Three city-owned buildings in Myrtle Beach’s Superblock win Horry County tax breaks
As the City of Myrtle Beach continues its efforts to rehab its downtown, three “Superblock” buildings that held various businesses in the mid-20th century are receiving Horry County tax credits.
The city, through an LLC, owns the three buildings along 9th Ave. North in downtown: The former Belk’s Department Store, the former Myrtle Beach Bakery and the former A&P Building. The buildings are near the Grand Strand Brewing Company, whose building was previously renovated and received a county historic tax credit.
The city’s LLC, called 9th Avenue LL, lists former city manager John Pedersen and current city manager Fox Simons, as officers.
The historic tax credits allow the city to restore the buildings’ facade, renovate the interior and only pay property taxes based on the pre-renovation value of the building. The renovations have to cost at least 25% of the building’s value, though. and It’s not yet clear how much the tax credits will be worth as the total depends on future property assessments. The tax credits remain in place for 15 years, and then expire.
The city’s purchasing of property in the downtown “Superblock” in its efforts to revitalize the area has proved controversial over the years.
County leaders voted to approve similar historic tax credits for a building in downtown Conway, the Spivey building.
Belk’s Department Store
The first of Myrtle Beach’s three properties to receive the historic tax credit was the former Belk’s Department Store, located at 505 9th Ave. North. The building was constructed sometime around 1950 and is currently valued at $249,200. The city plans to put approximately $42,000 into restoring the building’s facade to mimic the original design of the building.
The storefront held Belk’s Department Store from roughly 1950 to the mid-1970s, the city said in its tax credit application, boasting a brick facade.
“The building represents the growing commercial center of Myrtle Beach during its “Golden Era” of development, the period of rapid expansion following Hurricane Hazel’s destruction of the landscape and the increase into “automobility” of the post-war middle-class,” the city wrote in its application.
Belk’s, alongside other department stores and five-and-dime stores, represented “the commercial soul” of Myrtle Beach in the 1950s, the city said. By the 1970s, economic changes caused Belk’s to move to the local mall. In the late 1990s, a craft store occupied the space followed by Project Lighthouse, a center for youth in crisis throughout the 2000s. The space was used as an “escape room” as of 2017, though that business has since closed.
Myrtle Beach Bakery
Constructed in 1946, the Myrtle Beach Bakery was open and run by Austrian-born immigrants Ruth and John Schiller until 1973, providing a number of restaurants and stores with baked goods. A rear addition to the building was added in the 1950s and a second story was added in the 1960s for the neighboring Belk’s Department Store to use as an office.
Another bakery, Antonio’s Bakery, occupied the space in the early 2000s, and the company People Solutions occupied it in the 2010s.
“The building is an extension of the original growth of Myrtle Beach’s downtown, which originally was focused on Broadway and began expanding to intersecting and neighboring streets,” the city wrote in its application for the tax credits. “The building represents the growth of the downtown, but also a thriving immigrant-run business.”
The city’s renovation work will focus on restoring the building’s facade to how it looked in the 1950s. Renovations are estimated to cost $341,455. The building is currently valued at $112,400.
A&P Building
Likely constructed sometime prior to 1948, the A&P Building is believed to have housed The Mayflower Restaurant before holding the Super A&P Grocery store from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. The A&P, beginning as a mail-order tea company in the 1850s, eventually became one of the first modern grocery store chains in the country.
“The location of a modern chain grocery store in Myrtle Beach’s downtown signified the growth of both the tourist season but also the permanent residents living in Myrtle Beach year-round,” the city wrote in its tax credit application. “The building retains its integrity and remains an important commercial legacy in the downtown historic district.”
The city plans to spend around $45,000 to rehabilitate the building’s storefront. The building is currently valued at $137,900.
