School wants wealthy tenant to aid upkeep of historic S.C. acreage
JAMES T. HAMMOND
The (Columbia) State
For rent: 1,500-acre former rice plantation with 10-bedroom house built in 1825, for residence, hunting and fishing resort or private nature retreat.
Term of lease: 10 years.
Landlord: The University of South Carolina.
USC is looking for a well-heeled tenant willing to shoulder the cost of preserving a valuable piece of coastal property the university owns but for which it has no mission.
Purchased by the university during the tenure of former president James Holderman, the Wedge Plantation, with hundreds of acres of old rice fields and brackish marsh, became home for an institute studying mosquito-borne disease.
But the former plantation had become an institutional orphan by 1996 when federal research money dried up.
The plantation was then leased for 10 years to a private group for recreation.
The lease has expired, and USC wants new tenants who will spend enough money to ensure the 8,600-square-foot historic home does not fall down.
The plantation, in the South Santee River delta of Charleston and Georgetown counties, is in an ecologically sensitive estuary that is also rich in S.C. history.
The coastal tract would be desirable to developers. But conservationists oppose developing the property surrounded by 100,000 acres of protected wetlands.
"It's an asset you can't ever get back if it's sold into development," state Department of Natural Resources Director John Frampton said.
The history
In Colonial times, the Santee delta produced the richest class of planters and slave-owners in North America.In 1825, planter William Lucas had done for rice culture what Eli Whitney did later for cotton planters -- he invented a rice thresher to mechanically separate the rice grain from its hulls.
Secure in his wealth, Lucas built an 8,600-square-foot Greek Revival home just a few hundred yards from the docks where his boats set sail for Charleston. He planted live oaks and magnolias around the house, which today is surrounded by trees six feet in diameter.
As the Carolina rice culture disappeared, The Wedge, like many other Santee delta plantations, became the second home for families from the Northeast.
In 1966, it became the home of Dr. Richard Dominick, who had lived in New York but spent much of his youth in the S.C. Lowcountry.
Dominick's great passion was the collection and study of moths. He built a laboratory a stone's throw from the sprawling plantation house and eventually collected and cataloged more than 26,000 moths.
The collection today is housed on the USC campus.
Dominick, who served as a World War II fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, died in 1976. His passion for his beloved plantation was such that he is buried in an unmarked grave in a grove of sweet bay trees, home to Dominick's favorite kind of caterpillar.
In the 1980s, the federal government was spending a lot of money to study mosquito-borne diseases, and USC President Holderman wanted to create an institute for the study of vector-born illnesses, to be housed at The Wedge.
Dominick's widow sold the property to the Carolina Research and Development Foundation for less than its value because she believed in the mission proposed for it by the university, said Oliver Dominick, his son.
"It was consistent with my dad's legacy," Oliver Dominick said.
The foundation later sold it to the university for $1.2 million. It's believed to be valued at more than $5 million today.
USC hired a professor to do the research, who began recruiting graduate students from around the world. The institute trained Peace Corps volunteers to teach methods to cope with insect-transmitted illnesses, said Winona Vernberg, a former dean of the School of Public Health who was involved in acquiring the property.
But by 1996, the federal money well was dry.
"We sort of got in on the tail-end of it," Vernberg said. "We always hoped it would come back, but the money just was not there."
The plantation became an economic drag on the university. "We were always putting money into it," said Vernberg, who was interim provost when the institute's fate was sealed. "There wasn't anyone breaking down the doors to use it for an educational purpose."
The university had no alternative mission for the plantation that would provide money to maintain the huge house.
Madilyn Fletcher, director of the USC's School of the Environment, served on a university task force in 1996 to inventory environmentally sensitive properties controlled by the university.
USC had research assets at Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown County and Pritchard's Island in Beaufort County and a development plan for the Prince George tract in Georgetown County. But the group came up empty on ideas for The Wedge, Fletcher said.
"The Wedge was the hardest to deal with," she said. "It has great potential, but a use just was not apparent."
Leasing it to private parties in 1996 for recreational purposes was a stopgap solution that provided some income for maintenance, she said.
The renters protected the house and other buildings from major deterioration and improved the rice field ponds, she said. Minutes of USC Board of Trustees meetings indicate the tenants spent about $600,000 on the place.
"At the time, I thought it was a reasonable way to deal with it," Fletcher said. "But it needs a vision and a champion to push that vision forward."
What's next?
Today, the house appears structurally sound. Its broad pine floor boards, the color of dark honey, glisten in the sunlight that streams through the windows.
Several rooms feature tall fireplaces where servants once prepared meals. Bathrooms and kitchens retrofitted decades ago are dated and would probably need to be replaced for any use more intense than as a hunting lodge.
With 10 bedrooms, plus a library, kitchen and dining and living rooms, just upgrading the electrical system and painting the walls could be a major expense.
Rick Kelly, who as chief financial officer inherited management of the orphan asset, described The Wedge as "an old property" that will require at least $120,000 to $150,000 per year to maintain its condition.
"If it's not maintained, it will deteriorate rapidly," Kelly said. "We're trying desperately to stay ahead of the curve on this one."
The university has "six or eight really good prospects," he said.
"Some are thinking of it as a residence for themselves," Kelly said. "One has a sort of bed-and-breakfast idea. And others are looking for hunting opportunities for themselves and their friends."
Board Chairman Herbert Adams said the trustees are awaiting a report from Kelly.
"We're just trying to figure out what to do next," he said.
DNR Director Frampton and Oliver Dominick both believe the university is doing the right thing by looking for a strategy to preserve the property at minimal expense to USC.
"I think we are going to see a spirited review of all this," Kelly said. "But if someone doesn't rise up as an advocate, we're going to have some challenges down the road to holding on to it."
Even though Oliver Dominick has not been involved with the Wedge for more than two decades, its fate remains unfinished business for the retired college professor.
His stepmother died last year. His father's grave remains unmarked under the bay laurels. He wants to place a small stone bench nearby with a tribute to his father's work.
And while he has no official say in the matter, he also would like to see the university find a mission for the property that was his father's laboratory.
"I'm really willing to take the long view on this."
Source : http://www.charlotte.com/someck/story/159377.html
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