7,000 acres scooped up in Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head

The down real estate market created a couldn't-pass-up deal for two Carolinas companies that have acquired more than 7,000 acres in Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island, officials said.

Locally based SB Investment has teamed with Stratford Land to buy 7,390 acres in the two coastal cities, including Wild Wing Plantation, Sandridge in North Myrtle Beach, Summerland in Carolina Forest and Windsor Plantation in the Myrtle Beach area. The deal includes 725 developed lots, 7,245 partially developed lots and 15,519 permitted lots within master-planned communities in Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island.

Officials with the companies declined to give the purchase price, which also wasn't available Friday through Horry County's online property listings.

The firms formed a joint company, SLF IV-SBI, for the deal, which has been in the works since May, said Ralph Teal, the Myrtle Beach-based managing member of the joint venture. SB Investments includes Teal, Carson Benton and Lawton Benton, who developed Wild Wing Plantation, Plantation Lakes and Cypress River Plantation, among others.

Several of the developments have basic roads and utilities in place and are in prime locations, Teal said. The new land owners say they are in for the long-term, willing to move along slowly now with lot sales here and there, then will be ready once the real estate market improves. The companies didn't finance the deal, so there's no debt to worry about, Teal said.

"We are not under any mandate or gun to sell something or get rid of it," Teal said. "We've got the patience."

Among the properties the company bought:

Wild Wing Plantation off U.S. 501 | A 1,000-acre development with amenities such as a pool and 27-hole golf course.

Sandridge | A 1,600-acre undeveloped property near the Intracoastal Waterway in North Myrtle Beach.

Grey Plantation, also known as Summerland | One of the last undeveloped tracts in Carolina Forest.

Windsor Plantation | A 300-lot development south of Myrtle Beach.

Hilton Head Lakes | A 2,700-acre planned development between Savannah and Hilton Head Island.

Traditions | A 1,900-acre planned development in Hilton Head Island with a golf course.

These are the first properties along the Grand Strand for Stratford Land, which is based in Dallas but has an office in Raleigh, N.C. The firm sees potential in the Grand Strand because of its large number of tourists who come annually, said Mark MacDonald, Stratford Land's director of investments for the Carolinas and Virginia.

"We obviously thought [the properties] were attractive," he said. "We try to buy in markets we think are poised for growth."

The companies bought the land for a significant discount to replacement costs, MacDonald said. This kind of deal wouldn't have existed if it weren't for the fallout from the building boom and bust, Teal said.

"Why this is happening today is because of what was happening in '04, '05, '06, '07," Teal said. "It was just excess, just crazy; just a crazy environment nobody had seen before."

Land prices are ideal for developers who can buy now and wait for the market to improve, said Tom Maeser, market analyst for the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors.

"I think we are going to see more of it," he said.