A man plans to turn an abandoned light tower off the North Carolina coast into a high-seas bed-and-breakfast.
50-year-old Richard Neal of Mint Hill bought the Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower in a federal government auction in May for $85,000.
Neal plans to turn the 44-year-old former U.S. Coast Guard post into a bed-and-breakfast. The tower is 25 miles from Wilmington and is more than 60 feet above the water. It has seven bedrooms, a kitchen, a recreation room and helicopter landing platform. The tower was built in 1966 and was deactivated in 2003.
Neal wants to open next summer.
The Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower is a decommissioned lighthouse located approximately 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Bald Head Island, North Carolina. The light tower is a steel oil drilling platform, known as a “Texas Tower” on top of four steel legs that has been modified to be used as a lighthouse. The 80-foot (24 m) light tower marks the shoals at the confluence of the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean. The platform consists of two floors. The subfloor is a living area of approximately 5,000 square feet (460 m2) that includes five bedrooms, kitchen, office, storage area, recreation area and toilet facilities.
The light tower is potentially available by helicopter and boat. However, the platform cannot support a helicopter landing and the ladder to the light tower has been destroyed.[citation needed] The tower was replaced by a buoy in 2003 and no longer serves as an aid to navigation. The Coast Guard considered demolishing the light for use as an artificial reef, but the tower was instead purchased by South Carolina diving and research firm Shipwrecks, Inc. in 2009 for $515,000. However, the company failed to make the down-payment and subsequently, the tower returned to government hands and was sold again in May 2010 for $85,000 to Neal who plans to turn it into a bed and breakfast.
