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OUR VIEW: Real Estate

Posted

The City of Clinton should not be in the real estate business.

The fact that it is leads to the kind of conflicts you saw at the April 12th council meeting.

The contention was who is going to buy and develop a 40 acre piece of property in the city’s eastern corridor off Interstate-26. This is very desirable property - the developer of the Hampton Inn & Suites already had tried to buy it, and was rebuffed. It sits next to the intersection of I-26 and Hwy 72 where the Hampton Inn is located, along with two City spec buildings, three gas stations, three restaurants, and a SC Department of Transportation work shed that the City wants to acquire. As City-owned property, it also generates no taxes.

At contention here is whether veteran Clinton Businessman Chip Cooper will have the chance to develop this property, or will it be the out of town Ryan Homes developing this property. Cooper reminded the City Council that he is a “vested” member of the City of Clinton; Ryan Homes, as of now, is not - but would be if they are given the chance to build and sell homes here. Both developments would be in the $197,000 - $237,000 house-price range.

Clinton needs MEDIAN priced housing and at least three apartment - multi-family developments in and near Clinton have been rejected in recent years. The inventory of what people can afford in a pandemic-stricken economy is low. It kind of makes a mockery of the city’s fair housing resolution. Realtors are begging current homeowners to sell their houses, but that begs the question, Where would they live? We don’t want people selling, taking their profits, and moving away. We need to “capture” the people who are here now, especially Pharmacy students and faculty, and the people who have lived here a while. THAT is how you grow a community.

The City needs growth on its fringes because so much of its in-city property does not pay taxes - think: a college, a children’s home, churches, parking lots, a municipal center and school district office, schools and playgrounds, a museum, and municipal services buildings. Thankfully, Clinton is not the county seat - so there are no courthouses.

Growth on the fringes can be stymied, however, by large landowners. Many South Carolina cities are dying right now because surrounding them are the remnants of plantations and large-land holdings by people who have no intention of allowing development. After all, they’re not making any more land.

Clinton is in an even more precarious position because it is going to take control of most of Whitten Center. The State has declared it surplus, and is land-title transferring this beautiful property to the City (without competitive proposals). No plans have been shown publicly for what the City intends to do with it - the City has enough on its plate trying to develop a recreation center (which is no longer tax-paying land). The Council also on May 3 will be taking the first step - a public hearing - to turn from industrial to residential property controlled by the Clinton Economic Development Corporation, another “public” landowner.

This is what the City should do: advertise and sell all its surplus property to the highest bidders and let professionals develop it. Let the professional economic developer do his work, bring in Realtors, and stand the Clinton City Council out of the way. So, we can grow.

Editorial