Myrtle Beach purchasing new office space

Two city employees and Downtown Redevelopment Corp. employees will be moving from Myrtle Beach City Hall into a nearby office space on Ninth Avenue North.

The city purchased property at 517 Ninth Avenue North for $160,000 and will spend about $40,000 on repairs. City Council approved first reading of an ordinance that authorized funding the purchase during last week’s meeting.

The city will move $200,000 from the undesignated balance of the capital projects fund.

The purchase will allow two risk management employees and two DRC employees, as well as the organization’s two interns, to move from City Hall into the 2,000-square-foot office space 0.2 miles away.

City Manager John Pedersen said he hopes staff members can be in the new office in about 30 days.

“We’re doing roofing repairs and right now it’s just a concrete floor, so we’re putting down flooring,” he said. “Everything else has already been done.”

DRC initially planned to purchase the property in December, but the plans caused friction with City Council members who were unaware of the organization’s plans.

Pedersen initiated the move of the DRC executive director and executive assistant last November, saying it would free up two offices to allow a planning department intern and neighborhood services coordinator to have space in City Hall.

The planning department intern currently shares an office with a city planner. The neighborhood services coordinator sits in the City Hall Annex.

Moving the risk management employees also will allow Chief Financial Officer Michael Shelton and assistant city manager Ron Andrews to have space in City Hall. Shelton is now in the City Services Building across from City Hall and Andrews works in the Public Works Administration building off 10th Avenue North Extension.

DRC members in December said they wanted the office to be within the district, which includes the area from Sixth Avenue South to 16th Avenue North, from the Atlantic Ocean to Oak Street and Broadway Street.

City Hall is just outside the district. The new office space is just inside the DRC area.

The new space has five offices as well as reception, conference, storage, break and kitchen areas.

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach purchasing new office space."