North Myrtle Beach growth initiative launched at right time

From the start, Bill Griste Jr., a native of North Myrtle Beach, liked the idea of a growth and prosperity initiative. “I’m a big believer in North Myrtle Beach. I’m for anything that is going to better our city.”

As a restaurant owner, Griste’s business sense told him that growing the North Myrtle Beach “visitor and destination market,” one of the three strategies of “Building North Myrtle Beach,” would help the eight eateries of Grand Strand Dining Group. In addition, the formation of a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation “appealed to me,” he said, adding that supporting charitable giving is “important to me.”

Griste’s great-grandparents helped settle what is now the city of North Myrtle Beach. His great-grandfather, Wiley Grimes Griste, was the first postmaster and first druggist in Ocean Drive Beach, one of the communities that merged to form the city. Bill Griste is the chairman-elect of the chamber board and Griste financially supports the initiative by contributing 1 percent of meal checks.

In launching “Building North Myrtle Beach,” the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce took some risks. Good planning and broad private sector participation in the five-year initiative shows that the willingness to take some chances has paid off not only for the chamber and its members but also for the community. The initiative will have raised and spent about $3.2 million at the conclusion of the five years in 2016.

“The last four to five years have been a whirlwind,” chamber President Marc Jordan told The Sun News editorial board. The key to the financial success of the initiative is the voluntary $1 per room night on short-term hotel and motel rooms, proposed by Rick Elliott, chairman of Building North Myrtle Beach. This currently produces $500,000 a year, and will increase as more accommodations groups join. Another $800,000 was pledged through the chamber foundation.

A new, “very enhanced website” is a tangible result of the $1 per room night revenue stream, Jordan says. The site, www.explorenorthmyrtlebeach.com, is up and running but still being tweaked. On the site, a potential visitor in Shanghai, China, for example, can “be one click away from” finding a room in North Myrtle Beach.

The other strategies of the initiative are No. 2, “diversify the North Myrtle Beach economy,” and No. 3, “equip the chamber to function as focal point for sustainable growth and development.”

The current chamber board chairman, Mendel Bell, feels the initiative has exceeded expectations. “It’s done great. It’s been really welcomed in the business community.” Bell operates a medical spa and an interactive media company. He also is a native of the North Myrtle Beach area.

Bell and Jordan cited the Little Spider business, which recently relocated from Colorado to a largely vacant center in Little River. The firm creates one-of-a-kind props for amusement parks including Carowinds, museums, haunted houses, restaurants, and miniature golf courses. The chamber added an incentive of $25,000 to help convince the firm to make North Myrtle Beach its new home.

One of the smart business aspects of the $1 per room revenue is a 20 percent slice for the No. 2 and No. 3 strategies. The idea, Jordan says, was to give accommodations business owners an investment in all aspects of the initiative.

Accountability and developing specific plans and goals was important to mitigating the risks, Ed Horton notes. The Anderson Brothers Bank executive led the committee that studied and planned the initiative for almost a year. “We reached out to a test group,” Horton says. “We had a broad base of folks who recognized we needed to do this.”

The North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which has great potential, has so far contributed $10,000 to community programs, typically in $1,000 grants. One was to the North Strand Housing Shelter for job training. Other grants were to North Strand Helping Hand and for scholarships to high school students. Claire Yoder has been hired to help the foundation grow.

Twenty years ago, Jordan was the CEO of the Raleigh, N.C., chamber and started that body’s first initiative. Several others have followed. The second Building North Myrtle Beach initiative – which won’t necessarily have the same title – will start in about a year.

Jordan noted the pride of the North Myrtle Beach area business community in the initiative. Griste seems as excited about it now as he was four or five years ago. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of North Myrtle —Beach and this initiative,” Griste says.

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 7:29 AM with the headline "North Myrtle Beach growth initiative launched at right time."