Lowndes Grove Plantation sale could be highest price ever recorded on the Peninsula, not expected to affect bookings

Wedding receptions and other events scheduled at Lowndes Grove Plantation are not expected to be affected by the possible sale of the property, which went on the market last week.

The house, which dates from 1787 and currently operates as a bed and breakfast, is listed for $7.2 million with William Means Real Estate, an affiliate of Christie’s Great Estates.

If Lowndes Grove Plantation sells at its current list price, it will be the highest ever recorded sale price of a home on the Charleston peninsula.

The property is booked for special events through next May, said Caroline Lubin, an intern working with Lowndes Grove’s event coordinator, Megan Morgan.

“All our contracts will be honored if someone’s having an event here. We’ve had numerous calls from concerned brides,” Lubin said. “Also, a property of this nature takes a very long time to sell, so we’re telling people not to worry.”

The current owners of Lowndes Grove, Alexander Opoulos III and his wife, Tina, are out of the country for the next week, Lubin said.

The couple bought the main house from Charles and Martha Craven in 2000 for $1.9 million and later bought the adjacent carriage house. The property encompasses 15 acres overlooking the Ashley River near Hampton Park and is the only remaining plantation on the Charleston peninsula.

Elle Haynes, the broker handling the sale, said the property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and most of it is protected by a conservation easement. Haynes said the Lowndes Grove listing has been getting a lot of activity from potential buyers.

“It’s mostly people who want to use it as a private residence,” she said. “The owners would prefer to sell it as one property and preserve the historic value of the property.”

Haynes said the owners had also been approached by a potential buyer who was interested in subdividing some of the acreage for residential development.

Eddie Bello, director of the city’s Board of Architectural Review, said Lowndes Grove Plantation lies in a landmark overlay district and any proposed changes to the house or construction on its grounds would have to be approved by the BAR and reviewed publicly.

as provided by Charleston Regional Business Journal