The State Ports Authority on Wednesday closed the $9.2 million sale of two parcels on Morrison Drive at the entrance to its Columbus Street Terminal, The Post and Courier reported.
The buyer is an affiliate of Mount Pleasant-based Origin Development Partners. The deal covers 7.2 acres and a 9,100-square-foot building at 838 Morrison Drive that once served as the central receiving and procurement office for the neighboring terminal, according to the newspaper.
“We are in the very early stages of the planning process, but we are considering a thoughtful mix of uses for the property,” the company said in a written statement.
“As a local real estate firm, we understand the property’s importance as a gateway site for the existing neighborhoods and the peninsula,” said Zach Bearden, a principal with Origin Development Partners.
The authority’s board approved the sale in December.
The land sits on the edge of a once-blighted industrial stretch of the upper peninsula that is now home to technology businesses, restaurants, breweries and apartments, the newspaper reported. The area is known as NoMo, for north Morrison Drive.
The sale is part of the authority’s push to unload property it doesn’t need and put the money back into its main business, moving cargo. It also returns government land to the tax rolls.
Last year, the agency sold its longtime Concord Street headquarters next to Waterfront Park to a hotel developer for $38 million. It is leasing back that building while it builds a $35 million headquarters at the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant, The Post and Courier reported. In December, the newspaper reported that the authority also planned to lease back the Morrison Drive office for a year. The agency expects to move off the peninsula by the end of the year.
“We’re making our way out of the real estate business … which is really important to us,” CEO Jim Newsome said, according to the newspaper.
