Coastal Business | Myrtle Beach website sells for millions

Coastal Business

MYRTLE BEACH

City website sells for millions

A Grand Strand company has bought MyrtleBeach.com for $6.5 million, said the seller, Skip Hoagland, who owns several geographically named websites.

Myrtle Beach-based Intellistrand LLC struck a deal with Hoagland that also gave him full ownership in about 10 sites in which the company previously held a 50 percent stake, Hoagland said. The websites include Honolulu.com, Baltimore.com, Wiliamsburg.com, ParkCity.com, Daytona.com and SouthCarolina.com.

Stuart Butler, Intellistrand's chief operating officer, confirmed the sale but would not comment on the amount the company paid for the site. Buying the site is part of the company's effort to focus more on Myrtle Beach, Butler said.

"We feel like we weren't necessarily taking full advantage of the Myrtle Beach market," he said.

Intellistrand has leased and managed MyrtleBeach.com for the past 10 years but previously paid a large percentage of the site's revenue to Hoagland, Butler said. The website generates millions of dollars in advertising revenue and that will now all go to Intellistrand, he said.

Hoagland is founder and CEO of DomainsNewMedia.com LLC, which has offices in Argentina, Florida and Hilton Head Island.

MYRTLE BEACH

Airport expansion under budget

The Myrtle Beach International Airport expansion is coming in about 16 percent below budget, according to MB Kahn, the construction company managing the project.

The cost savings will allow an additional gate, an additional 15,000 square feet of operations space, an upgrade of finishes, an emergency generator and more money for the renovation of the existing terminal, said Rick Ott, a senior vice president of MB Kahn.

Ott said that the project will cost at least 16 percent less than the original $129.8 million budget.

"We used a bidding strategy that broke the project up into 30 small contracts, which allowed a lot of local contractors to participate and their costs are lower," Ott said. "The second issue is the current market is depressed and a lot of these contractors need work and they're sharpening their pencils."

GEORGETOWN

Ports to switch operating systems

The South Carolina State Ports Authority is spending $17.3 million for a new terminal operating system for the ports in Georgetown and Charleston.

Work on installing the system will begin in February.

Byron Miller, a spokesman for the authority, said the new system, called Navis SPARCS N4, is more flexible and will make it easier for the ports to serve customers.