New England-style seafood restaurant planned for Murrells Inlet Marshwalk

A new restaurant built to look like an old-fashioned New England-style lobster house will break ground in September along the Marshwalk in Murrells Inlet.

The Claw House will be constructed on what has been a parking lot south of Dead Dog Saloon, said John Campbell, one of the managing partners at Dead Dog and the new restaurant.

The Claw House will feature North Atlantic lobster trucked in fresh from the docks of New Bedford, Mass., just outside of Boston.

Campbell, along with principal owner Charlie Campbell, and managing partners Mike Campbell and Peter Jaentjens, have taken research trips to the New England docks.

“We plan to send trucks a few times a week to bring product down to the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk that is not currently available. That will be the key to our success,” John Campbell said.

In addition to bringing live lobsters to holding tanks at the restaurant, the trucks will pick up other fresh seafood along the East coast such as scallops, clams and Chesapeake Bay oysters, he said.

Campbell and his partners recently acquired the property just south of Dead Dog Saloon that has been used as a parking lot since a fish processing plant left the Inlet more than a decade ago. He said the land has commonly been mistaken as overflow parking for Dead Dog Saloon.

While plans are just in the permitting phase, a groundbreaking is anticipated for late September with the restaurant opening in mid- to late January, Campbell said.

Initially, the restaurant will seat about 265, as compared to Dead Dog’s seating for 470.

The design, which allows for future expansion, will include indoor seating, as well as covered outdoor and patio seating and a full-service raw bar, Campbell said.

Between 80 to 90 jobs will be created, which Campbell said is “certainly exciting news for this market.”

Although he would not reveal all its secrets, Campbell said the building entrance will contain some “wow factors” and “really cool pieces” and will have a vintage appearance with the main level raised to 12 feet high to provide for the “best view in Murrells Inlet.”

Campbell said storage space underneath the new restaurant was built into the design to help free up space in Dead Dog’s official overflow parking lot to the west. That lot is currently being expanded by clearing brush. When the storage units and dumpster pad located there now are moved underneath the new building, it will free up even more parking.

The Claw House will not consume the entire piece of land purchased, Campbell said. There will also be free parking on a portion of the new lot, which he said will be a “net benefit.”

This story was originally published August 26, 2015 at 9:41 AM with the headline "New England-style seafood restaurant planned for Murrells Inlet Marshwalk."