Charleston raises its offer to $8 million for Cainhoy land meant for a fire and police station

Charleston is moving to pay $8 million, up from the $7.56 million City Council approved earlier, for nearly 29 acres on Clements Ferry Road where it plans a joint fire and police station on the Cainhoy Peninsula.

The city’s Committee on Real Estate on Oct. 26 unanimously authorized Mayor William Cogswell to sign a purchase and sale agreement for the land, The Post and Courier reported Oct. 30. The committee’s agenda describes the property as 28.86 acres in Berkeley County owned by McAlister-Togant Clements Ferry LLC, Bennett Cainhoy I LLC and Bennett Cainhoy II LLC. The land is inside Charleston’s city limits, the newspaper reported.

The purchase is on the agenda for City Council’s Nov. 10 meeting.

The site is about halfway down the main Cainhoy Peninsula strip and would hold a future joint Charleston fire and police station, Malena Dinwoodie, the city’s real estate management director, told the committee, according to the newspaper. It could also be used for public works or public service storage, she said.

The land was originally listed at about $7.5 million, and council had approved paying $7.56 million, Dinwoodie said.

“The reason why we’re bringing it back to the real estate (committee) and council is because the owners decided that they wanted to change the purchase price before we were able to get an agreement signed,” she said, according to The Post and Courier.

The owners’ appraisal came in around $8.5 million, and the city’s at $7.7 million, she said. Cogswell said one of the three owners blocked the original agreement, which sent the parties back to negotiate a new price, the newspaper reported.

McAlister-Togant Clements Ferry is registered to M. Anthony McAlister Jr., founder of McAlister Development in Charleston, whose partners include Blackbaud founder Tony Bakker and former Blackbaud Chief Operating Officer Gary Thornhill, The Post and Courier reported. Charleston developer Michael Bennett is the registered agent for the two Bennett companies.

The city also recently closed on a 4-acre out-parcel known as the Emni Parcel, and it owns about 20 acres of high ground there on which it can build public facilities, according to the newspaper.