Myrtle Beach leaders hope new high-rise hotel sparks redevelopment

Developers unveiled plans Tuesday to fill a vacant Ocean Boulevard lot with a 240-unit, 20-story hotel and water park in a blighted area of the city that has lacked redevelopment in at least two decades.

The Bayshore Hotel is estimated to cost more than $50 million to build and is the first project to be announced after the Myrtle Beach City Council approved new “floating zones” and incentives to spur redevelopment in stagnant portions of the city last year.

The high-rise hotel, with its own indoor/outdoor water park and pool, is planned for a lot that has stood vacant for years at the corner of Sixth Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard between Sharkey’s Beach Bar and the Bay View Resort.

“This is the first major project in the south end since the recession so hopefully … this is going to kick start other investors,” said Mayor John Rhodes after hearing the plans at a Myrtle Beach City Council meeting Tuesday.

The council approved a first reading of an ordinance to rezone the proposed land to a new redevelopment district zone that would allow the hotel. The board also approved incentives that would mean a rebate of up to $1 million in permit, impact and other fees developers will have to pay to build the project.

City Manager John Pedersen said the council approved new zoning districts and the incentive program last year to spur redevelopment in certain areas of the city. The “floating zone” allows developers more leeway in proposing plans that might not otherwise fit in a current zone. Through a financial incentive, developers are eligible to receive up to 2 percent of their construction costs after a property is issued a certificate of occupancy.

“The first application of that million-dollar credit is that they get the money back for the permits and the impact fees that they paid us to build the project,” Pedersen said. “This is reimbursing them money that we would not have had were it not for the project.”

The remaining rebate can be reimbursed through business license fees and water and sewer fees, he added.

“There is no taxpayer support in this financial incentive. It’s all basically a rebate and it’s basically taking a small deferment on the economic benefit that we would have in order to encourage the developer to go ahead with the development,” he said.

Pedersen called the project a “success of those ordinances” the council passed last year to encourage redevelopment and developers of the project agreed.

Bob Singleton, executive vice president of Buchanan Motels, LLC, representing the developer, said the incentive program “was certainly one of the driving forces of the project.”

“In other areas we had PUD fees, alley waste lot fees, and things like that where the developer had to come out-of-pocket over a million and a half dollars where this particular project has the … 2 percent incentive,” Singleton said. “Kudos to the city of Myrtle Beach for recognizing this area needed improvements and passing the bill releasing us to get it done.”

Larry Timbes, a consultant to the project’s architect e3 studio, LLC, said the hotel will feature a glass wall on the first floor giving visitors and passersby a view of the property’s waterpark, pool and the ocean beyond. The hotel will share a parking garage with the Bay View Resort. The hotel’s third floor will host guest registration, a breakfast area, bar, coffee shop and a “grab-and-go” store, with guest quarters starting on the fourth floor.

“We just hope it’s going to be the catalyst to bring other investors in and serve as a catalyst to move everything forward,” Timbes said.

Developers still have to go through a site reading and the Community Appearance Board to obtain approval before the project can proceed as planned. If they don’t hit any snags, Timbes said they look to break ground in June and have the hotel up and running two years after full construction takes off in September.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach leaders hope new high-rise hotel sparks redevelopment."