Grande Dunes residents worried Waterway Hills changes may destroy their premier community
The owner of Grande Dunes Members Club and former Waterway Hills Golf Club is hoping to connect the two adjacent properties.
The properties west of the Intracoastal Waterway touch at the border of the cities of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach with Grande Dunes in the former and Waterway Hills in the latter.
LStar Ventures bought the 2,200-acre Grande Dunes development from Burroughs & Chapin Co. in 2013 and has since sold portions of it, but still owns the 18-hole golf course and surrounding housing developments, including Golf Village.
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based company then spent $16 million in 2015 to acquire 240 acres north of the development that included Waterway Hills. The 27-hole course, best known for its gondola ride from the parking lot off U.S. 17 to the clubhouse, closed shortly after the purchase.
Waterway Hills was annexed into North Myrtle Beach in 2008 as part of a 1,363-acre Planned Development District called the Parkway Group PDD that was created by the owners of six parcels of land.
LStar’s property in North Myrtle Beach is currently listed within the district as Grande Dunes North, but its plan is to build a neighborhood called Waterway Hills Village with about 888 homes it hopes to begin selling by the end of 2019, according to Margaret Lacalle, president of the company’s Coastal North Division.
The company’s hope is to build a private road from the new neighborhood to the Grande Dunes private Members Club at Terra Verde Drive, Lacalle said. The connection would be blocked by a gate that could be opened only by members of the club.
Lacalle said they submitted that proposal to Myrtle Beach planning department Thursday.
The city forwarded those plans to The Sun News on Friday. Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea said the amendment to Grande Dunes’ Planned Unit Development will need to be reviewed by the Planning Commission before going to city council for consideration.
The plan is likely to be met with some resistance as a group of Grande Dunes residents have consistently voiced opposition to joining the two properties since LStar bought Waterway Hills.
Roger Markowitz, who has owned his home in Golf Village since 2010, said he and his neighbors believe the connection will decrease their home value and destroy Golf Village as a “premier” neighborhood.
Their concern is that the Waterway residents will use their roads as a thoroughfare to the beach and shopping in Myrtle Beach free of the responsibility of any wear and tear, Markowitz said.
Lacalle said they’ve held several meetings with members of the private club to explain the logistics of how access will be limited. A document included in the plans submitted to Myrtle Beach states that the Members Club is being “heavily subsidized” by the owner and needs to attract more members to remain private.
Markowitz said he’s skeptical of those claims, and he plans to voice his concern at any public hearings held by Myrtle Beach on the proposal.
North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling said LStar has not submitted anything to the city, but the city’s planning staff did meet with representatives of the company a few months ago to discuss the amendment process.
Any proposed amendment to the development district would require input from the other property owners and need to be approved by city council in the form of an ordinance, according to Dowling.
Lacalle said she doesn’t believe the company will need to submit any plans to North Myrtle Beach.
Dowling added that LStar and the other district property owners have been working on construction of the roundabout entryway for all of the land, with access to the roundabout off Watertower Road. None of the traffic associated with development of the Parkway district will be routed through roads in adjacent Barefoot Resort, he said.
LStar has been dealing with internal strife and financial difficulties in relation to a major project in Massachusetts.
The Patriot Ledger has reported that the company was fired earlier this year as master developer of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station in the midst of numerous lawsuits from several companies for unpaid bills.
LStar’s managing partner, Steven Vining, also sued former CEO and co-founder Kyle Corkum in North Carolina for allegedly misspending millions of dollars, but then Corkum sued Vining and the company in Massachusetts alleging they intentionally failed to repay a loan to sabotage his finances and reputation, according to the Ledger.
Lacalle said the Grande Dunes project is its own business with separate investors and won’t be affected by anything occurring in Massachusetts.
This story was originally published May 10, 2019 at 10:44 AM.
