Golf cart manufacturer looking at Horry County’s ITAP; would be first business in park

A Fort Wayne, Ind., developer is working with Horry County officials to be the first tenant in the International Technology and Aerospace Park, but it first must get the approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The company would take golf carts off golf courses and turn them into four-seaters for retail and wholesale sales, said Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus, who has been working with the company to open here.

Company owner Bruce Dye has his eyes on moving into a nearby building until he receives word on constructing the new facility at ITAP, Lazarus said.

“We showed him the 77,000-square-foot building that was left from AvCraft,” Lazarus said. “The problem is we’ve got to get it approved by the FAA for non-aeronautical use. Then we have to get a facilities license agreement, or a month-to-month deal, until we would have to advertise it to get into a long-term lease.

“His intentions are to lease it temporarily and then build a 100,000-square-foot warehouse/manufacturing facility at that location.”

Dye could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He also rents and sells golf carts in Surfside Beach at the former Legends in Concert building.

AvCraft Technical Services, a Myrtle Beach maintenance company that promised to hire 150 workers more than three years ago, was once touted as the first successful project of the re-charged Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. However, the company never fulfilled its job creation promises and struggled to grow the way AvCraft’s leaders hoped it would, leading it to close, owing Horry County more than $91,000 in rent payments.

ITAP, designated as a MBREDC project in 2009, is off Farrow Parkway between other development at The Market Common and a large apron near the airport’s runway. The federal government and the airport recently spent $5.45 million to build a new taxiway to directly link the site to the main runway.

The placement of the golf cart business in ITAP would help the EDC overcome a major stumbling block of getting the first business to move in the park, which already has the roads and other infrastructure to support businesses.

Sandy Davis, director of operations and project management for the EDC, said this was the first business that has tried to move into ITAP in the year and a half she has been with the MBREDC. She said the golf cart business is looking at 10 acres that is designated for accessory use, where it doesn’t have to be aeronautical.

“Usually all the inquiries that we take to ITAP are aeronautical or aerospace related in some form,” Davis said. “But there is an area that is drawn out, according to FAA regulations, that’s for mixed use, and that’s the area they would like to go to.”

Davis said MBREDC officials met with Dye and his group Aug. 26 to let him know what was needed to move the project forward.

Dye still needs to get approvals from the FAA that the hangar can be used for non-aeronautical use and still must fill out economic development forms, she said.

Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said he had not heard about the potential development in ITAP, but he was pleased.

“It would be great to see someone move in on the ITAP property,” Rhodes said. “Maybe once you get someone to start something there, maybe other businesses will start to come in.”

Davis agreed.

“We would love to have it started,” Davis said of the golf cart business. “If we could get one in there, the rest would come a lot faster than it has.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Golf cart manufacturer looking at Horry County’s ITAP; would be first business in park."