantin ran the inn as a ministry and sometimes soup kitchen.

"A lot of people on the beach got their start here," Tomlinson said. Constantin said he didn't want to comment until the land deal is completed.

"If you were down on your luck, you could get a room there, find a job, and get back on your feet," Folly Beach Mayor Carl Beckmann Jr. said. "In recent years, people who were down on their luck came and stayed."

Beckmann began to discuss police reports and narcotics investigations, but then said he's just glad the building will be replaced by a county park, and not a new hotel.

Inside the inn Wednesday, workers were pulling up some pressure-treated lumber and using it to help 81-year-old neighbor John Cassels replace part of his board walkway.

"They've always been real nice," Cassels said of the inn's residents.

Next door to the inn, adjacent to a beach access path, sits the ruins of a home demolished last year, which on Wednesday afternoon was serving as an impromptu public toilet for beachgoers.

The two lots the former home sits upon would be purchased by the county from Philip and Jean McClellan.

If the county park deal is approved, all of the lots would be quickly cleared. The long-term plan is to create a park facility with restrooms, showers and a playground, although the county PRC does not have funds for construction.

"What we're looking to do is something similar to Isle of Palms County Park," said PRC Executive Director Tom O'Rourke. "We have a park (at Folly Beach), but what this will allow us to do is have a defined, lifeguarded space in the middle of Folly Beach."

Charleston County Council must approve the purchase, and is expected to make a recommendation at a meeting tonight. Funds for the land purchase would come entirely from the PRC's $36 million share of the half-cent sales tax for transportation and green space programs.

The funding is for land acquisition, but can't be spent to develop facilities, so the PRC will have to figure out how to pay for improvements to all the land it has purchased.

"This isn't necessarily for today," O'Rourke said. "This is to preserve the land for future generations."

With the Folly Beach land and other previous and pending deals, $8.6 million would remain in the PRC's land fund.

At Folly Beach, the properties across East Arctic Avenue from the Front Beach Inn would become a parking area for the new county park. O'Rourke said he hopes to make the parking area available to beachgoers before the park itself is developed.

"I think it's going to be great for Folly," Beckmann said. "With it being near the pier, we'll get lifeguards for another block, and it will be a good place for families to come to town."

The park would be the county PRC's fourth site on Folly Beach.

There's a county park at the south end of the island, the fishing pier, and the former Coast Guard property at the north end of Folly Beach, which is owned by the PRC but is not open to the public.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.