I
By Christopher Widuch
magine being given the job of designing a
community from scratch. Not just any town in the
middle of Kansas or Ohio, instead a place blessed
with natural beauty, an endless view of the ocean,
and stars that shone brightly in the night sky.
A group of people tackled this challenge, and the
beneficiaries of their efforts are those of us who call Kiawah
our home, our second home, or our favorite vacation spot.
In 1975, a group of people from opposite sides of the
globe, both far off Kuwait and very local South Carolina, set
about putting their vision for the perfect “seaside resort” in
motion. They dreamed of an idyllic place where nature would
be paramount, their man-made intrusion would be guided
not by what could be built but by what could be preserved,
and the truly original residents—those of the four-legged
kind, the feathered species, and even the prehistoric relics
would be able to stay long into the future.
On May 15 of that year, the Charleston County Council
granted development rights to this group of dreamers.
Officially, they were known as the Kiawah Beach Company
and Coastal Shores, Inc. The Kiawah Beach Company was
a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastal Shores, which in turn
was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kuwait Investment
Company. These entities entered into a contractual
relationship with the Sea Pines Company of Hilton Head to
do the planning, research, environmental studies, and other
services related to the development of Kiawah for a timeline
estimated at 15 to 20 years.
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