The State Ports Authority has sailed past the first channel marker in its effort to find for a buyer or buyers for its Daniel Island property. The agency, which put the 1,300-acre waterfront site on the market in late March, received 18 responses to a "request for qualifications" ahead of the May 15 deadline.

While names and other details have not been released, the prospective buyers include national, regional and local developers, said SPA spokesman Byron Miller.

The authority will be analyzing the information in the months ahead, such the purchase price and each applicant's ability to develop the property. Interviews are scheduled to begin Aug. 31, and a buyer could be identified by Oct. 16.

The SPA said it plans to reinvest the sale proceeds into the estimated $700 million container port it is proposing to build on the former Navy base in North Charleston.

The property it's selling makes up the entire southern tip of Daniel Island, which is in the City of Charleston and Berkeley County, between the Wando and Cooper rivers. The port has said it has had "favorable discussions" with the city about zoning changes and the creation of a development agreement, but no formal action has been taken.

The SPA also warned any would-be buyers that it will need about half of the site for the next five years for dredge disposal.

The agency acquired the land in the 1990s and intended to develop it as a massive container terminal known as Global Gateway. Amid a groundswell of political and community opposition, that site was abandoned in 2002 in favor the Navy base locale.

The SPA is looking to seal a deal with one or more developers who have the experience and the financial ability to handle large, complex waterfront projects. It requested a detailed profile of each applicant, as well as financial statements dating back three years.

The solicitation did not include the conceptual development ideas that the SPA unveiled to the public in March.

Those plans, completed by Wood + Partners of Hilton Head Island, showed a dense mixed-use development on the Cooper River side of the property, including retail space, condominiums and a marina, with an undetermined number of single-family homes lining much of the rest of the waterfront and inland parcels.

About 40 percent of the site would be public parks, open space or nature preserves in scattered locations, under that plan.

When the drawings were made public, Gov. Mark Sanford winced. He said the SPA should "do something extraordinary" with the land before selling it, such as setting aside the entire tip of the tract for a massive public waterfront park. He said the site has the potential of becoming "the Central Park" of the Lowcountry, and urged residents to voice their opinions.

The governor's views are not entirely shared by the SPA board, as both sides have acknowledged.

Contact John McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com.