By Lauren Leibman lleibman@postandcourier.com
Published Tue Nov 25, 2025 5:00 AM EST
GEORGETOWN — Plans for a development in Georgetown’s historic district, where shrimpers once docked and centuries-old buildings overlook the Sampit River, are on hold indefinitely.
A request to rezone 3.4 acres across seven parcels on Front and Cannon streets would have allowed for a development with housing, commercial buildings and possibly a hotel. However, the request was withdrawn ahead of a Nov. 20 Georgetown City Council meeting.
Before it was announced that the request had been removed from the agenda, residents expressed concerns about the size of the proposed project, a lack of specifics about what could be built and how it could alter Georgetown’s character.
"It's too open-ended," Jerry Springs told the council. "The way it’s written out, it gives the developer too much room to do whatever they want to. It's not in the same character as our historic district is, and all my neighbors are against it."
Last month, the city’s planning commission had recommended the council deny the zoning request.
The properties that were up for rezoning are owned by Tarbox LLC, Margaret Tarbox and Georgetown Communications LLC.
Jim Petrus, chief financial officer of Evening Post Industries, told the Georgetown Times that his company withdrew the rezoning request because they “anticipated that conditions would be imposed on the (master-planned development), which would restrict our current capabilities under the Core Commercial zoning.”
If the properties had been rezoned, 80 units of multifamily housing or a hotel with up to 150 rooms could have been built on the site.
Other uses for the property could have included a restaurant, retail space, a marina office, tourism-related businesses and cultural arts activities.
The Georgetown Communications property is home to the Harborwalk Marina and a historic home known as the Harper House, which is occupied by the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce.
The Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce antebellum house was built around 1880. It has been on property owned by The Post and Courier for a few decades. It is located on Front Street at the river end of Queen Street. A developer is hoping to zone the property to just beyond Cannon Street. The rezoning request was rejected by the city’s planning commission but will be discussed by the Georgetown City Council.
Janet Morgan/Staff
The chamber expressed concerns about how the development could affect its 50-year lease with Georgetown Communications, which has 27 years remaining.
Beth Stedman, president and CEO of the chamber of commerce, objected to the rezoning at the recent City Council meeting. She said the Harper House was absent from project plans that had been presented to the community in the past, leading her to worry that the building would be demolished or removed.
"The renderings presented to the community along with a variable timetable described in the application creates significant uncertainty about the future of our operations," she said.
Petrus said there were no plans to break the chamber’s lease and the building would not have been affected by the development.
Land owned by Tarbox LLC near the former Independent Seafood market would have been used for the creation of single-family homes. The Red Store Warehouse, the city’s oldest commercial property, could have been converted into multifamily units. Commercial development, additional housing and a marina office were also outlined in the project description.
The project would have included up to 10 single-family units and up to 120,000 square feet of commercial development.
Petrus said there are no plans to present the development to the council again.
Evening Post Industries, parent company of Georgetown Communications LLC, owned the Georgetown Times and The Post and Courier until 2021, when EPI split into three separate companies. The newspapers are now owned by Evening Post Publishing, Inc., which is independent of EPI.