The S.C. State Ports Authority offered 51 acres of waterfront property for sale Friday, requesting bids for the Port of Port Royal in Beaufort County.

Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill in Sept. 2004 closing the under-used port and calling for its sale by the end of 2006. Since then, the ports authority and Port Royal have prepared surveys of the land and negotiated the conditions of its use.

The town of Port Royal is banking on the port’s transformation to enliven its quaint downtown, with officials approving development guidelines that allow a 140-room hotel, up to 225 marina slips, commercial space and 348 homes.

Town Manager Van Willis said he expects the land to sell for $12 million to $40 million.

Some residents annoyed by the large trucks that drive down the town’s main street and the little economic benefit the port provides have asked for years that the port be redeveloped.

The Port of Port Royal received 26 ships this year through October, said ports authority spokesman Byron Miller. In comparison, the much larger Port of Charleston received 1,600 ships this year through October at its public facilities.

A fertilizer and cement company still operate at the port, though those businesses are expected to leave within the next couple months, Miller said.

Bids and qualifications of interested companies can be submitted to the ports authority until March 30. Bids are being accepted for the entire property or for three separate parts of the property.

The town-approved development guidelines call for about 14 acres of parks to be created on the property.

Interested bidders for the land include national home-builder Centex, Charleston development firm Civic Square and Beaufort County developers such as the Millennium Group of Port Royal and Habersham Land Co. of Beaufort, according to Port Royal’s planning department.

Phil Hungerford, an urban planner from Greer, said he proposed earlier this year that the town create and fund a nonprofit entity to buy the property, install necessary roads and utilities, and then control the development.

Willis said that the town council considered the proposal but does not wish to act on it, leaving the land purchases to private buyers.

Reach Ryan at (803) 771-8595.