Developer abandoned new Myrtle Beach oceanfront resort’s walkover to keep project on schedule

Developers of a proposed elevated skywalk of a new oceanfront hotel in Myrtle Beach said they chose to abandon the walkover so the project could stay on schedule.

“What we were up against was a time line,” Buchanan Motels LLC Vice President Bob Singleton said. “We have to goal to have the building open in spring 2017. If we were to continue to try to get the skywalk, it would have thrown us off schedule.”

Virginia-based Buchanan Motels still plans to build an as-yet unnamed resort with a water park and parking garage on Ocean Boulevard at 17th Avenue North, but the skywalk won’t be part of the new plan.

The developers still are proposing to construct a 23-floor, 252 unit oceanfront resort with a 15,000-square-foot indoor water park. Initial plans placed the water park and a parking garage on the second row. The walkway would have connected the two buildings at the fifth floor, about 60 feet above the ground.

Developers are planning to submit new plans to the city that have the water park on the ground floor of the oceanfront building, a parking lot on the second row and a parking garage on the third row, Singleton said.

Buchanan’s plan to build one prompted a debate over whether the city should allow more crosswalks.

Opponents to the walkover said allowing the new resort to have one could set a bad precedent and allow for the walkways at every resort with second-row amenities. But developers said the skywalk was a safer alternative for guests to move back and forth from the rooms to the parking garage and water park.

“There was some opposition to [the skywalk] but I think at the end of the day ... our influence was the deadline,” Singleton said. “That influenced it more than anything.”

City Council members were divided on the issue of a skywalk since it was introduced, with some being for it, some against it, and others waiting to make a decision.

The only elevated crosswalk in Myrtle Beach was built in 1998 and connects guest rooms at Landmark Resort at 15th Avenue South to a parking garage and meeting rooms across Ocean Boulevard.

City manager John Pedersen said he still expects City Council to consider whether or not they want to allow skywalks, though he’s not sure when.

“It’s an important policy question that at some point we need to [address],” he said. “It’s better to deal with these questions in the abstract.”

He said he doesn’t want to wait until another project proposes a walkover at some point down the line.

During the past few months Myrtle Beach Planning Department staff worked to come up with potential updated guidelines that would guide City Council had they decided to allow the elevated crosswalk to be built.

“We did not change our position [against walkovers],” planning director Jack Walker said. “There’s no good reason to incorporate these new, visually disruptive structures.”

However, were the city to decide to allow the skywalks, staff developed a list of design standards that include general design criteria, design requirements, spacing and justification requirements and pedestrian improvement guidelines.

For example, staff planned to recommend that walkovers be required to be at least 1,200 feet apart and provide a commercial use at street level. It also was recommended that there be at least 400 hotel rooms or apartments or 60,000 square feet of meeting rooms, among other qualifications.

Myrtle Beach senior planner Allison Hardin said if the Buchanan developers submit the redesigned plans by Jan. 22, the project will be on the Feb. 17 Planning Commission agenda for a public hearing. If the Planning Commission has no issues with those plans, they could be on the City Council agenda by Feb. 24 for a second reading, she said.

Singleton said if all goes well with the approval process, the developers plan to break ground on the project in April.

This story was originally published January 11, 2015 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Developer abandoned new Myrtle Beach oceanfront resort’s walkover to keep project on schedule."