Myrtle Beach Mall facing lawsuits, unpaid property tax bills as redevelopment stalls
It was a $150 million dream that, if realized, would have returned a symbol of mid-20th century consumerism back to its peak.
But months after commercial real estate firm United Development Company unveiled its plans for the Myrtle Beach Mall property in late 2019, the coronavirus pandemic hit — dooming the venture before a single mound of dirt could be turned.
Court filings show the mall has been battling breach of contract and foreclosure claims since 2021 for failing to repay insurance deductibles and a multi-million dollar loan.
It has also racked up more than $257,000 in unpaid property taxes to Horry County, public records show.
The financial woes are a drastic turnabout from just three years ago, when United Development floated a concept to bring more restaurants, retail space and even a lighthouse and boardwalk area.
“This will truly be the gateway to Myrtle Beach,” DDC Engineers’ Mike Wooten told the Horry County Planning Commission in February 2019.
Just more than a year later, the problems began.
It was the summer of 2020 and a named hurricane was churning along the Atlantic coast. To be safe, the mall’s ownership team asked insurance provider James P. Bennett and Co. for a $92,663 one-year deductible buyback added to its policy in July 2020.
The mall never paid up, Bennett claimed in a July 2021 breach of contract suit filed in Horry County Common Pleas court.
“Defendants were forwarded a complete copy of the Policy they had purchased, but neglected to pay what they owed, thus unjustly keeping the benefit,” the suit says. “Defendants negotiated in bad faith, as they had continued to feign attempted compliance with the terms of the promise.”
In January, 15th Circuit Judge Benjamin H. Culbertson ordered the mall’s trio of ownership groups to pay $104,272 each to the insurance provider.
And last month, Westridge Lending Fund, which assumed the mall’s mortgage, rentals, leases and other agreements in 2018, launched foreclosure proceedings against MB Development Holdings for part of an unpaid $12.5 million loan.
Court records say the 523,000-square-foot Myrtle Beach Mall, which is off N. Kings Highway, owed $6.3 million of its loan as of March 8 when the suit was filed.
Mall representatives did not return several phone messages left by The Sun News seeking comment. Originally built in 1986, the mall was purchased in 2014 by Peak Financial Partners and Misuma Holdings.