Riverbend in Sun City Hilton Head, Bluffton, SC
The one part of Sun City Hilton Head where you build your own home: a gated neighborhood of custom houses by the salt marsh, with its own lodge, pool and community dock.
- Homes: Custom-built houses, about 330 homesites
- Where: Tidewatch Drive, Okatie/Bluffton, SC 29909
- Gate: The Riverbend Gate, 1 Tidewatch Drive
- Who can buy: Sun City’s 55-and-over rule
- Leases: 90 days minimum, no vacation rentals
Riverbend is a gated neighborhood inside Sun City Hilton Head, Del Webb’s 55-and-over community on the mainland. It covers about 220 acres at the community’s eastern edge, off Okatie Highway, and runs down to the tidal salt marsh. Beaufort County’s records call it Sun City Riverbend, and the homes carry Okatie or Bluffton, SC 29909 addresses, on streets named for boats: Cutter Circle, Catamaran, Schooner, Dory and Caravelle.
What sets Riverbend apart is how its houses are built. Across the rest of Sun City you choose from the builder’s plans; in Riverbend you buy a lot and design your own home and choose your own builder, on a larger lot than the production neighborhoods. The association keeps a separate set of design guidelines for it, and a committee of residents reviews every new house. Riverbend has about 330 homesites.
Riverbend Homes for Sale
Riverbend homes for sale come up a few at a time, and they are among the most expensive in Sun City, because every one is a custom house. The local MLS lists them as RiverBend, one of the four sections of its Sun City/Riverbend area. A vacant lot sometimes comes up too, for a buyer who wants to build. For the rest of the community’s listings, see Sun City Hilton Head homes for sale.
Building a Custom Home in Riverbend
Riverbend custom homes follow two rulebooks: Sun City’s design guidelines, which cover every home in the community, and Riverbend’s own, which add the rules for a house built from scratch. Where the two disagree, Sun City’s win. The Riverbend guidelines don’t set a style, but they ask for houses that sit quietly among the trees and marsh rather than stand out from their neighbors, and they protect the trees: every tree of 6 inches or more across has to be flagged and approved before it is cut, and a lot’s edges stay natural.
Size
At least 2,250 square feet of air-conditioned space, and an enclosed two-car garage. A two-story home needs 3,000, with 1,800 on the first floor.
Height
No more than 35 feet from the natural ground to the ridge, and the first floor no more than 5 feet above the flood elevation.
Setbacks
10 feet from each side line, 20 from the front and at least 20 from the back, and more near the marsh where the state’s coastal line applies.
Style and roofs
No set style, but Lowcountry forms in wood, brick, stone, tabby, stucco or clapboard. Mostly hip roofs; flat and gambrel roofs are out.
Colors
Muted colors taken from nature, with trim in a second color. No white, no blues, and black only as an accent on a door or shutters.
Extras
An in-ground pool in the back yard or a courtyard, never the front, and a cabana or guest cottage of up to 300 square feet.
How a New House Gets Approved
Plans go to the Architectural Review Subcommittee, three residents appointed by the association’s board, which meets monthly. The full package, with a survey, site plan, drawings, colors and a $5,000 escrow check to the association, is due at the Modifications Department two weeks before a meeting, and the answer comes in writing within two weeks of it. The landscape plan follows once the house is framed.
There is no deadline to start building after you buy a lot, but once work starts it runs to a clock: the outside substantially finished in six months and the whole house, landscaping included, in 18. Missing it can bring fines of up to $100 a day, and the escrow comes back after the final inspection. A lot left unkept is mowed by the association and billed to the owner. You can use any licensed builder, or act as your own.
The Lodge, Pool and Dock
Riverbend has its own clubhouse, the Riverbend Lodge at 39 Tidewatch Drive, with an outdoor pool beside it, and a long boardwalk out to a community dock on the marsh with a kayak launch. The dock is Sun City’s, and every Sun City resident may use it for fishing, shrimping, launching a kayak or just watching the water; there is no overnight or long-term tie-up. Marsh-front lots can’t build a private dock or boardwalk of their own, which keeps the shoreline open.
The rest of Sun City’s amenities come with a Riverbend home, because it is the same membership: four fitness centers, eight pools, more than a hundred clubs and three resident golf courses. The Sun City Hilton Head map shows where Riverbend sits among them. There is no golf course inside Riverbend.
Sun City Rules That Apply in Riverbend
Riverbend is part of Sun City, not a separate community, so Sun City’s rules and fees apply. Every occupied home needs at least one resident aged 55 or over. The base assessment is $2,820 a year in 2026, the same as a house on the Common side, and a resale carries Sun City’s one-time fees; the full schedule is on our Sun City Hilton Head HOA fees page.
A Riverbend home can’t be a vacation rental. Every lease must run at least 90 days, short-term and transient rentals are not allowed, and tenants register with the association and meet the same age rule; see Sun City Hilton Head rentals. For a holiday stay nearby, start with our Hilton Head vacation rentals guide.
Getting In: The Riverbend Gate
Riverbend’s guarded entrance, the Riverbend Gate at 1 Tidewatch Drive, is one of the four Sun City gates that issue guest passes. Residents drive in on their decals; a visitor needs a resident to call them in, to the gate on (843) 379-5528, on the association’s website or in its app. Contractors building a house come in through the association’s vendor process, not on a guest pass.
Sun City Hilton Head homes for sale: search every listing, plus the 55+ rule, 2026 dues, resale fees and leasing rules in Del Webb's Bluffton community.
Sun City Commons, Bluffton, SC fees from the association's 2026 schedule: the $2,820 base assessment, North and West dues, neighborhood and resale fees.
A printable Sun City Hilton Head map: the gates that issue guest passes, Town Square, the three golf clubhouses, Sun City West and Riverbend.
Sun City Hilton Head is Del Webb's 55+ community near Bluffton, SC: homes, fees, the age rule, resident-only golf, clubs, dining and how the gates work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Riverbend part of Sun City Hilton Head?
Yes. Riverbend is a gated neighborhood inside Sun City Hilton Head, with the same association, the same base assessment and the same 55-and-over rule. It has its own gate, lodge, pool and design guidelines.
Can you build a custom home in Riverbend?
Yes, that is what Riverbend is for. You buy a lot and build your own design, with your own builder, once a committee of residents approves the plans under the Riverbend design guidelines.
How big does a Riverbend house have to be?
At least 2,250 square feet of air-conditioned space with an enclosed two-car garage, and at least 3,000 square feet for a two-story home. No house may be taller than 35 feet.
Where is Riverbend in Bluffton, SC?
At the eastern edge of Sun City Hilton Head, off Okatie Highway, on Tidewatch Drive. Homes have Okatie or Bluffton, SC 29909 addresses, and it is in Beaufort County, not on Hilton Head Island.
Can Riverbend residents use the dock?
Yes, and so can every other Sun City resident. The community dock is for fishing, shrimping and launching kayaks, with no overnight docking. Private docks on marsh-front lots are not allowed.
Can I rent out a home in Riverbend?
Only on a lease of 90 days or more to a tenant who meets the age rule. Sun City does not allow short-term or vacation rentals.
Local guides like this come standard for Guests of Partner Properties — one small part of what a Partner Property gives every guest.
Book Partner Properties