Isle of Palms Magazine Winter 2016-17

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island was unsettling to more than a few residents of the
Palmetto State. At a meeting in November 1974, Fraser
felt compelled to promise that absolutely no Kuwaiti
money would be used to develop IOP. He also assured the
audience at a public hearing that, unlike the resort-styled
Kiawah and Hilton Head Island, Isle of Palms Beach and
Racquet Club would be developed as “homes for year-
round residents, including active retirees.” While the
company planned to build a motel behind its gates, Fraser
assured the public that he didn’t envision “gearing the
development for tourists.”
By early 1975, the Sea Pines Company planned to
build two hotels for tourists, with up to 350 rooms.
The company was also lobbying to have State Route
703 widened on Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms. The
Sullivan’s Island Township Committee quickly put a halt
to that idea, but plans for the resort, now the Isle of Palms
Beach and Racquet Club, went on.
In April 1975, an act of the South Carolina Legislature
conveyed the northernmost 1.8 miles of Palm Boulevard
– State Route 703 –
to the town of Isle of
Palms so it could allow
developers to move it
further inland, away
from the beach. Fraser
wanted to build more
oceanfront properties, but
the state legislation made
it clear that Isle of Palms
leaders were expected to
“encourage” the resort
to continue to provide
public access to the island’s
northern beaches.
This showdown would
have to wait; Sea Pines had bigger problems. At its peak,
the company had 11 resorts from Virginia to Puerto
Rico, but, when the Federal Reserve Board cranked up
interest rates from 6 percent to 12 percent in an attempt
to stall inflation, housing starts plummeted, and the Sea
Pines Company began selling its properties.
Then, in April 1976, the Kuwaiti Investment Company
abruptly severed Sea Pines’ lucrative, long-term contract to
manage the development of Kiawah and sued Fraser’s firm
for $1.6 million for allegedly defaulting on its obligations.
Fraser and Sea Pines President James Light protested
their innocence but announced that they would take
this opportunity to develop their Isle of Palms property.
Unfortunately, by this point, the tailspin was too steep: That
November, the Sea Pines Company sold its ownership in the
Isle of Palms Beach and Racquet Club back to Henry Finch
and his partners, Wilbur Smith and Associates.
The Closed Road
In December, the Isle of Palms Town Council made a
major concession to the developers. The Finch/Smith plan
to fence off its end of the island couldn’t happen unless
old Highway 703 was closed off at the resort’s entrance.
In exchange for closing the road and rezoning to allow
for lower-density housing, the town received a 10.5-acre
parcel of land on 41st Street and another one-acre parcel
inside the resort.
On Jan. 3, 1977, the front page of The Post and
Courier trumpeted: “Initial Construction Has Begun on
Isle of Palms Development.” The article’s subhead noted
ominously: “The Closed Road: A Topic of Controversy.”
Isle of Palms Mayor J. Blair White acknowledged that the
gate built to keep his citizens out of the construction area
had made some people angry. “I don’t know what we’ll
do yet,” White admitted,
when confronted with
the idea that permanent
gates would replace the
temporary ones, “but I
would like to see some sort
of access to the beach.”
Town Ways and Means
Committee Chairman
Henry Shaffer had less
patience with those who
stood in the way of the
club’s progress. In The Post
and Courier, he opined,
“We [the rest of the Isle of
Palms] already have about
a half-mile of pure beach with free parking. I think what
people get upset about is not having their own ‘private’
beach available to them.”
And so the general public’s access to the island’s
northernmost beaches vanished.
a subuRb by The sea
On July 4, 1977, the Isle of Palms Beach and Racquet
Club opened with two tennis courts and a dozen homes
under construction. Finch explained that the plan was to
build the club slowly. He assured readers of The Post and
Courier, “It will be more for permanent residents, not
planned as a resort.”
Finch also assured Charlestonians that the planned