By Dave Munday
The Post and Courier

SUMMERVILLE — A 63-acre riverfront tract that was a prime spot for development will become a park instead.

Ending a nearly three-year legal battle to cancel the contract, Charleston Southern University sold its interest in the property to the Lowcountry Open Land Trust.

"It's a sure thing it won't be developed," Land Trust Executive Director Will Haynie said Tuesday. "There's no question it will now be a passive public park."

The land is on the southwest side of the Ashley River off Bacons Bridge Road, or S.C. Highway 165, south of Dorchester Road. Bacons Bridge is the gateway to the plantations near Charleston, and Revolutionary War Gen. Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion is thought to have camped at the site.

CSU signed a sales contract in 2004. CSU canceled the contract in March 2005, arguing that the Land Trust missed the deadline for closing the deal.

Master-in-Equity Patrick Watts ruled in June 2006 that missing the closing deadline did not invalidate the contract. CSU appealed. Last month, the state appeals court ruled that CSU should sell.

CSU could have taken the case to the state Supreme Court. Instead, the university agreed to sell. The Land Trust paid $208,000 and got the deed Tuesday, Haynie said.

CSU officials directed calls to attorney Ed Buckley, who could not be reached Tuesday.

The deed gives the Land Trust a 61.7 percent interest in the property. The Land Trust still has to negotiate prices with more than two dozen others who also have an interest in the property. "We're not sure how we will work out all the details," Haynie said. "But this gives us a controlling interest. It will be protected and open to the people."

Dorchester County officials have been looking forward to opening a park at the site. The sale also is part of the agreement to downsize the Poplar Grove development from 3,500 to 450 houses. The S.C. Conservation Bank agreed to kick in $2.2 million to help buy easements if a park could be established on the Ashley River. The conservation bank gave the land trust $280,000 to help buy a park site.

Reach Dave Munday at 745-5862 or dmunday@postandcourier.com.