Myrtle Beach boardwalk to be extended and oceanfront park built

Myrtle Beach’s boardwalk is going to be extended to just past 16th Avenue North as a new hotel goes in the area.

Director of planning Carol Coleman said the new hotel going in at 16th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard will spur the extension because the property was approved as a Planned Unit Development, meaning developers were given some zoning exceptions by the city in exchange for a public benefit.

That benefit, she said, is the extended boardwalk. “That’s been a big, popular public improvement,” she said .

The oceanfront hotel itself will be a timeshare with 330 units, according to city documents. Coleman said the property will be under the Hilton brand.

The total boardwalk extension will be close to 220 feet, ending just north of 16th Avenue, and developers will give the city money to complete the work. Developers also will include a new oceanfront park at the street end of 16th Avenue, Coleman said, that will be roughly 80-feet-wide and stretch from the oceanfront to Ocean Boulevard.

City Spokesman Mark Kruea said the boardwalk was extended in a similar fashion when the Mexican restaurant Banditos was built. That extension amounted to an additional 450 feet, he said. The boardwalk’s north end currently sits at 15th Avenue North.

This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach boardwalk to be extended and oceanfront park built."