Greater Myrtle Beach Area Real Estate News by Core Commercial - The Pinnacle Group, Inc.

Myrtle Beach in-line for new adventure

2011-12-07T15:01:00.000-05:00

Sun News - A group of investors has signed a four-year lease with The Burroughs & Chapin Co., Inc, to use the smaller of the two former Pavilion sites along with a few acres on the South End of Myrtle Beach for two new zip-line adventure courses. Adrenaline Adventures, a group of businessmen from Columbia, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky, would like to have the new zip-line courses open by March 1. The city’s Community Appearance Board gave a nod to the conceptual plans, but no official approval or permits have been granted yet. “We’re all very excited about this, but it’s still preliminary,” said architect Tom Miller of Miller Design Services in Myrtle Beach. His firm is tasked with designing the sales cabanas and zip-line towers around two themes: The former Pavilion site’s theme will be a “Carolina Beach-shabby-shack” theme, while the property on South Ocean Boulevard between Springmaid resort and Damon’s restaurant will have a “Swiss Family Robinson-tiki” theme. The South Ocean Boulevard course will be named Ocean View Zip Line Adventures, and the course on the former Pavilion site will be called Myrtle Beach Adrenaline Adventures. Morgan Armstrong of Columbia, one of Adrenaline Adventures’ principal members, said designs are still in the early stages, and Miller said everything will have to be cleared by structural engineers to make sure “it can stand in the real world.” The courses will take zip-liners from tower to tower on very fast rides, Armstrong said. “It’s going to be huge fun,” he said. “It’ll be like you’re flying.” The city limits the height of the structures to 65 feet, and Armstrong said the plans are to “max that out.” The company also plans a drop tower at each site, and a children’s zip-line course and play area at the larger South Ocean Boulevard site. Large drop towers have gondolas and carry many passengers, but Adrenaline Adventures’ towers will be more like big bungee jumps with passengers attached to a line that spools out as they descend. Leasing the properties, he said, works for his company, B&C and the city, because it utilizes B&C’s property until the company decides what else it might want to do with it, brings a new attraction and more revenue to the city, and will hopefully be a moneymaker for Adrenaline Adventures. “This is going to be a big attraction in Myrtle Beach, Armstrong said. “The drop towers will have people lined up around the block.” Burroughs & Chapin said it does not comment on contractual matters. Before construction can begin, the company must have all its plans OK’d by the appearance board and line up all the city building permits. The next appearance board meeting is Dec. 15, and Armstrong said if all goes well, construction could begin in late December or early January. The Downtown Redevelopment Corporation wrote a letter to the city backing the project. “We think it’s a good temporary addition to the downtown,” said Executive Director David Sebok. “We’re very supportive of it.”

Lodging fee for guests in the works for North Myrtle Beach

2011-11-03T12:10:00.000-04:00

Sun News - North Myrtle Beach area lodging properties could pay more starting next year to raise money to buy advertisements promoting the beach destination. The North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, which proposed the $1 a night fee as part of its five-year growth strategy, is working out the details and recruiting lodging properties to participate. Guests to the properties participating will pay $1 a night that will go toward advertisements that the Marketing Co-op, a chamber committee made up of representatives of the participating properties, will decide how to spend. The fee will start in February, said Marc Jordan, president of the North Myrtle Beach chamber. About six properties have expressed interest in participating, including Elliott Realty and Myrtle Beach Seaside Resort, he said, adding he plans to recruit more businesses. "We are in the process of getting everything set up,” Jordan said. Jordan estimates the fee could bring in as much as $500,000 for out-of-market advertising. The money likely would be spent on Internet ads because that’s a popular way to reach potential visitors these days, but it also could go for TV spots in big markets the chamber can’t afford to advertise in with its current $1 million annual marketing budget, Jordan said. The Marketing Co-op would decide the details. The extra money is needed so the area can lure more visitors through advertising, Rick Elliott, chairman of the growth strategy group, said in a news release. “These additional dollars will allow for a targeted marketing message to better brand North Myrtle Beach businesses and North Myrtle Beach,” he said. The $1 a night charge isn’t likely to turn off tourists already booking rooms because it’s a small amount, Jordan said. He compared it to the sales and accommodations taxes visitors already pay. Still, consumers nationwide have been reluctant to pay more fees during the down economy. “People pay these fees all the time,” Jordan said. “A dollar probably isn’t going to make a big difference to them. It makes a big difference to us.” The nightly fee wouldn’t be new along the Grand Strand. Several years ago – before the controversial 1-cent sales tax for tourism in Myrtle Beach – a group of Myrtle Beach hoteliers used the same strategy, creating a nightly room charge to raise money to market the destination. Jordan envisions eventually taking this concept to restaurants by adding $1 to a table’s bill. But for now, he’s focusing on getting the lodging fee going. The fee is part of the chamber’s five-year growth strategy, dubbed “Building North Myrtle Beach,” which also includes plans to lure a major attraction to the north end and diversify the beach’s economy.

Grand Strand prices fall more than most areas in S.C.

2011-11-03T12:08:00.000-04:00

Sun News - While real estate prices made modest gains statewide, Grand Strand prices continued to fall last month, according to the South Carolina Realtors association. The median price – the price at which half sold for less and half sold for more – of a home, condo or villa along the Grand Strand was $135,000 in September, a 6.9 percent drop from the same month last year. The Grand Strand had the second largest drop in price of any area in the state in September; only the Greenwood area, with a 20 percent drop, lost more value, according to the Realtors group. The southern midlands and western upstate areas had the largest gains in price, with 24 percent and 10 percent respectively. Statewide the median price of a home, condo or villa was $150,000, a 1 percent increase from September 2010, according to the Realtors group. Many of the communities that have started seeing prices increase have more permanent residents and don’t have the high proportion of vacation and investment properties, said a real estate analyst with the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. “Investors are more apt to leave a property or allow it to go into foreclosure than a permanent resident would be. The end result is that prices drop,” he said.

Grand Strand real estate prices have been dropping consistently, but sales have fluctuated and last month about 1.9 percent fewer properties sold than did in September 2010, according to the Realtors group. Statewide, sales dropped 10.4 percent in September when compared to the same month last year. Beaufort, Greenwood and the York County and Lancaster County areas had the biggest drops in sales with 37.1 percent, 33.3 percent and 22.8 percent fewer sales respectively, according to the South Carolina Realtors association. Several areas in the state had significantly more properties sold in September, including the Aiken area where 41.4 percent more properties sold than last year, according to group.

Waccamaw Bank to sell 11 branches, including those in Horry County

2011-11-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

Sun News - Waccamaw Bank will be selling 11 of its branches, including those in Horry and Brunswick counties, to First Bank, if regulators approve the deal. First Bank will buy all of the buildings and equipment at the branches, gain about $180 million in deposits and buy $98 million in performing loans, First Bancorp, the parent company of First Bank and Waccamaw Bankshares, Inc., the parent company of Waccamaw Bank announced Monday. The sale is expected to be completed in the first three months of next year.

New uses for shopping malls

2011-11-03T11:51:00.000-04:00

WSJ.com - Sobered by store closings and the rise of online shopping, owners of U.S. shopping centers are filling space and drawing visitors by turning to unusual tenants like gun ranges and go-cart tracks. Mall giant Simon Property Group Inc. opened an aquarium in July at its Grapevine Mills mall near Dallas. Real-estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. put a fencing academy in a former Old Navy store in Florida's Tallahassee Mall, and a community theater on the lower level of a former Boscov's store in Harrisburg, Pa. Aqua Tots Holdings LLC, a business that teaches youngsters to swim, has expanded to 14 locations in Arizona, Texas and Georgia and has 10 more on the way, nearly all in former retail shops. Jumpstreet, an indoor trampoline facility, is buying or leasing former grocery stores, filling them wall-to-wall with trampolines and charging patrons for hourly access. Perhaps the most unusual use of a former big-box store is William James's Arms Room gun shop and shooting range, which opened last year in a former Circuit City store south of Houston. Mr. James spent nearly $5 million to buy the 20,000-square-foot space and convert it into a shooting range, a price he considered a bargain compared with building from scratch. The Arms Room offers handgun training courses in addition to traditional shooting practice, all in a popular shopping center anchored by Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc. stores.

"It was sort of providential," Mr. James said in his Arms Room office, surrounded by antique swords and modern firearms. "I never dreamed of a place like this." Rising retail vacancies, and loosening rent demands from landlords at struggling shopping centers, are creating opportunity for tenants previously housed in community centers, industrial parks and home basements. "In the past, we've typically been in industrial parks because of the [low] cost per square foot," said Howard Picker, founder of Speed Raceway, which is preparing to open indoor go-cart tracks next year in former big-box stores in Colorado, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But retail landlords "are coming down on price and more willing to work with tenants like us," he said. The proliferation of "nonretail" tenants comes as traditional stores cede ground in U.S. shopping centers because of constrained consumer spending and decades of retail overbuilding in the U.S. Real-estate research company CoStar Group Inc. examined a sample of roughly 830 million square feet of retail space—6.8% of the U.S. total—and found that entertainment-themed tenants like movie theaters and laser-tag complexes expanded their collective square footage in U.S. shopping centers by 2.25% since 2009 while service-themed tenants like schools and health clubs grew at a 3.65% clip. Conversely, retailers and restaurants in that period each reduced their collective square footage by nearly 1%.

Landlords are embracing unusual tenants as a way to continue drawing visitors to their shopping centers, even if those patrons aren't necessarily coming to shop. A little extra traffic generated by a gym or a trampoline center is better than an empty storefront that draws no one, they say. "They're good users, and they pay good rent," says David Henry, chief executive of Kimco Realty Corp., which owns stakes in 946 shopping centers world-wide. "In many cases, they are complementary" to the retailers in a given center, he said. Nontraditional tenants, in many cases, though, don't pay as high a rent as major chains would pay. What's more, nonretail tenants often don't pay percentage rents, a form of bonus rent that retailers pay from a small percentage of their sales when they exceed a certain threshold. Even top performing mall companies—like Simon, which reported a 19% rise in earnings Tuesday—are looking at restaurants, entertainment and other nonretail uses as a hedge against the drain from online shopping. Glimcher Realty Trust purposefully filled 25% of its upscale Scottsdale Quarter mall near Phoenix with restaurants such as Stingray Sushi and services like Drybar, a salon that specializes in blow drying women's hair. "She can't go out to lunch and have a salad and a glass of wine with her girlfriends online," Glimcher Chairman and CEO Michael Glimcher said, referring to the mall industry's coveted female shoppers.

Struggling shopping centers, like the Tallahassee and Harrisburg malls, meanwhile, are signing nonretail tenants because no one else is lining up for the space. But adding a tenant with limited potential to bring shoppers to the rest of the center—like classrooms or a church—often isn't popular with existing tenants. The move can be seen as giving up on the center as a retail venue. The Arms Room gun range near Houston had a mixed reception. Mr. James's attorneys advised him to seek written statements from Target and Home Depot declaring that they didn't object to his business opening in their shopping center. Home Depot agreed, but Target declined, Mr. James said. (Target declined to comment). Later, representatives of PetSmart Inc. thanked him for boosting the center's customer traffic, he said. There are no immediate plans for additional Arm Room locations. Jin Dong, the manager of a Mattress Giant store that shares a wall with the Arms Room, is one of the gun range's happy neighbors. "People do come in here with guns, and that's kind of weird. But they have brought a lot of traffic. It's way better than nothing," he said. "I'll tell you one thing, I don't have to worry about getting robbed, that's for sure."

Outlook brightens for outlets

2011-11-03T11:44:00.000-04:00

ICSC.org - While economic indicators point to a continued, albeit slow, recovery, unemployment and consumer confidence remain the two main sources of concern for landlords and retailers, noted Cushman & Wakefield’s Richard W. Latella at VRN’s Fall Outlet Leasing & Marketing Conference Monday. Consumer sentiment fell in August by 19.2 percent year-over-year, and stands just 40 basis points above the low set in November 2008, he noted. GDP growth is expected to total 1.6 percent in 2011, he said, quoting a Wall Street Journal article. Retail sales growth for the year will reach 3.8 percent, according to an ICSC report. There are other more positive signs of recovery, though. Retail real estate transaction volumes in the U.S. reached $22.1 billion in the first seven months of 2011, marking a 184.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010. Retail cap rates averaged 7.56 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield, representing a year-over-year decrease of 39 basis points. Store closings have dropped sharply, with a total 2,329 in the first half of this year, compared to 4,396 for the same period last year, according to ICSC. And new store openings are up, he noted. The outlet sector is attracting particular interest, says Latella, an executive managing director who is Americas practice leader in Cushman’s Retail Industry Specialty Group. “There are real signs of growth in the outlet sector,” he said. Some 36 projects have changed hands in the past two years, for a total $2.8 billion, compared to just $562 million in transactions in the two years from 2007 to 2009. There is particular interest coming from conventional mall REITs, such has Macerich, he noted. “There is a flight to quality favoring trophy and core assets.” Retailers too are being attracted to outlet centers by their lower operating costs and higher sales-per-square feet performances. Outlet REIT sales reached a record $482 per square foot last year, compared to $437 for mall REITs, he said, and annual growth in outlet center sales has outstripped that of malls by an average of 91 basis points since 1995.

Self-Storage Performance in a Recession: Why This Slump Is Different From Past Downturns

2011-11-03T11:42:00.000-04:00

ISS.com - The self-storage market has improved, but it’s clear the industry is experiencing a different dynamic in today’s environment. While the current economic climate has raised questions about resiliency in the property type, a more fundamental question is whether existing and potential tenants have changed their habits around self-storage. In past recessionary periods of the early 1990s and 2001-2003, self-storage occupancies and revenue were generally not negatively impacted. For most facilities, revenue continued to increase year over year, and self-storage development turned out quite well for investors and developers. The following table shows recent quarter-over-quarter changes in rental rates and occupancies based on a nationwide survey conducted by Integra Realty Resources. This reflects the nationwide market and illustrates current market conditions, which are unlike any historic trends.

Period         Rental Rate              Occupancy
1Q 2010       -2.2%                     -0.6%
2Q 2010         0.0%                      -0.3 %
3Q 2010        -5.2 %                     -1.2 %
4Q 2010       -1.1%                     -3.3 %
1Q 2011        0.0 %                       -3.5%
2Q 2011        -2.2%                       -3.5%

In this most recent recession, history has not repeated itself. Because of cuts to many individual incomes, elevated unemployment and lower purchasing power, the use of storage has moved into a more discretionary spending category. The result has been a slow but progressive slide in rental rates and revenue. A review of recent revenue changes at more than 100 self-storage facilities in major markets nationwide shows many markets are starting to settle or experience a slowdown. In 2010, revenue decreased by 5.2 percent. During the first two quarters of 2011, it decreased by 1 percent.

What Changed?

The change from prior recessions is multi-faceted. After around 1995, self-storage construction spiked, with a massive amount of development taking place in most major markets. With historic strong returns for existing facilities, this property type caught on not only with existing owners but first-timers wanting to enter the industry. The financial barriers caused by limited financing were also toppled as banks and institutions specifically sought out this property class for loans. As most developers were not known for strong due diligence and lending sources focused on just placing loans, the overall inventory increased between 1995 and 2007 by about 25 percent.

Growth in senior numbers spurs special housing

2011-11-03T11:35:00.000-04:00

Sun News -The rapidly growing senior population along the Grand Strand is driving the need for housing and developments that cater to the group that wants to live independently for as long as possible. Housing, especially affordable housing, is one of the most important needs for the area’s aging population, said Ray Fontaine, director of the Horry County Council on Aging. “I don’t mean the stereotypical housing project but a decent, clean respectable community that is aesthetically pleasing,” he said. The early retiree population in Horry County – those between 55 and 64 – grew about 73.5 percent during the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of residents above the age of 65 grew 56 percent between 2000 and 2010, compared to the roughly 35 percent growth of 18 to 64 year old residents, according to the Census. The aging population has created a demand for more accessible houses with specialized features to accommodate aging bodies, more age-restricted communities and developments that offer some assistance.

The growing demand has meant rapid growth for communities catering to seniors, including Seasons at Prince Creek West, a 55-plus active adult neighborhood and Brightwater, which is a continuing care living community that provides independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing. “The market is huge,” said Rainbow Russell, the marketing director for Seasons. “How many millions of people are in this age group right now, and they’re looking for this sort of lifestyle and this sort of home.” Dutch and Emily Lichtmann were looking for a home where they would have to do less maintenance and could have a good sense of community, which is what led them to Brightwater a little more than a year ago. The upkeep and maintenance on the house they’d lived in since they moved to the area was getting to be too much and they wanted to live somewhere where they could do less and be more secure, Emily Lichtmann said. “We thought the more we’re aging, having a few health problems, it would be good to feel more secure and also relieve the children of any worries,” she said, adding “and it gives you more of a social outlet.”

Security, accessibility and a sense of community are key factors that many seniors are looking for as they try to stay independent for as long as possible, several senior housing experts and seniors said. In the past seniors would move to Myrtle Beach to retire but when they got older they would move back north or to wherever their families were, said Harry Dill, the president of the Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association. “Now more are staying here, which creates a demand for aging in place,” he said. The association’s training classes to become a Certified Aging in Place Specialist, a designation offered by the National Home Builders Association, have been full as more builders look to hone their understanding and skills of what the aging population will need. Wide doorways and hallways that allow for a walker or wheelchair are important, as are accessible bathrooms, or bathrooms that can be made accessible. In his company Sterling Homes, Dill has redesigned plans to make wider doorways standard and often does a standalone shower that wouldn’t require the resident to step into a bathtub, which can be difficult for older residents. He also builds homes so that it’s easier to add safety and accessibility features, such as grab bars in the shower or a lower sink that can accommodate a wheelchair.

“I would say anybody that doesn’t go study this aging in place is missing the boat,” Dill said. “We’re going to see it in almost all new construction in an area like us where we’re a destination area and there’s a lot of retirees.” The design changes aren’t difficult and new products that are easy to install continue to be released, he said. Combining those accessibility features with community activities has been a good business strategy for Seasons, which sold 98 houses last year and already about 40 this year, Russell said. “That’s kind of the general trend, people are looking to change their lives, do something different and retire,” she said. The residents have created an active community with regular events, card games and golf outings scheduled throughout the week. Many of the residents are from the Northeast and bought here because of lower taxes, more affordable properties and the location being about a day’s drive from their previous home, Russell said. About 200 of the 460 homes - which range in size from 1,600 to 2,500 square feet and cost between $219,900 and $304,900 - have been sold, she said. “We’ve got a ways to go, two or three years, before we sell out, build out and of course we’d be looking to do another 55-plus here,” Russell said.

The Horry County Council on Aging, which primarily provides services and operates senior centers in the county, has also decided to build affordable senior apartments, to help meet the large need, Fontaine said. Last year the council won a federal housing grant to fund affordable senior apartments off Heritage Road outside of Loris. The planned complex will have 28 apartments and a senior center on about 15 acres. Seniors with low or fixed incomes will be eligible to live in the apartments and the average cost per person will be about $350 a month. There have been some delays on the project because the federal approvals have moved slowly, but after dealing with problems with groundwater runoff and sewage, construction should start in the next month, Fontaine said. Brightwater, which is for residents 62 years old and up, has also been growing and opened an additional 32 skilled nursing beds and the secure 24-bed Alzheimer’s and memory care unit last week. The concept at Brightwater is a bit different – the development has an independent living section, an assisted living section, a skilled nursing section and an Alzheimer’s and memory care unit. The idea being that as residents age and need more care, they can stay in the community but move to a different area. “We’re covering the entire spectrum,” said executive director Jimmy Justice. “They switch over back and forth all the time and that’s kind of the whole plan here, to keep you in the same area as long as possible.”

Horry County is popular with seniors and there is definitely a strong demand for housing that is tailored for them, he said. “This is the start. It’s kind of a new industry. We’re going to need more and more of these as the tsunami of baby boomers ages,” said Barbara Gans, the lifestyle adviser at Brightwater. In the independent living section, residents can have an apartment or a house, but have all their repairs done for them, can eat in the dining room, have a weekly cleaning service and an emergency alert system, which calls onsite security and medical staff. Brightwater also puts an emphasis on activities – anything from ping pong tournaments to water aerobics – to keep the residents active and engaged, Gans said. “As you age just having good socialization around you has proven to extend your life,” she said. The community is part of what drew Vivian Gilmer to Brightwater about a year and a half ago. “I was sort of isolated before,” she said. “[Now] I have a lot of new friends.” Having fewer bills, not having to cook and the safety of the community are also big benefits, Gilmer said. Gilmer didn’t want to have to move closer to family in Virginia because she likes Myrtle Beach and this way, with her apartment, she can stay and her family doesn’t have to worry, she said. “There’s just so many advantages of just common, ordinary conveniences,” she said. “I have more time to do the things I really want to do.”

North Myrtle Beach council gives nod to annex nearly 1,900 acres

2011-11-03T11:27:00.000-04:00

Sun News - NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- The City Council has given an initial approval to expand the city by more than 1,800 acres west of the Intracoastal Waterway. The council took a first vote Monday night on the proposal to annex about 1,877 acres west of the waterway near Robert Edge Parkway into the city. The council also had a second public hearing on a development agreement between the city and landowners SLF IV/SBI Sandridge LLC, SLF IV/SBI Bay Landing LLC, SLF IV/SBI Spice Hill LLC and Main Street Commercial Partners LLC. According to the development agreement - which the council also initially approved Monday - more than 1,460 acres would be zoned for single-family homes, multifamily homes and/or commercial units, and the city will purchase about 136 acres from Sandridge for a sports tourism facility and about 8.5 acres from Main Street for access to the park site. Resident Robert Flanagan expressed concerns about why the city is purchasing land for the sports facility and has increased its property tax rate from 32 mills to 38 mills over an eight-year period to pay off a $15 million general obligation bond being used to pay for the facility and the site it will occupy. "In this time of recession, I don't understand now buying all this property," Flanagan said. "There's a lot of ways to spend money. I don't see spending money out there in the wilderness." Mayor Marilyn Hatley said the sports facility is for the community and economic growth in the city. "We're talking about at a time the lowest you can buy land," Hatley said. "Even with the 6-mill raise, you still have the lowest millage in the whole county. We have to continue to invest in our community, in our youth." Though pleased with majority of the final work regarding the proposed development agreement and proposed annexation, Councilmen Greg Duckworth and Bob Cavanaugh expressed concerns about the timeline in the development agreement for the city to build an access road to the park site. According to the agreement, the city will begin construction of the road within 60 months from the effective date of the agreement. If the city is unable to meet the time frame, then the landowners have the right to terminate the right-of-way dedication for that portion of the road. "We have a lot of timelines, including building the road, but they [developers] don't have a built-out timeline," Cavanaugh said. "Are we going to build a road before development?" Cavanaugh and Duckworth said they want the issue reconsidered before the council takes a final vote on the development agreement, which could be at its June 20 meeting.

Sports complex a go, as is tax hike in North Myrtle Beach

2011-11-03T11:23:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Council approves $15 million bond - NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- A new sports tourism facility could be opened to North Myrtle Beach residents and visitors at least two years from now, according to city officials. City Council members gave a final approval Monday night to a $15 million general obligation bond to pay for the facility and the site it will occupy, as well as an eight-year, 6-mill property tax increase - that will raise North Myrtle Beach's property tax rate to 38 mills - to pay off the $15 million bond. After the eight years, the city's property tax rate would revert to 32 mills, city officials said. Councilwoman Doris Williams and Councilmen Greg Duckworth and Jay Baldwin were absent. Several residents raised concerns Monday about the tax increase at a time of a downturn in the economy while some think the timing is right to bring in a sports facility that will be beneficial for the city. "I think it's terrible, in the worst depression, to want to raise any money," said resident Gene Sheppard. "We don't need any more burden on us." Resident Marti Drummond said she thinks the facility is "a wonderful thing." "We have to look at the big picture," Drummond said. "It will bring money into the city and help keep taxes down. There's not one person in the city that won't benefit from it." The planned sports facility is part of more than 1,800 acres of land that could be annexed into the city west of the Intracoastal Waterway near Robert Edge Parkway and S.C. 31. A request to annex and zone the land into the city and a development agreement between the city and landowners SLF IV/SBI Sandridge LLC, SLF IV/SBI Bay Landing LLC, SLF IV/SBI Spice Hill LLC, and Main Street Commercial Partners LLC, will go before the city's Planning Commission today. The commission would then forward its recommendations on the proposed annexation and development agreement to the City Council. According to the development agreement, more than 1,460 acres would be zoned for single-family homes, multifamily homes and/or commercial units, and the city will purchase 133 acres for the sports tourism facility and 6.8 acres for an access road to the park site. The sports facility will include eight multipurpose playing fields, an amphitheater, a water play area, walking trails and a dog park, according to city spokesman Pat Dowling. A new, bigger facility will help grow both sports tourism and local use as the city's existing sports fields and facilities are already full with sports tourism events, Dowling has said. He said the city's existing fields and facilities are 60 percent used by residents and 40 percent used for sports tourism.

Former North Myrtle Beach golf course back up for sale

2011-11-03T11:17:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The former Robber’s Roost golf course in North Myrtle Beach is up for sale again after the developers that shepherded through a master plan to reinvent the property fell victim to the economic downturn. The property’s original owners, Tiente Limited Partnership and Burgess Investments Group Family Limited Partnership, took back possession of the property after foreclosure late last year and are now actively marketing the roughly 100 acre property that has thousands of feet of frontage on U.S. 17. The property will likely sell as three separate pieces, though the owner would prefer to sell it all together, said Macon Lovelace, a broker for NAI Avant, who is marketing the property.  "It’s just more likely that in today’s development environment that you have two different types of developers that go in there,” he said.

Lovelace said that the company has reached out to active mixed-use developers it has relationships with to tell them about the property. “We’re aware of a handful of tenants who are interested in being in the North Myrtle Beach market and were waiting for this type of location to become available,” he said. Given the current lagging economy, the development is likely to be completed in stages over time and be driven by tenant demand, Lovelace said. “Nobody is going to buy this on a speculative basis, as is with any raw land and developments occurring anywhere right now,” he said. Previous developers created a planned development district for the area and got all of the approvals from the planning commission and city council. That planned development district will now be the foundation for any future development. The city approved the plan in 2009, but the recession put the development on hold, leaving the former golf course overgrown. The development district divides the property into three specific sections: a town center, village shops and a residential community.

The goal was to create a walkable community and the town center would be a similar concept to The Market Common in Myrtle Beach, said Greg Duckworth, the founder of Environmental Concepts, LLC, which developed the plans. Duckworth is also a North Myrtle Beach city councilman. A lot of work went into studying traffic patterns and addressing the concerns and needs of the existing neighboring residential communities, Duckworth said. The town center is designed to have a movie theater, a large anchor retailer such as Kohl’s, and several smaller retail and restaurant spaces. There would be residential or office space above the stores.  The town center, which is envisioned as a more urban area, would also have a central lawn area to be used for gatherings, concerts and other activities. It is one of the many green spaces in the development, which proposed several parks and planted buffer areas separating the commercial and residential areas. Nearly 20 percent of the development was slated to be kept as open space. The plan was for a few businesses right along U.S. 17 and several live-work townhomes in the town center area as well.

The village shops area would have a few stores along U.S. 17 and then a number of small shops, such as boutiques, gift stores, hair salons around a lake. The residential neighborhood was designed to have 164 single-family home lots that averaged 6,233 square feet. There would be a total 394 residential units in the three phases. “It has to be neighborhood friendly,” Duckworth said. “There is a lot of passion on all sides of this situation.” Pat Dowling, a spokesman for the City of North Myrtle Beach, said that plan in place is high quality and the city would like to stay close to its guidelines. Lovelace said that any potential buyer will know that they have to work within the zoning in place, but some changes will likely have to be made and would go through the traditional approval process. The existing plan may not be feasible in the current economy but any changes would have to conform to the planned development district and be in line with its character, he said.

The city will consider changes, as it has in other projects, on a case by case basis, Dowling said. In response to market conditions, the city has allowed developers to tweak plans to build different types of properties as long as they fit the character of the area. “This council has proven that if a quality alternative is presented they will act on it,” Dowling said, but added that they would want to make sure that it was a quality project and wouldn’t dilute the developer’s financial commitments to the city, including building new roads. A potential buyer for the property approached the city recently and wanted to buy a strip shopping center, Dowling said. The city said that requests to amend the planned development district to allow for it would be denied and that type development wouldn’t be allowed on the property, he said. “There are a lot of established neighborhoods in that area, a lot of them are around what used to be a golf course so we have to be careful about how we impact them,” he said.   The former Robber’s Roost, despite any potential challenges, is an important project in a critical area in the city, Dowling said. “Ever since it was abandoned or ever since it became economically infeasible to accomplish, it’s just been a challenge to upkeep,” he said. “We would certainly like to see it developed in a quality manner.”

Hotel supply: Where are we in the cycle?

2011-11-03T11:11:00.001-04:00

HotelNewsNow.com - In our previous columns we discussed the relationship between occupancy levels and average-daily-rate growth, and the components of demand growth. This article will link the final component of hotel performance, supply, completing our story of the hotel market cycle. Beginning in Q1 2010, demand for hotel rooms started to increase. As this new demand outpaced the change in supply, increases in occupancy led to a recovery in ADR and profit margins during the second half of the year. In Chart 1 below, the full cycle is plotted with the current year denoted by the green circle.

Chart 1: Hotel Market Cycle

Naturally, as we move up the cycle, we expect development activity to increase and eventually for new supply to enter the market. In reality, the cycle doesn’t always act according to its script. Because of the long lead-time between the initial planning, financing and construction times of hotels, we often see new supply coming into the market at inopportune stages of the cycle. Studying Chart 2, it becomes apparent supply increases sometimes come at a time when there isn’t the demand available to absorb it, which leads to deceases in occupancy.

Chart 2: U.S. Hotel Performance (Supply, Demand, Occupancy Change), 4-Quarter Moving Average

The increasing cost of land and building materials in the early-to-mid 2000s contributed to the low levels of supply growth experienced in 2004-2006 (see Chart 3 below). Many developers were tempted by the occupancy and ADR gains found in the hotel industry at the peak of the cycle in 2006-2007. Because it takes 18 months or longer to build full-service hotels, many of these properties that began construction in 2006-2007 didn’t enter the market until 2008-2010, when the industry had fallen into a deep recession.

Chart 3: Supply Change and Producer Price Index

To justify construction of a new hotel, many variables must fall in line: First, the market must have unsatisfied demand. Historically, this became apparent in larger-than-normal increases in ADR and occupancy. Prolonged occupancy increases in 1994-1995 fueled the supply gains in 1997-1999, while the strong demand in 2004-2007 stimulated a massive infusion of development and ultimately an increase of 260,000 rooms during the three-year period of 2008-2010. Second, the cost of land and raw materials must be sufficiently low. The years of 2005 and 2006 saw the lowest level of new supply growth since STR (the parent company of HotelNewsNow.com) began collecting data, yet occupancy and ADR increases were the largest of the decade. During the first half of the decade, the producer’s price index saw increases of 250% that were driven largely by oil prices and the housing boom, as Chart 3 illustrates. Note: The large increase experienced in 2008 was a result of the oil price bubble.

At PKF Hospitality Research, we spent a good part of the past 10 years fine-tuning our Hotel Horizons econometric forecasting models for hotel demand, ADR and changes in supply. Because building a hotel doesn’t happen overnight, by lagging our variables that go into the model we are able to account for the time it takes to develop and construct a new hotel. The two principal variables that compose our supply equation are occupancy and ADR. New development is triggered once these variables move beyond a certain point, which varies by market. Other variables, such as PPI, will be added when circumstances warrant, like we saw in the early to mid 2000s (Chart 3). Our current Hotel Horizons supply forecast calls for very little supply growth during the next five years. The occupancy and ADR variables from which new supply is triggered are not projected to return to levels that warrant supply additions until 2012-2013 at the earliest. Returning to Chart 1, these levels occur approximately at long-run average occupancy and equilibrium ADR—ADR combined with occupancy that provides satisfactory returns to developers and capital suppliers. This news, coupled with the 18-month development time of a hotel and a PPI forecast that remains at elevated levels, translates into small levels of new competition throughout our forecast period.

Some markets, however, are still faced with the task of absorbing large quantities of new supply. Fortunately, the markets welcoming new additions during 2011 and 2012 either saw a milder decline than most, such as Pittsburg and New Orleans, or saw a very strong rebound in 2010, for example, New York and Miami. Still, 30 of the 50 of markets that PKF-HR forecasts are projected to have supply increases of less than 1% during the next two years. On a national level, supply is not forecast to increase beyond its long-run average until 2015. We expect available rooms in the U.S. to climb 2.3% in 2015, primarily because of above average occupancy and ADR levels in 2013 and 2014. Thanks for reading along with us, we welcome comments and discussion on where you think the hotel market cycle will be heading next.

The Ocean 7 live-work development debuts soon in Myrtle Beach

2011-11-03T11:02:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Ocean 7, an eight-unit live-work building on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, should be ready for its first occupants soon. The three-story townhomes each have retail space at street level and living space on the top two floors. Construction on the property, which is being built by Ocean 7 Developers and is on the corner of Ocean Boulevard and 7th Avenue North, should be done in the next couple of weeks, said Jason Merritt, of By the Beach Properties, who is the property manager and is also helping sell the units. Four of the townhomes are already under contract, he said. A pizza restaurant is likely to move into one of the retail spaces, Merritt’s business will move into another and two others have been purchased by Beach Discount Beverage, Merritt said. The retail sections each have between 1,500 and 1,800 square feet of commercial space, while the living sections each have about 2,000 square feet of living space and between four and five bedrooms. The townhouses are going for about $649,000 each. All of the buyers are local investors and local owners and most plan to put the properties into a rental program, Merritt said. Ellis said he’s gotten several calls about leasing the commercial space and a lot of questions about renting the townhomes. There is such a large demand for the rentals, in part because of their size, that he already has a waiting list for once the building is down, he said.

Third time a charm for theme park in Myrtle Beach?

2011-10-04T15:20:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The owners of the former Freestyle Music Park continue to search for a buyer or new operator as experts wonder whether the third time might be a charm for the twice-failed theme park. Attorneys for FPI US, the mortgage holder who bought back the property for $7 million during a foreclosure auction in August, have been handing out proposal guidelines to potential buyers and park operators with the goal of reopening the park off U.S. 501 in Fantasy Harbour by the summer tourism season next year. To have time to get the park ready by next summer, a new owner or operators should come on board this fall, officials said. As the search for a new operator continues, economists and theme park experts disagree on whether the theme park can succeed in the Myrtle Beach area, where tourists flock to the beaches during the day – not a theme park. Still, some are still rooting for the park to take off and say it can work if done right, which would include major changes in the way the park operated during its first two summers in 2008 and 2009 – both of which ended in bankruptcy or foreclosure. “It’s a challenge, but there’s still potential,” said John Gerner, managing director for Leisure Business Advisors, a Richmond, Va.-based firm that does feasibility and design work for theme parks and other amusements. “People in my industry, we are cheering for that park to come back.”

‘Colossal failure …’ Some say the theme park’s ride in Myrtle Beach is over. Owners have tried twice to make the park work, and neither could. The $400 million attraction debuted as Hard Rock Park in 2008 but closed after one summer and was sold out of bankruptcy in February 2009 for $25 million. FPI MB reopened it as Freestyle Music Park in May 2009, but it failed again after the summer, falling into foreclosure owing money to bands, website designers and other firms that did business with the park – payments most of them never received. It will be difficult to find investors, not only because of today’s tough economy but because of the park’s track record, said Rob Salvino, an economist at Coastal Carolina University. When a company buys a $400 million park at the bargain of $25 million and still can’t make it work, it doesn’t seem promising, he said. “And it still didn’t make it,” Salvino said. “I don’t know how you could pay less for it. “I think it would be a very high-risk investment for a group to take on,” Salvino said, adding that he doesn’t think the park can succeed even if it did find investors. “When you look at that much of a colossal failure … the likelihood is just not very good [that it would succeed].”

Attorneys for FPI say they’ve gotten several groups interested in the park – though they declined to say how many – and that “most people are still very positive about Myrtle Beach,” said Franklin Daniels, an attorney representing FPI. Despite the park’s bumpy ride, FPI is confident the park can be successful here with the right operators, he said. “They completely believe it can work and want it to work,” Daniels said. “We are in a tough economy and the park has its history. … But there are enough tourists who come here who want to be entertained. It would be a fun and interesting thing to do while you’re at the beach.” Locals and experts have speculated about what went wrong with Hard Rock Park and Freestyle. Most blame its location several miles away from the beach, high ticket prices – especially during a recession when consumers aren’t opening their wallets – and the daytime competition from the amenity that brings tourists here to begin with: the beach. “The beach is a dynamic that really makes it hard for a theme park to do well,” Gerner said. “Generally, [tourists] are already there to do something else during the day.” About 14 million tourists visit the Grand Strand each year, most of them lured by the ocean or golf. A theme park will be an activity they do after the beach – such as a Broadway at the Beach experience – and will never be the main reason vacationers come here like Disney World is in Orlando, experts say. “Will it be a destination like Carowinds or Six Flags or Mickey Mouse? Not unless Six Flags comes in,” said Horry County Councilman Gary Loftus, whose district includes the theme park. “It’s not going to be a destination. It’ll be like Broadway [at the Beach] – something to do when they get here.”

‘Off the beaten path’ Loftus and others said the theme park could have a place here if it operated like the beachside amusement parks that have done well for so many years, including Family Kingdom Amusement Park and The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, which closed in 2006. A key to success is crafting a business plan that fills that niche, said Mark Lazarus, a veteran amusement park operator along the Grand Strand who contacted FPI’s attorneys to express interest in working with investors to make the former Freestyle work. Lazarus also tried to buy the park out of bankruptcy after its first season as Hard Rock Park. “I still think it has potential if it is done the right way,” Lazarus said. Dropping the gate fee is one of the first steps, he said. Lazarus and others said the ticket price – starting at $40 for adults as Freestyle – was way out of reach for budget-conscious families – especially during the spending cutbacks of the recession. And unlike Disney-goers, theme park visitors here don’t want to stay the whole day recouping that cost; they are more likely to see a trip to the theme park as a way to cap the day, experts said. Experts suggest free admission, with guests paying for what they want to do while inside, such as buying a wristband for rides or a ticket to a concert. Lazarus suggested opening in midafternoon and staying open until midnight, possibly with a laser light show as a nightly feature. “If the gate is free, a lot of people will just venture in,” Lazarus said.

The park’s location is another challenge, experts say. It’s about 5 miles from the oceanfront, so tourists have to make an effort to go west of the Intracoastal Waterway instead of just strolling along the main strip or driving a couple of miles to Broadway, they said. “This place is off the beaten path a little bit,” Salvino said.
The park also needs to be more easily seen by drivers along busy U.S. 501 headed into the beach – several experts suggested demolishing the mall building. In addition, the Fantasy Harbour area itself needs some sprucing up, experts said. More rides also would make the park more appealing and give guests more to do, Lazarus said.

A summer 2012 opening - The park’s owners want to have the theme park ready to go for summer 2012. It has been closed for the past two summers as officials worked through its financial and legal woes, though a few workers stayed on to regularly run the rides and keep them in shape. They are gearing up even more now to possibly show off the park to potential buyers or operators, Daniels said. But some local leaders – even though they want to see the park reopen and be successful – aren’t sure a summer opening is in the cards. Loftus said the park can be successful with the right business plan, but said the new owners or operators should wait a couple of years until the economy has improved. “I think it could [succeed], I just don’t think the time is right,” Loftus said. “But I hate to see it just sitting there.” Theme parks across the country haven’t escaped the down economy. The industry improved some in 2010, but the verdict on the 2011 season is still out, said Colleen Mangone, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Parks have reported mixed results, with some saying wet weather at the beginning of the 2011 season hurt attendance, while others said attendance, season pass sales and corporate outings to the parks continued to increase, she said. “We are still feeling the effects of the economy,” Gerner said. “There seems to be a feeling that things are improving. We are holding our own.” Experts said it’s too early to say how 2012 might shape up – a lot of it will depend on which way the economy goes in the next few months. Still, several parks – including Dollywood and Carowinds – are adding major, multimillion-dollar rides for 2012.

It’s unclear how long it would take to get the former Freestyle park ready to open by the summer. Freestyle owners did it in about three months, but Lazarus said it would take eight months to a year to get it ready through rebranding, marketing and adding rides. So if the park wants to open in 2012, a buyer or operator needs to be locked in soon, Lazarus said. “It needs to be happening right now,” he said. Now is a tough time to line up investors, especially considering the park’s history, Horry County Council Chairman Tom Rice said. Still, a reopened park could create much-needed jobs in Horry County, which like many other areas in the state and the country, is being hammered by double-digit unemployment rates, he said. “If I was an investor, I’d be cautious,” Rice said. “If somebody buys it, I wish them the best of luck. We sure need the jobs.” The Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp., the county-funded agency charged with luring jobs and businesses here, has talked with the park’s existing owners about state job tax credits that a new operator might qualify for, but it is not pursuing theme park operators because it is focusing on diversifying the tourism-based economy by luring aviation, marine and technology businesses, president Brad Lofton said. “I would hope somebody could make some good use of it,” Rice said.

Freestyle Music Park bought out of foreclosure

2011-08-04T12:14:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The theme park formerly known as Freestyle Music Park might be back in business in time for summer 2012. FPI US LLC, the mortgage holder of the former park that has been closed for two years, bought the property out of foreclosure this week with a goal of reopening the theme park in Fantasy Harbour in time for next summer, its attorneys said Wednesday. “There’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel,” said David Slough, an attorney for FPI US.  Elected leaders and business owners near the park heralded the news Wednesday, saying it could help rejuvenate an area that desperately needs it. “Any time you can take something that is dead and you can bring some life to it, it is good,” said Horry County Councilman Gary Loftus, whose district includes the theme park area. FPI US is looking for either a partner to manage and operate the park or a buyer who can purchase the park and reopen it, Slough said. Talks are in the early stages, so it’s not clear exactly when the park would open, whether it would still be called Freestyle or whether it would create a new theme.  “They hope it reopens and it’s a big success,” said Franklin Daniels, an attorney for FPI US. “They don’t want to see it be a vacant theme park. They are not willing to just let it go.”

FPI US LLC, which had foreclosed on former park operators FPI MB Entertainment LLC a year ago, bought the property at the Horry County foreclosure auction Monday through a “credit bid” of $7 million. That means FPI US gets the property but doesn’t pay that amount because it’s already owed more than that by the former park operators. The total debt was $34 million, according to court records. Other businesses that were still owed money by Freestyle are out of luck. FPI US won the auction over one other bidder, Alton Swann, a real estate professional in Myrtle Beach who said during a brief telephone conversation Wednesday that he had been working on a plan to bring somebody in to take over the park. “I’d just like to see something happen to it,” he said. “It’s a shame to see it go to waste.” The 50-acre theme park has sat idle for about two years, a far cry from the hoopla that marked its first and second openings during a two-year period. The theme park, which was built for $400 million, originally was branded as Hard Rock Park and debuted in 2008. It filed for bankruptcy protection after a slow first season.

The park’s second run started early the following year when a group of investors bought it out of bankruptcy for $25 million in February 2009 and reopened it as Freestyle Music Park a few months later. It also fell into financial troubles after just one summer - a season where tourism statewide took a hit because of the lagging economy that kept many people from traveling or prompted them to cut back on their spending if they did go on vacation. The park has been closed since, riding a wave of cases in court. With the litigation behind it, the park can move forward, Daniels said. FPI plans to look at what went wrong the first two times the park operated, identify what needs to happen to make the park a success and find a buyer or good partner to manage the park, Daniels said. That means the theme, marketing and ticket prices – which some critics said were too high, especially during the tough economy – all will be reviewed, he said. Tickets for admission to Freestyle started at about $40 for adults and about $30 for children, though the park dropped them later in the summer 2009 to less than $20 for special promotions.

“Many things in the past have to be done differently,” Daniels said. “They’ve learned a lot of hard lessons, lost a lot of money. But they are committed to it.” Some business owners in the Fantasy Harbour area, off U.S. 501 at the Intracoastal Waterway, said a revived theme park could be the first step in getting the area back to where it should be. A re-opened theme park could bring more people to the area and make it look better, said Robbie Love, owner of The X Sports Center off George Bishop Parkway near the park.  "Definitely, that’s a boost,” he said. “That should be a good shot in the arm for the area.” Having the park reopen might not translate into more business at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Fantasy Harbour Boulevard, but it would help the look of the area, said Lori Posma, the hotel’s sales director. “That would be great,” she said. “Just the perception of the area - everybody says it looks so decrepit over here...Any action over here would be fabulous.” During the past two years, theme park operators and others have stopped by the park interested in buying some of the rides, but the investors didn’t want to sell off the park piece by piece, still optimistic that the theme park could eventually work in Myrtle Beach, Daniels said. A small crew has continued to work at the park, including an engineer who regularly runs the rides to keep them in shape, Daniels said.

“You start selling off the rides, you destroy the value of the theme park,” he said. “They truly are committed. They want to see it reopen. They want to see it work.” But they’ve learned lessons from the park’s back-to-back failures, Daniels said. Loftus said a theme park can work in the Myrtle Beach area if it’s done right. "There were many issues that kind of led to the demise of the first two. Obviously, there were a heckuva lot more that went wrong than right,” Loftus said. “Done correctly, and with the right marketing, it should have a chance.” One culprit that hampered the park’s second run was the Great Recession, which led to an 8 percent drop in tourism in South Carolina in 2009, according to figures released this week by the S.C. Parks, Recreation and Tourism department. Tourism throughout the state generated $14 billion in 2009, down about $1 billion from the previous year. Tourism officials have said the industry has picked up since then. FPI’s talks with potential managers or buyers are in the early stages, and it’s unclear when FPI would announce details of a reopening. It probably would take between six and nine months to adequately prepare the park and promote it, though Freestyle owners did it in three months after they bought the park out of bankruptcy. “There’s no timeframe,” Daniels said. “They are working hard.” Posma of the Clarion hotel, like Loftus, said a theme park could be successful here. “If they take input they have learned and apply it, commit to it, I think they can make it work,” she said. “I’m hoping for the best.”

Merger to create Myrtle Beach Golf Goliath

2011-08-03T10:49:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The two largest golf course ownership and management companies on the Grand Strand are merging, creating one of the 15 largest course management companies in the nation and a juggernaut in the area golf market. Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management and Myrtle Beach National Company have signed a letter of intent to combine their golf assets and become equal partners in a new company that has yet to be named. Myrtle Beach National currently owns 10 of the 14 courses it manages, while B&C Golf Management, a subsidiary of Burroughs & Chapin Company Inc., owns five of the 10 courses it manages. “We believe with the strength of this new venture that represents the best of both companies, it will give us some growth opportunities and give us a greater opportunity to get the message out about the golf offerings Myrtle Beach has,” said Jim Apple, B&C president and chief executive officer. MBN Chief Executive Officer Matthew Brittain said due diligence still has to be done and the merger may not be consummated for “a couple months.” Though both companies own other entities in the golf industry, including hotels and golf package companies, the merger only involves courses.

The Members Club at Grande Dunes, the only private club owned by either company, will continue to be owned by Burroughs & Chapin. Apple said initial plans call for the new company to manage the six-year-old layout so it is involved in the 24-course merger. The merger accounts for 23 of the approximate 90 public courses stretching the coastline from Andrews to Southport, N.C., and they are at 20 facilities, with Myrtle Beach National Golf Club, Myrtlewood Golf Club and Grande Dunes featuring multiple courses. In addition, three of Myrtle Beach National’s courses are 27 holes. “We do some things well and they do some things well and we’ll pick the best practices of both companies,” Brittain said. According to a Golf Inc. magazine study of golf course management companies, the new company will be positioned at No. 15 nationally and No. 19 internationally. The other top-15 U.S. companies in the market are No. 9 Arnold Palmer Golf Management, which owns and operates five former Legends Group courses, and No. 1 Troon Golf, which operates four courses at St. James Plantation in Southport. N.C. The second largest golf course management company on the Strand is Signature Golf Group with six 18-hole Strand courses and nine total courses, so the new company will dwarf its competitors within the market. “It’s a very powerful connection, no doubt about that,” said Tim Tilma, general manager of the 27-hole stand-alone Sandpiper Bay Golf Club in Sunset Beach, N.C., which is a marketing partner with MBN and does business with both companies in lodging and golf packages. “It creates a powerful synergy between those two companies, and let’s see where it takes us.”

Combining the courses with the lodging and package businesses MBN and B&C are involved with, the new company will have the ability to influence a large portion of the golf market. “I hope our relationship with Myrtle Beach National and the volume of business we do with them doesn’t change, but only time will tell,” said Classic Golf Group general manager Tommy Smothers, whose company manages four Strand courses.
All 24 courses in the merger are on the Strand – only Farmstead Golf Links, with holes on both sides of the Carolinas border, is in North Carolina – but the new company may expand outside the area. “It doesn’t have to be limited to Myrtle Beach,” Brittain said. “I think we’re looking for opportunities outside the market.” The executive hierarchy and number of employees in the company have yet to be established. “I think we’re going to identify the positions and fill them,” Brittain said. Brittain and Apple said they believe the merger will benefit the market, because without each other to compete against, the new company is more likely to market the destination rather than engage in price wars in local media. “We do think it’s good for Myrtle Beach and not just for us,” Brittain said. “It’s two companies that believe in advertising and advertising out of the market. We believe Myrtle Beach golf is about choice. … “I think we’re taking two companies out of fighting for the local and making them more marketing oriented.” The merger has the potential to create price stability in a market that has dropped prices nearly across the board since Arnold Palmer Golf Management decreased prices considerably at the properties it took over a couple of years ago. "For a group of properties of that size and importance in the community, if [B&C is] looking for a buyer or merger, what better than to do it with a company with a long-term vested interest in the community,” said Bill Golden, president of marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. “With that comes stability and commitment. … “For the smaller guy – the stand-alone company and smaller management company – it’s competitive regardless. It’s already hard for the small guy and hard for everybody. We have to focus on getting golfers to Myrtle Beach.”

•Burroughs & Chapin courses

Owned and managed
Myrtlewood PineHills
Myrtlewood Palmetto
Pine Lakes Country Club
Grande Dunes Resort Course
Members Club at Grande Dunes (private)

Managed
Tidewater Plantation & Golf
River Hills Golf & Country Club
Arcadian Shores Golf Club
Farmstead Golf Links
Meadowlands Golf Club

Myrtle Beach National courses

Owned and managed
MBN King’s North
MBN Southcreek
MBN West
Aberdeen Country Club
Long Bay Club
Waterway Hills Golf Club
River Club
Litchfield Country Club
Willbrook Plantation
Pawleys Plantation

Managed
Blackmoor Golf Club
Wild Wing Plantation
Tradition Club
Wachesaw Plantation East

Top 20 golf course management companies
(According to Golf Inc. magazine)
Place; company; headquarters; 18-hole equivalent courses
1; Troon Golf; Scottsdale, Ariz.; 209.5
2; Pacific Golf Management; Tokyo, Japan; 157.5
3; Accordia Golf; Tokyo, Japan; 138
4; Billy Casper Golf; Vienna, Va.; 131
5; ClubCorp; Dallas, Texas; 128
6; American Golf; Santa Monica, Calif.; 109
7; KemperSports; Northbrook, Ill.; 107
8; Eagle Golf; Dallas, Texas; 77
9; Arnold Palmer Golf Management; Addison, Texas; 65
10; Marriott Golf; Orlando, Fla.; 62.5
11; Canongate/Sequoia Golf; Atlanta, Ga.; 58.5
12; ClubLink; Ontario, Canada; 50.5
13; OB Sports; Scottsdale, Ariz.; 42
14; Crown Golf; Binfield, UK; 39
15; Lindsay Management; Fayetteville, Ark.; 32.5
16; SunBelt Golf Corp.; Birmingham, Ala.; 26
16; Heritage Golf Group; San Diego, Calif.; 26
16; Landscapes Golf Group; Lincoln, Neb.; 26
19; B&C-MBN merger; Myrtle Beach; 24
20; Touchstone Golf; Burnet, Texas; 21.5

Grand Strand single-family home market stable, condo prices still dropping

2011-07-27T14:59:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Real estate data released today shows that the single-family home market has stabilized, but the condo market is still navigating a bumpy road, according to local Realtors. Single-family home sales were down about 16 percent in June, when compared to the same month last year, according to the Multiple Listing Service. But for April through June sales were down only about 3 percent from the same period in 2010. The median single-family home price was up 3 percent in June, to $169.450, when compared to the same month last year, according to the MLS. The three-months between April and June had a 4 percent drop in median price, to $162,500, when compared to the same period last year, according to the MLS. "The single-family home market has stabilized," said Tom Maeser, a real estate analyst with the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. "There have been enough months of consistency without big swings." The condo market, by contrast, has continued to have more sales than last year, but also has had continually dropping prices. Foreclosures and short sales are driving down prices in the condo market and appealing to buyers who are more interested in lower-priced properties, Maeser said. Many of the lower-priced single-family homes have already sold, so sales have slowed in that part of the market while they have continued in the condo market, he said. Condo sales were up 3 percent in June when compared to the same month last year, according to the MLS. Condo sales were up 6 percent between April and June, when compared to the same period last year, according to the MLS. The median condo price last month was down 5 percent from June 2010, to $118,900, according to the MLS. The median condo price between April and June was down 12 percent, to $108,000, compared to the same period in 2010, according to the MLS. Marvin Heyd, the owner of Prudential Myrtle Beach Real Estate, said he is confident the market has stabilized. "I know regardless of what the numbers are saying we are extremely busy," he said. "We have a lot of contracts being written and a lot of people coming in and looking at property and its going to feed right into the fall market."

Investor Survey: Optimism Rising As CRE Recovery Slowly Gains Traction

2011-03-28T15:57:00.000-04:00

CoStar - Cap Rates Expected to Hold Steady Or Decline in Most U.S. Markets Over Next Six Months According to PwC Survey Respondents. Investors are growing more confident that the commercial real estate industry is moving past the bottom of the cycle as the economy adds jobs and property fundamentals slowly improve, according to the results of the first-quarter 2011 PwC Real Estate Investor Survey. Tracking the expectations of survey respondents for the future performance of the office, retail, industrial and multifamily property sectors from 2011 to 2014, PricewaterhouseCoopers found that investors have a sense that, although real estate is recovering, the pace of the recovery in the U.S. economy has been slow and uneven at best.

As investors become more confident about the long-awaited recovery in occupancy, sales and leasing, however, they're eager to get deals done, noted Mitch Roschelle, partner and PwC U.S. real estate advisory practice leader. "This bodes well for the industry as the volume of capital chasing deals is expected to increase in all sectors as investors work to deploy capital before interest rates rise, overall cap rates increase and the industry shifts more in favor of sellers," Roschelle said. PwC analyzed historical and forecasting data to measure how the inventory of each sector changes over time in relation to the four stages of the real estate cycle, contraction, expansion, recession and recovery. The report surveyed 31 markets, including 10 national markets; and individual product types including regional mall, power center, strip shopping center, CBD office, suburban office, flex/R&D, warehouse, apartment, net lease, and medical office buildings. The report also includes a review of 18 major U.S. office markets and three regional apartment markets, Mid-Atlantic, Pacific, and Southeast.

The report finds that average overall cap rates decreased in 27 of the 31 surveyed markets as signs of recovery emerged for both the economy and the real estate industry. Investors reported the largest quarterly decreases in the regional apartment markets, where average cap rates compressed between 39 and 73 basis points in the first quarter. Cap rate compression continues in sales involving well-located and better-positioned assets with stable rent rolls and limited leasing risk, and an increasing number of investors are expanding their property searches to include secondary markets and impaired assets, the survey found. Due to strong buyer interest combined with increased debt market liquidity, investors expect that overall cap rates will either hold steady or decline in 25 of the survey's 31 markets over the next six months.

The results of the PricewaterhouseCoopers survey corroborate recent analysis by CoStar Group, which publishes a monthly index tracking repeat sales of investment-grade commercial properties. The index jumped 10.6% in January over the same period last year, the largest year-over-year gain since the height of the real estate boom in 2006. The increase in the index for higher-quality properties hit a five-year high in January despite dipping slightly from December, a reflection of how strongly the index has recovered within 12 months. First-quarter CoStar outlooks for the office, multifamily, industrial and retail sectors also showed improving fundamentals in investment sales and leasing activity. Below are PwC survey findings relative to the major property types:

Office - Most of the nation's office inventory will be in recovery by year-end 2011 due to a lack of new supply and signs of falling vacancy for the U.S. office market. Recovery is in sight, with more than 86% of the U.S. office sector passing over the market bottom by year-end 2012. That said, office markets such as Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Tampa are expected to remain in recession through 2012.

Retail - Spotty consumer spending and inflation fears will keep the majority of retail inventory, 76.6%, in recession through 2012. A recovery by year-end 2013 will include 77% of retail inventory. Individual retail markets expected to perform better than the overall sector include Long Island, Nashville, and Fairfield County, which are each expected to be in recovery during 2012.

Industrial - Availability rates for the U.S. industrial property are expected to peak in 2011 as tenant demand strengthens in a growing economy. Most industrial stock will be in recovery in 2011 and 2012, nearly 72 and 86.2%, respectively. Rising imports and exports will send a larger portion of industrial inventory into expansion phase in 2013 and 2014 (20.9% and 40.6%) Individual markets that are expected to underperform the sector include Tampa, FL; Akron, OH, Cleveland, and Minneapolis.

Apartments - U.S. multifamily leads the other three sectors handily in terms of recovery. As tighter loan restrictions continue to dampen single-family home-buying, pent-up housing demand will grow the proportion of multifamily stock in the expansion phase through 2014, when it hits 30.2%. Two multifamily markets, New Orleans and Syracuse, NY, aren't expected to enter expansion over the near term.

Proposal cuts back corridor powers, Skyway among projects that could be affected

2011-03-28T15:46:00.000-04:00

Star News - Proposed legislation in the state Senate would limit the time the government can prevent development on private land in the path of a planned road. Senate Bill 214 would require governments protecting properties from development to purchase them or begin condemnation proceedings within 18 months from the time a corridor protection map is filed. If the government that filed the map doesn't do so, the property owner would be free to develop the land, according to the bill. Under current law, no building permits or subdivision approvals may be issued inside a protected corridor for up to three years, or 36 months, from the date an application was submitted by a developer.

The statewide bill – sponsored by Sens. Thom Goolsby of New Hanover County, Bill Rabon of Brunswick
County and Clark Jenkins of Edgecombe County – ultimately could impact countless property owners in the paths of future roads across the state, including local highways such as the Cape Fear Skyway and the Hampstead Bypass. Under state law, local governments, the state Board of Transportation and the N.C. Turnpike Authority can adopt corridor protection maps to keep property owners from developing land in a planned road's footprint. The idea in part is to protect taxpayers by keeping down the value of properties that the N.C. Department of Transportation will have to purchase for new roads.

The Senate bill also would change the "trigger" starting the time period from the application submittal date to the filing date of the corridor map. Critics of the existing law say it infringes on personal property rights by preventing owners from doing anything with their land for three years. The Business Alliance for a Sound Economy, which deals with legislative affairs for the coastal North Carolina real estate and building industries, and the N.C. Home Builders Association are pushing the legislation. It would take effect Dec. 1 and apply only to corridor maps filed after that date. Donna Girardot, BASE chief executive officer, said under current law, to get the three-year clock started, a developer must spend the time and money to submit a development application, even though he knows it will be denied.

Girardot cited several Wilmington-area cases where property has been tied up for more than a decade while the DOT finalizes corridor protection maps and moves forward with land acquisition and construction. "In the meantime, these properties are encumbered, which complicates sales, building and potential development," she said. Greer Beaty, a DOT spokeswoman, said the department's legal staff hadn't yet reviewed the legislation, so she couldn't comment on it. But, she said, by protecting corridors, the DOT is able to keep the price of new roads down. And preventing development of new homes or businesses inside those corridors also reduces the number of people impacted by new road construction.

Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization, which plans transportation projects, said at first glance, it appears the bill could significantly impact transportation planning and increase the costs of developing roads. It also could necessitate a change in the way the DOT funds road projects because right-of-way acquisition would have to be completed sooner, he said. Girardot said that the construction of new roads is vitally important to the economy of the Wilmington area but that private property owners' rights also must be considered as the state struggles to find enough money to pay for property acquisition in a timely manner. "Requiring them to file an expensive request for development, in order to have it denied and then waiting sometimes many years while continuing to pay property taxes on land that they cannot sell, develop or otherwise utilize due to state budget shortfalls is also not right," she said.

U.S. 17 Bypass to be completed two years early

2011-03-28T15:39:00.001-04:00

Star News - Gov. Bev Perdue announced Friday afternoon that the final stretch of the U.S. 17 Wilmington Bypass would be completed in 2018, about two years earlier than expectedIn a phone interview, Perdue cited recently released population figures that showed New Hanover and Brunswick counties continuing to grow. She said both counties are “red hot” and the growing number of people exacerbates the need for better roads. “This is the right thing to do for jobs and the future of Wilmington,” the governor said. Perdue announced that several urban loop projects in the state scheduled to begin between 2014 and 2019 would begin earlier. She attributed the accelerated schedule mainly to available cash and cost savings from a favorable construction environment.

All grading and structures work on the “B” section of the U.S. 17 bypass – from U.S. 74/76 in Brunswick County to U.S. 421 in New Hanover County – would be consolidated into one contract in 2013, according to a news release from the governor's office. Paving would be done under a separate contract in 2017, allowing the project to be finished by 2018, roughly two years earlier than previously projected. “This is great news for mobility in this region,” said Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization, a transportation planning agency. When finished, the bypass will stretch from U.S. 17 in northern New Hanover County to U.S. 17 in Brunswick County.The “A” section of the bypass – from U.S. 17 to U.S. 74/76 in Brunswick County – is expected to be open to traffic in 2013, Kozlosky said. That will leave a hole between U.S. 74/76 in Brunswick and U.S. 421 in New Hanover until that final stretch opens.

The acceleration of bypass construction has been endorsed by municipalities throughout Brunswick and New Hanover counties. The highway has been the top priority for regional transportation planners for more than a decade. “This project's been in the pipeline for a long time,” Kozlosky said. Perdue also announced that other urban loop projects would be expedited, including the widening of Interstate 485 in Charlotte and urban loops around Greensboro. According to the news release, the money to accelerate the projects was made available in three ways: By using the design/build method, which allows design and construction to take place simultaneously, and coordinating construction on three separate projects in the Charlotte area, the N.C. Department of Transportation saved about $130 million.

By saving nearly 20 percent on construction contract bids during the past year. By putting loop projects on hold last year, allowing cash to build up. Perdue also said she hoped a special fund she created for transportation projects – known as the Mobility Fund – would help build the Cape Fear Skyway during her second term as governor. Of course, she still must win a second, four-year term in 2012. The proposed Skyway would connect Brunswick and New Hanover counties with a 9.5-mile toll road and high-rise bridge across the Cape Fear River. “I want the Cape Fear Skyway to happen while I'm governor,” she said.

Target to evaluate Brunswick sites in 2014

2011-03-28T15:20:00.000-04:00

Star News - Target is expected to set its sights on Brunswick County in 2014, a representative of the company told the county’s economic development officer. The retailer plans to begin evaluating possible locations that year, said Jim Bradshaw, Brunswick County Economic Development Commission executive director, in an e-mail. Bradshaw went to the International Council of Shopping Centers conference in Charlotte last week, where he met with a number of chain store representatives. Food Lion is set to begin engineering work on its planned new store in Supply, and is slated to begin construction next year, Bradshaw said. It will be built behind the Hardee’s at the intersection of U.S. 17 and N.C. 211. McDonald’s has also decided to build a new restaurant at that intersection after ruling out the new Brunswick Novant Medical Center site. Construction should begin this year, Bradshaw said. Harris Teeter has dropped plans for a store at N.C. 211 and Midway Road, Bradshaw said, skeptical that there are enough people living in the area and cautious of competing with the proposed Lowes Foods, which could begin construction late this year. Chick-fil-a and T.J. Maxx also expressed an interest in coming to Brunswick County, and Bradshaw said he will be following up.

Horry County growth rises 37 percent in 2010 Census

2011-03-28T10:19:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The surge was led by bedroom communities such as Carolina Forest, which quintupled in population, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday. The county's growth rate is slightly higher than it was between 1990 and 2000, when Horry County swelled by 36.5 percent. Georgetown County grew at a much slower rate in the past decade, only seeing a single-digit increase in population. A few oceanfront and rural census tracts along the Grand Strand lost population. Horry County's population rose from 196,629 in 2000 to 269,291 in 2010, and only trailed Dorchester and York counties for highest growth rate. Overall, South Carolina's population grew 15.3 percent. The county is now the fifth most populous in the state, surpassing Lexington County. Greenville County is the most populous county in the state with 451,225 residents.

Coastal, urban and suburban counties in the state generally grew, but several rural counties lost population. Georgetown County grew at a slower rate than Horry, increasing 7.8 percent to 60,158 people from 55,797 in 2000. Bedroom communities - areas that are mostly residential - grew the fastest, with the census tract containing Carolina Forest experiencing population growth of 506 percent. That explains the population boom in Carolina Forest from 3,338 residents to more than 20,000 in the past 10 years. The Forestbrook neighborhood more than doubled its population with 125 percent growth and the Burgess area grew 87 percent. That trend also emerged in Georgetown County, where the Waccamaw Neck area - including Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island - grew the fastest.

Some coastal areas lost population, led by the census tract containing the area between U.S. 17 Business and the beach in Garden City, which saw a 15.5 percent dip. The population of an oceanfront census tract from 17th Avenue North in Surfside Beach to Fourth Avenue South in Myrtle Beach shrank 10.6 percent. Rural areas in Georgetown County mostly lost population, as did the census tract containing the city of Georgetown's downtown area, which lost roughly 400 residents. The city of Myrtle Beach grew 19.1 percent to 27,109 and is the 14th most populous incorporated place in the state.

Horry County Schools have already built River Oaks Elementary School to cope with Carolina Forest's growth, said Joe Burch, who coordinates planning for the district. The school is scheduled to open in August 2012. No other building is planned yet, but the district will look at the census to determine how to resolve disparities between different areas. Georgetown County Schools grew by about 100 students this year but lost about 1,000 students during the three previous years, mostly in rural areas, Superintendent Randy Dozier said. Waccamaw Neck was the only area of the county that showed strong growth. A new intermediate school has opened there and the high school is expanding.

New eats coming to Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach

2011-03-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Renovation was under way last week on four new restaurants coming to Broadway at the Beach this spring, with some closer to opening than others. Good Time Charley's will be the first to open in a former retail location near Broadway's Celebrity Square and is slated to start serving customers this coming week, owner Pete Lloyd said. "We've got to hang up some décor, move in some furniture and do final cleaning and we'll be ready to roll," Lloyd said Thursday. Lloyd is also part owner of the Beach House Restaurant, 1205 Ocean Boulevard, and Fire Island Grille at Barefoot Landing. Nearby, Carlos'n Charlie's, which will take the place of Uno Chicago Grill, is set to open in the first week of April, General Manager Bernardo Chavez said. The restaurant is owned by Senor Frog's and will offer upscale Mexican fare, Chavez said. The restaurant will serve as a bar at night for those 21 years old and older, he said while standing in front of a partially constructed DJ booth.

On the other side of the complex, construction workers walked in and out of the gutted building that formerly housed Tripp's as they worked on transforming it into Capriz, an Italian restaurant owned by Charleston-based TBonz Restaurant Group. Construction on Tilted Kilt, a Celtic-themed bar with waitresses dressed as scantily clad school girls, is expected to begin later this month in the former Tony Roma's space. The bar and restaurant is expected to open in July, said Ed Messina, franchise development director. Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., which owns Broadway at the Beach, chose not to renew the leases with several restaurant tenants and a B&C rep has said it is part of an effort to shake up the restaurant lineup, which hadn't changed since 2005.

More affordable housing under way in Myrtle Beach

2011-03-27T15:25:00.000-04:00

Sun News - A new, 56-unit apartment complex under construction in Myrtle Beach is expected to help fill the perpetual need for affordable housing in the area. The second phase of Bay Pointe, which is on Mr. Joe White Avenue near Robert Grissom Parkway, is expected to be completed in August, about a year after the first phase opened next door, according to Progress Builders, which is building the development. The first phase filled quickly, prompting Progress Builders and Bradley Development to put together plans for the second phase, which will have two- and three-bedroom apartments, and will more than double Bay Pointe's size. "There's a lot of interest left over from the original community there," said Michael Allard, the chief construction officer at Progress Builders. "The demand for affordable housing is never fully served by supply."

There is a long waiting list for people who want Section 8 housing vouchers, and places like Bay Pointe, which don't require but do accept the vouchers, help people who need affordable housing, said Sharron Forrest, the executive director of the Myrtle Beach Housing Authority. A local a real estate analyst with the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors, said that there is consistently a need for workforce affordable housing. "There is a pent-up demand," he said. "I think we have a need and it's great to see people filling it." The first phase was full within three months and phase two is expected to fill up just as quickly, said Brad Queener, president of Bradley Development Co. and the developer of the project.

The two-bedroom apartments will range in price from $520 to $630 and the three-bedroom apartments will range in price from $595 to $685, depending on the renter's income. "The demand for this type of housing has certainly gone up and because of the tax credits and the equity infusion we can build deals now, and market rate deals now are much tougher to be built," Queener said. There will be requirements as to who can rent apartments in the building because the project is funded through the state's Low Income Housing Tax Credit, Allard said. The credit is an indirect federal subsidy that is used to finance the development of affordable rental housing for low-income households, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's website. In exchange for their financial backing, the investors will receive a tax credit.

Old Kroger store in Surfside Beach area torn down, rehab begins

2011-03-10T11:13:00.000-05:00

Sun News - The stagnant corner at S.C. 544 and U.S. 17 Business near Surfside Beach is set to be rehabilitated, starting with the demolition of an old Kroger grocery store that began last week, the developer said. Construction on a new 10,000 square-foot facility - to house Spencerz Sports Pub and other businesses - will begin around April 1 on the site of the former grocery, said Dennis Wade, president and CEO of the Jackson Companies, which is developing the property as part of a joint venture. Another lot near the corner will be developed in preparation for a major retailer to locate there in 2012, Wade said. The company will also improve street access to the businesses on the corner and has already obtained permits from Horry County and the state Department of Transportation to do so, he said.

"We think with some sprucing up and some new things there it will be more vibrant, and hopefully create traffic and activity," Wade said. Spencerz Sports Pub will relocate from its location on an adjacent lot to one of four available spaces in the new building by August in time for college football season, and its current location will be torn down, owner Bill Spencer said. "Now I'm sitting on a little island by myself. I mean unless you're going to Spencerz you might drive by it without even knowing its there," he said. The new building should bring in business and make it easier to turn off the highway into the bar, he said. Spencer said the bar's current location should stay open up until the new location opens. The Jackson Companies operate the Ocean Lakes Campground and other interests along S.C. 544. The companies' founder, Mary Emily Jackson, established a trust for her children which owns the property on the corner with U.S. 17. Jackson died in December.

"It's a prime corner and a prime intersection and honestly the family was just not happy aesthetically," Wade said. Ocean Lakes Family Campground is across U.S. 17 from property that is being developed. The Kroger building was at least 30 years old, Wade said. The Jackson family trust acquired the property in 2009 after the grocery store had closed. "You can't attract a good tenant to a building that old and expect them to pay market rents," he said. The remaining three spaces in the building to be occupied by Spencerz have yet to be rented out, Wade said. The buildings that house former Baskin Robbins, which closed in January, and a Burger King will also be demolished, Wade said. Three vacant lots on the property will remain open for future development, he said. "Once things start and get underway, once the buildings are gone and everything is built and raised, that will generate some interest from some people," Wade said.

Lot sales may spur more home building in the Myrtle Beach area

2011-01-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

Sun News - Toward the end of 2010, residential lot sales along the Grand Strand quietly started to pick up, driven by low prices, a shift that may slowly help improve what has been a struggling home building industry, according to area Realtors and builders. Residential lot sales increased almost 43 percent in 2010, up from 406 sales in 2009 to 580 last year, according a local company that tracks the real estate market. Prices on lots have dropped dramatically, and that has allowed some buyers the ability to build a new home they may not have been able to afford several years ago. The increase in lot sales may boost the home building industry as construction gets under way on neighborhoods where there has been little activity on vacant land. Those partially empty communities may start improving and the local economy will benefit from the added construction activity, according to area Realtors and builders.

The former president of the Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association, said that the real estate market and the home building industry have changed and that 2011 should bring improvements. "I think everything has been reset," he said. "We're now in the new normal. I think things have leveled off, we've seen the absolute worst." The activity in the market is good news, but added that there is still a lot of inventory on the market. The absorption rate for residential lots in Horry and Georgetown counties is 59.01, which means there is a roughly 59-month or nearly five-year supply of lots on the market. The owner of a local real estate franchise office, said lot sales picked up in 2010 for his company with a majority of the buyers he sold to planning to build on the property. "Someone can buy out there and build and their price per square foot is equal to or less than the resales," he said. The pick-up in lot sales follows the downturn that brought the sales almost to a standstill. A year ago this wasn't even a conversation," he said. "The prices of these lots have come down so much that it starts to make sense." Many of the lot owners who are selling, or losing the properties in foreclosure, bought the land as an investment or planned to move from up North but plans changed. Some of those owners have had to take a "massive" loss, and the buyers are sometimes getting lots for the cost of putting in the sewer, water and electric lines, he said. The median sales price for a residential lot on the Grand Strand in 2010 was $44,900, which was down from $57,000 in 2009, and down about 55 percent from the peak in 2006.

Another local broker said the lot sales, some of which are in what were nearly dormant subdivisions, are good for the real estate market as a whole. "You've got to have sticks going up to create activity, and it's working," she said. "I think you're going to see more new construction than the past two years, but not massive amounts." Builders along the Grand Strand have mostly struggled as business dropped with the collapse of the real estate market. Despite what some describe as an improvement in consumer attitudes, the number of building permits continued to drop last year. The number of building permits issued by Horry County was down slightly, dropping from 1,471 in 2009 to 1,440 in 2010, according to Market Opportunity Research Enterprises, a company that tracks the real estate market. In Georgetown County, the number of permits rose from 119 in 2009 to 132 last year. Brunswick County, N.C., permits dropped to 779 in 2010 from 852 in 2009, according to MORE. Builders are having to find ways to get business, and the dropping land prices, which allow them to offer the finished home at a lower price, are helping.

Lot sales are a good indication but it's unlikely that every one of those sales will translate into an immediate build. Some buyers are seeing good values on lot prices and are buying with the intention of building a year or two from now, he said. The low prices on lots have helped some potential customers, though. "For a long time over the last several years a lot of [lot prices] got to a point that they were squeezing people out of the marketplace, and what's kind of happened is that prices have been reset and readjusted," he said. "That has given some people an opportunity that may have been priced out." He is optimistic about the year ahead, and the number of inquiries to his company is up about 15 percent so far in January over what it was last year. He said there may be some more challenges ahead, including with financing, but that the industry can only improve. Financing does still present a challenge to some buyers, but Coyne said banks' tightening of restrictions makes sense. "Without a doubt it's been challenging," he said, adding "I feel like some of that has been overly restrictive, but it will find its level too."

Another improvement, said the owner of a local home building company, is that cash purchasers have more confidence and are comfortable spending their money. Despite some financing challenges, more lenders are offering financing on new homes than were at this time last year, he said. He has 11 homes under way, and said the company's philosophy is that prices have to meet the market, because that is what buyers want. He said he builds new custom homes that compete with or beat the prices of existing homes, even those in foreclosure. "When the market turns you have to find product that will sell, that the market will bear." The company has been able to do that by keeping margins low and using a volume-based mentality, negotiating contracts with suppliers and subcontractors in advance in bulk, to be able to provide lower prices. "Lot prices have depressed and now somebody can buy those lots, have a warranty and can have exactly what they want," he said.

That ability to customize a new home is a draw to many buyers, said a real estate analyst with the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors. "Most people if they had the option of a new and a resale home and they were the same price, people would choose the new home," he said. The builder building in the right price range is most likely going to do well, especially if that price is competitive with prices of an existing house in the same neighborhood. Typically new construction helps boost prices in a neighborhood or subdivision, and while in the short-term current construction may not do that, the activity should benefit the community, he said. Some communities homeowners' associations have started working with Realtors and builders to resolve potential issues and try to get lots sold and houses built. "The market is recovering. Building is growing here," he said. "Everybody's starting to think towards the future and doing what everybody has to do to get these products going."

Familiar face buys The Market Common in Myrtle Beach

2011-01-20T17:12:00.000-05:00

Sun News - It is still unclear what changes may take place at The Market Common, but the new owners aren't strangers to the property; the parent company of the buyer was also the parent company of the previous owner. BEI-Beach LLC, which bought the property last week, is a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp. LUK-MB1 LLC, which owned The Market Common property before it failed to make payments and JP Morgan Chase foreclosed on the property, also was a subsidiary of Leucadia. LUK-MB1 was run by McCaffery Interests Inc., but Leucadia was the financial partner. BEI-Beach LLC paid $19,178,122 for the property, according to Horry County property records. A spokesman for JP Morgan Chase said the company does not comment on specific client relationships. What changes might be made or how the purchase will affect businesses or shoppers is unclear because Leucadia declined to comment about the purchase. Hatton Gravely, a spokeswoman for The Market Common, said she was not authorized to comment on the sale. JP Morgan Chase foreclosed on The Market Common in May after LUK-MB1 failed to make payments. LUK-MB1 owed more than $105 million on a construction loan, which was used for the more than 370,000 square feet of retail shops, almost 24,000 square feet of office space and 195 residential units that make up the core of The Market Common. JP Morgan's spokesman also said he could not comment on the loss on the property.

The owners of The Market Common probably would have been able to continue to make payments on the loan, but chose to default because the property is no longer worth what it cost to build, said Dan McCaffery, president of McCaffery Interests in May. The loan that LUK-MB1 LLC had on the property was a nonrecourse loan, which means in the case of a default and foreclosure, the bank cannot go after the company's or any company employee's assets. Caffery said the property's value has dropped, and there were better investments than continuing to pay on the loan, despite nothing being wrong with the project. Tom Leath, the Myrtle Beach city manager, said that the city is pleased that Leucadia is involved because the company managed the property well before, and it appears that it has the money to succeed. "We are pleased that the purchaser is tied to Leucadia because we think obviously they know exactly what the issue is, and they understand the market having been here a few years," he said. "There is no learning curve with them."

A representative of Leucadia called Leath last Friday to tell him that the sale was finalized and said that he would be in town in the next couple weeks and would like to meet with the city. Leath said that he hasn't heard from them again yet, but that at a meeting, he would stress the desire to keep the current mix of tenants at The Market Common. He said that companies throughout the country are choosing to walk away from properties that have substantially lost value and are no longer sound investments, so this situation is not unique. "If you look at the foreclosure as a calculated business decision, then I don't think it's odd that they got back in line to buy it back," Leath said. The sale to the same company surprised Penny Vaigneur, the owner of Copper Penny at The Market Common. "I'm very surprised that it worked out that way," she said. "In fact it's very difficult to understand why all that transpired." Vaigneur said that she's glad the property has a new owner and that she has always been pleased with the management. Vaigneur said she'd like to see better signage and more traffic because it has been a slow year for her business at The Market Common. "I believe that the economy was the main factor that affected it; I don't think it was the owners or the management," she said. "I hope they've learned a lot from this, and I just hope they'll be ready to keep their promises and work on things that will bring people to the center.

WonderWorks on the way at Broadway Beach in Myrtle Beach

2011-01-11T17:16:00.000-05:00

Sun News - Inside a trailer at Broadway at the Beach, construction workers sit around a table littered with blueprints. On the walls, artists renderings show what might look impossible at first: a building that looks as if its been uprooted and placed on its roof. Just outside, that fantastical building is becoming a reality. WonderWorks, an upside-down science attraction, is roughly halfway finished and on track for its March opening, said Jackie Vasquez, director of sales and marketing for WonderWorks. "Structurally, it's all there," Vasquez said. The four-story building that was a skeleton about two months ago is now covered in yellow insulation and the fake stone exterior will start to go up by mid-January, Vasquez said. "Once that all happens we'll be able to play inside and move all the exhibits in," she said while standing in what will be the ropes course and laser tag area. "It all happens pretty fast." Once complete, there will be a build-your-own roller coaster exhibit, hurricane simulator, illusion gallery and video arcade among other exhibits, she said. The attraction will also begin hiring in late January or early February to fill about 100 to 120 positions, General Manager Robert Stinnett said. Positions include exhibit attendants, retail associates, cafe staff and ropes course staff, he said, and applications are available at WonderWorksOnline.com/myrtle-beach.

Myrtle Beach International Airport Breaks Record

2011-01-11T17:09:00.000-05:00

Sun News - Michael Malone thought he had done something wrong when Myrtle Beach International Airport staff asked to speak with him after his flight landed Thursday afternoon. Instead, the New York resident was given a bag of prizes for being the 839,451st passenger to fly into the airport in 2010, breaking the previous record for most inbound passengers set in 2007. "I didn't know why I was being singled out," Malone said. "It's great. A pleasant surprise. A bonus for New Year's weekend." Malone received two tickets on Spirit Airlines in addition to taffy, postcards and a miniature football. It's an impressive accomplishment, considering national unemployment is roughly 10 percent and consumer confidence is at all time lows, said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant who has worked with Myrtle Beach in the past to bring new air service. No other airport had growth rates comparable to Myrtle Beach in 2010, Boyd said. Although the airport can't sustain its pace forever, it could continue to see 5 to 10 percent growth in the next couple of years, said Boyd, president of Colorado-based Boyd Group International. The airport is aiming for 1 million passengers in 2011, airport director Michael La Pier said at the event welcoming Malone and others on a flight from LaGuardia. "I think we've got a good shot at it," La Pier said.

Spirit Airlines' plan to introduce flights to five new destinations - Washington, D.C.; Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Latrobe, Pa.; and Charleston, W.Va. - next year will go a long way toward accomplishing the goal, he said. Porter Airlines will also expand on the number of seasonal flights it began offering to Toronto in 2010, he said. La Pier said he expects more airlines to announce new routes soon but did not say which airlines or destinations. Breaking the record in 2010 shows that the efforts of the city, Horry County, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday to bring new tourists are paying off, La Pier said. Advertising for the Myrtle Beach area has jumped since 2009 when the City Council imposed a 1 cent sales tax, with the proceeds going to the chamber's promotions budget. Since then, the chamber has spent about $17 million promoting the Grand Strand out-of-state, according to chamber leaders. "In a period when the economy is not doing so well and a number of markets throughout the country are seeing downturns in their traffic, we're actually setting a record," La Pier said. The airports expansion will add six new gates and allow the airport to meet the rising demand, he said. The expanded airport will only further Myrtle Beach's reputation as "the Vatican of golf," Boyd said. "What's the key is to have a facility that can handle 'large' airplanes so they can carry golf bags," he said.

Pat Boone Family Theater replaces NASCAR cafe in Myrtle Beach

2011-01-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

Sun News - A new theater named for a famous singer could open in Myrtle Beach as early as March, a representative of the entertainment company behind the theater said Thursday. The Pat Boone Family Theater will open this spring in the former NASCAR Cafe at the corner of U.S. 17 and 21st Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, said Glenn W. Milligan, president and chief executive of Liquid Metal Holdings. The theater will open May 1 at the latest for the start of the peak tourist season, Milligan said. The location was chosen because of the high volume of traffic through the intersection, he said. Boone, who rose to fame in the 1950s and '60s and continues to record pop and Christian music, will help book acts for the theater and will also perform several shows each year, Milligan said. Illinois-based Liquid Metal is in the process of applying for permits to renovate the building. Turning the cafe into a 600-seat theater should take two to three months once they begin, Milligan said. The exterior of the building will remain mostly unchanged, except for different signs, he said. The venue will join the tribute artist show Legends in Concert in opening this spring in the Broadway at the Beach area. Jay Lodge, CEO of the nearby Palace Theatre, said he welcomes the competition. "The town is big enough and we bring enough tourists to the town that it's great to give them something else to do," Lodge said. "Our philosophy is it's clearly not going to go away, so if we can't beat it let's join it."

Milligan had first announced the Pat Boone Family Theater would open in spring 2010, before it had a location, but the project was delayed by the weak economy and contract issues, he said. Milligan declined to give further details, but said, "We've resolved what we needed to resolve." A representative of Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., which owns the building where the theater will be located, declined to elaborate, saying the company does not comment on pending contractual matters. The theater will be able to offer a more intimate setting than older, larger theaters in Myrtle Beach, Milligan said. "We believe that our 600-seat theater is the prototypical theater of the future," he said. There will be up to 1,400 performance slots at the theater, 500 of which will be filled by resident illusionist Morgan Strebler, Milligan said. Strebler was given the 2011 Merlin Award, one of magic's top awards with past winners including David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy. For his Myrtle Beach show, called "Inside Your Mind," Strebler says he will read minds, bend metal with his thoughts and perform large stage illusions. "My big show is usually 2,500 seats. This is something smaller," he said. "I can do my magic, and there's not a bad seat in the house." The venue will also be available for local gospel groups and regional singers to use, Milligan said. The theater plans to operate year-round and will hire 30 to 40 staff members, he said. Milligan said the theater will offer better prices than competitors, a claim Lodge said he doubts is possible. With only 600 seats, the Pat Boone Family Theater would be hard-pressed to offer lower ticket prices and still put on a good show compared to The Palace Theatre, which has 2,500 seats, Lodge said. A new theater will push others to produce better shows and give Myrtle Beach theater a better reputation in general, he said. "It will keep everybody on their toes," Lodge said.

The Market Common in Myrtle Beach Sold Out of Foreclosure

2011-01-11T16:48:00.000-05:00

Sun News - The Market Common has been sold out of foreclosure to BEI-Beach LLC, according to a written release from an attorney involved in the sale. Gregory Maloney, court-appointed receiver for The Market Common, conducted the sale, said Franklin Daniels, Maloney's attorney, in a written statement. Staff at stores and restaurants in The Market Common said Friday that they planned to continue to operate normally. Lenders filed a foreclosure suit against the center in May after owners failed to make loan payments. Daniels' statement did not give details on the sale or information on BEI-Beach LLC. Neither party in the sale could be reached immediately for comment. Center Marketing Manager Hatton Gravely said she was not authorized to comment on the sale. BEI-Beach is a limited liability company that was incorporated in Delaware on Dec. 27, according to Delaware's Division of Corporations records. Daniels' statement did not say how much BEI-Beach has agreed to pay for the complex. The Market Common had no set price, according to a sales flier produced by Jones Lang LaSalle, which marketed the complex to potential buyers. Jones Lang LaSalle also employs Maloney. The sales flier listed conditions for the sale were "as is, where is," and Jones Lang LaSalle hoped to find someone to buy with cash up front. Center management did not inform the staff of King Street Grill in The Market Common of the sale, manager Emerald Rabon said. Rabon said she hoped that the new owners would do a better job of running the mall than the last owners. "Advertising wise, they could have done a lot more to get Market Commons out there," she said.

Business has been strong at the restaurant, Rabon said. A 2010 quarterly report from LUK-MB1 reported that many Market Common shops and restaurants had requested and are paying reduced rents and that some businesses are struggling to stay afloat. At the time, about 37 of the 55 businesses were on a "watch list." Those tenants have either requested rent relief, could get rent adjustments or risk being kicked out if the companies don't fulfill certain requirements. Some were receiving financial assistance, are closing or owe money. JPMorgan Chase Bank filed a foreclosure suit against The Market Common's developer and owner, LUK-MB1 LLC, in May. LUK-MB1, which is owned by the Leucadia National Corp., stopped making payments on more than $105 million it owed lenders. The loan was for more than 370,000 square feet of shops, almost 24,000 square feet of office space and 195 residential units that make up the core of The Market Common, which opened in 2008.

Notable Properties in Myrtle Beach Sold

2011-01-11T16:36:00.000-05:00

One of the Carolina’s leading real estate development groups including owners of Hilton Head Lakes and Stratford Land have formed a joint venture which acquired 15 Coastal Carolina residential and commercial real estate assets in the coastal Carolina region. The real estate portfolio includes over 7390 acres of fully-entitled land with a large amount of infrastructure already in place and 725 developed lots, 7245 partially developed lots, and 15,519 permitted lots within popular master-planned communities in Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach and one undeveloped parcel in North Myrtle Beach. The portfolio also includes two commercial loans secured by in-service assets such as a golf course, several office buildings, residential lots, and a beachfront property. A purchase price and immediate plans for the properties have not been revealed for the transaction that closed on December 22, 2010.

“The financial strengths of both groups combine to give this joint venture the staying power to ensure that each of these properties is developed to its highest potential at the perfect time.” In the Hilton Head area, the joint venture acquired Hilton Head Lakes – a fully entitled, 2700-acre master-planned development halfway between Savannah and Hilton Head; and Traditions – a 1900-acre, fully entitled, master-planned development with a Tommy Fazio championship golf course in play.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://ow.ly/3C6Th

Conway Shopping Center Sold

2011-01-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Developers Diversified Realty Corp. (DDR) has sold a South Carolina shopping center to a New York City-based investment company. Gateway Plaza is located at 2701 Church St. in Conway. Constructed in 2002, the 62,400-square-foot center is anchored by Office Depot and Burkes Outlet. A Walmart shadow anchors the property. Jeff Winokur of White Plains, N.Y.-based JH Winokur Inc. represented both parties in the deal. The acquisition price was not released.

Jimmy Buffett Eatery to land in Myrtle Beach

2010-12-17T13:36:00.000-05:00

Sun News - Jimmy Buffett's popular Margaritaville brand is bringing another restaurant concept to Myrtle Beach, with plans to build a Land Shark Bar & Grille on the oceanfront. Land Shark, Margaritaville's brewing company that makes Land Shark Lager known for its blue and yellow fin-wave logo, plans to open in May as part of the SkyWheel attraction, a nearly 200-foot-high Ferris wheel that is under construction beside Plyler Park. The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will have mostly outdoor seating, said David Busker, president of Koch Development Co., which will operate the SkyWheel and is developing it along with Pacific Development. Busker declined to talk about the restaurant's name and concept, but said Koch wanted to partner with anestablished operator to make the most of the restaurant's good location on the oceanfront.

Officials are staying tight-lipped about the restaurant. Al Mers, a partner in Pacific Development, said Wednesday that he couldn't comment about the restaurant until Dec. 15. The Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board will likely consider the restaurant's plan for signs on and around the restaurant building on Dec. 16. Officials representing Buffett and the Margaritaville brand could not be reached Wednesday. There's a Land Shark Landing restaurant in Pensacola, Fla., beside the Margaritaville Beach Hotel, that serves items such as fish tacos, nachos and, of course, a Cheeseburger in Paradise fixed the way Buffett describes in the song by the same name. It's unclear whether the Land Shark Bar & Grille in Myrtle Beach will serve similar food. The restaurant will be part of the $12 million to $15 million SkyWheel complex emerging on the oceanfront. Crews are installing the 106 pilings that will support the nearly 200-foot-high Ferris wheel, which will have 42 glass-enclosed, temperature-controlled gondolas that plan to operate year-round.

The Land Shark restaurant will be a different kind of venue for downtown Myrtle Beach that will lure Buffett's followers who are likely to check out downtown's other offerings after stopping by the new restaurant, said Dave Sebok, executive director of Myrtle Beach's Downtown Redevelopment Corp. "It will offer something that is obviously new and has a different theme to it than what we have on the oceanfront now," he said. "It's a name that is nationally and internationally known so to me it's likely to be able to attract customers and business downtown." Buffett's business ventures have fit well in Myrtle Beach. Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant at Broadway at the Beach opened six years ago. There's also a Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant on the north end of Myrtle Beach, which is owned by Paradise Restaurant Group with a license from Buffett.

The power of the Buffett brand - and its national publicity - will be a plus for downtown Myrtle Beach, Sebok said. "I think it is a great addition to downtown," he said. "It will bring in a national company that will promote that location and the downtown." The wheel and restaurant complex will be the second major addition to Myrtle Beach's oceanfront in two years. Earlier this year, the $6 million, 1.1-mile boardwalk debuted.

Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach expands

2010-11-24T11:46:00.001-05:00

Sun News - Check the stat sheet for The Ripken Experience-Myrtle Beach this year, and there's one number general manager Bobby Holland just doesn't like to see. One hundred thirty. That's the number of teams of 13-year-olds and older that couldn't play in one of the complex's tournaments because there weren't enough fields. That's about to change. Work to add a third field for players ages 13 and older - the complex's eighth field overall - started this week. That $1 million investment will allow between 100 and 140 more teams the chance to play at The Ripken Experience next year, Holland said.

"It is going to have a tremendous impact on business," he said, walking through what will become the diamond's infield. "We had just been having to turn teams away. We just couldn't get them in because we only had two fields [for that age group]." Business at The Ripken Experience, a partnership between Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., has been brisk since the 50-acre complex opened off Mr. Joe White Avenue in Myrtle Beach in 2006, Holland said. Teams from across the country and overseas come to compete in tournaments on the AstroTurf fields and learn lessons of the game infused into the program by the Hall of Famer.

Like other tourism businesses along the Grand Strand, The Ripken Experience had a solid summer. More than 400 teams played during the 10 weeks of summer tournaments, with business up 26 percent from summer 2009, Holland said. Players came from as far away as Canada and Kuwait, he said. Some of the tournaments for next summer already are sold out. The complex is a component in the Grand Strand's push to increase sports tourism, with the Ripken name luring visitors who might never have come to Myrtle Beach otherwise but are likely to return once they see what the area offers, said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://ow.ly/3eYCr

Horry County envisions aviation mecca; Myrtle Beach International to see $1.7mil facelift

2010-11-24T11:42:00.001-05:00

Sun News - "Building 325" might sound mysterious, like a structure you'd find at Nevada's Area 51. But it's actually just a vacant hangar at the Myrtle Beach International Airport that is getting a lot of attention these days. It might even be getting a new tenant. Building 325 dates back to the military air base days. It needs renovation so it can become home to new aeronautics-related industry, said airport spokeswoman Lauren Morris. With 400 acres open at and around the airport, a planned technology and aerospace park, aviation businesses like Avcraft expanding, and industry giant Boeing locating not far away, Horry County is poised to become an aviation mecca, said County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://ow.ly/3eYeO

Wonder Works coming to Myrtle Beach

2010-11-22T17:12:00.000-05:00

CBL - Wonder Works, an amusement park for the mind that will combine education and entertainment, is coming to Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, at the site of the former Crab House Reastaurant. The venue will offer more than 100 hands-on exhibits, with opportunities to lie on a bed of 3,500 nails, be blown away by 74 mph winds, ride a 360-degree virtual roller coaster, manuever the controls of a NASA spacecraft to land the Shuttle, pilot a figher jet, play virtual sports and lazar-tag and participate in numerous other adventures.

At 97 feet in height and 50,000 square feet, with the appearance of being upside down, the WonderWorks construction will include 145 tons of rebar, 315 tons of structural steel, 2,100 cubic yards of concrete, 47 artificial updide down window boxes and 8 artificial palm trees. Already operational on site are a Zipline that takes participants 1,000 feet between towers, 50 feet above the water, and a pirate-themed ropes course that stands 40 feet tall, spans three levels and includes 33 different challenge elements with more than 3,000 ropes and cables.

The Broadway and the Beach venue will be the fourth WonderWorks. The others are in Orlando and Pananama City Beach, Fla., and Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The hands-on amusement park is the brainchild of attorney and developer John B. Morgan, who lives in Florida, and Robin L. Turner, who resides in Tennessee and has a background in special event and fair/attraction management. In 1997, the two men co-founded Attraction Concepts, Ltd., which opened the first WonderWorks attraction in Orlando in 1998.

WonderWorks, which is scheduled to open in March 2011, will offer group and combo packages to fit various groups and budgets.

Local developer rescues Gateway development in Wilmington

2010-11-22T17:00:00.001-05:00

Star News - The local businessman is breathing life into an otherwise foundering development at the base of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. A federal judge ruled this week the sale of the Gateway property to Pickett could move forward. River 2 Sea LLC, the company that owns the land intended for the 11-story development in downtown Wilmington, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in August, less than an hour before the land was scheduled to be sold at auction. River 2 Sea had already entered into a contract to sell the land to Pickett but trouble with financing got in the way of the $8.4 million sale. Now Pickett has secured a $98 million construction loan from a consortium of hedge funds, he said. “He’s found a new lender. That’s the challenge, to find a lender in these difficult times,” River 2 Sea owner John Evans said.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://ow.ly/3dUA6

Oak Island builders weigh impacts of sewer service / fees

2010-11-22T16:56:00.001-05:00

Star News - New building projects in Oak Island will be subject to higher sewer tap and impact fees now that the town council has approved a 50 percent increase at the town staff’s recommendation. Local builders say the new wastewater system is providing more opportunities but some headaches, as well. The council voted unanimously last week to approve the new fees, which town officials say are needed to pay for the ever-increasing cost of the wastewater system and to tie the fees to actual tap costs and usage.

Click on the link below for the full article:

http://ow.ly/3dUrT

Housing Market in the Carolinas

2010-11-22T16:48:00.003-05:00

Housing Intelligence - With the surge in distressed real estate sales over the past couple of years, new homes have made up a smaller portion of overall housing activity. Based on data from Housing IntelligencePro, the proportion of new home sales declined to 9.5% of total home sales in the third quarter of this year compared to 10.5% during the same period a year ago. However, there were some areas across the country that did experience an increase in new home activity. Our data feature of the week focuses on places with the largest share of new home sales as a portion of the overall market, with a minimum of 1,000 closings during the quarter. The results show that the Carolinas stick out. Fayetteville, NC had the highest number of new home sales as a percentage of the overall market. Over 32% of all the homes closed in the third quarter were in the new homes segment which is up about 31% during the third quarter of last year. The fourth and ninth highest concentrated markets, Huntsville, AL and Charlotte, NC, both also experienced an increase in new home activity compared to year-ago levels. Ten out of the top-17 areas across the U.S. with the highest concentration of new home sales activity were in the Carolinas.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://ow.ly/3dUvp

Multifamily Sector Posts Record Occupancy Gains

2010-11-22T16:44:00.002-05:00

Multifamily Executive - The multifamily real estate sector posted its greatest quarterly occupancy gain in the third quarter and is poised to continue to benefit from single-family housing market decompression throughout 2011, commercial real estate economists said this week in separate forecasts delivered by New York City-based REIS and Washington, D.C.-based Jones Lang LaSalle. While anemic GDP growth continues to hamper improvements to the unemployment picture, jobs are being added, and optimism of broader economic recovery is giving renters—particularly in the Gen Y millennial demographic—the confidence to double-down out of roommate and live-at-home situations.

“National vacancy levels fell by 70 basis points from 7.8 percent to 7.1 percent,” said REIS director of research Dr. Victor Calanog. “This is one of the sharpest drops in vacancy on record, and pent-up demand from renters [opting out of] living with their families or other roommates seems to be driving these results.” According to REIS, the third quarter also saw record net absorption of 94,000 units, with 90 percent of absorption coming from existing buildings leasing empty units.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://ow.ly/3dUxE

New Oak Island bridge opening delayed again

2010-11-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

Star News - The opening of the new Oak Island bridge has been delayed yet again, an N.C. Department of Transportation official said Tuesday. No official date has been set for the opening of the $36.6 million bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, but it is now not anticipated until the first or second week in November, said Mark Blalock, assistant resident engineer in the NCDOT Wilmington office. The estimate had been by the end of October for the last few months. Construction crews lost a week of work because of the heavy rains and flooding in late September, Blalock said. Workers must still complete the pavement markings, guard rails and a few other tasks, he said. Blalock said it is looking more likely that only one lane in either direction will be opened to traffic at first while construction is completed. Should the bridge open in mid-November, it will be nearly 11 months behind schedule.

Inlet Square Mall Owner Announces Increase in Leasing

2010-11-02T12:04:00.000-04:00

RAIT Financial Trust is pleased to announce that, since taking control of Inlet Square in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina in September of 2009, seven new leases in excess of 20% of the property, or approximately 90,000 square feet, have been signed. As a result of these leases, the occupancy rate will increase to approximately 90% from 68% in September 2009. Key leases signed since RAIT acquired Inlet Square include a cinema and entertainment venue, an apparel store and a nationally recognized kids store.

Inlet Square is a 430,000 square-foot mall anchored by JC Penney, Belk, Kmart and Stein Mart. It recently underwent a $4.5 million renovation to help attract new tenants. Scott Schaeffer, RAIT’s Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, “This is a good example of RAIT using its core real estate knowledge and capabilities to create value within its commercial real estate portfolio.”

Wal-mart Unveils Plans For New Smaller Store Format

2010-11-02T11:57:00.000-04:00

Bill Simon, Wal-Mart’s U.S. president and CEO, explained in a statement that the company will move to a three-format portfolio. The large format is the Walmart supercenter, which carries both groceries and general products. The next size smaller — stores between 30,000 square feet and 60,000 square feet — will be based on a market’s specific needs, and the new under 30,000 square foot template will be aimed at small towns and urban markets, according to the statement.

South Carolina Community Impact

Real Estate
As of September 2010, Walmart's presence in South Carolina includes:
Supercenters: 71
Discount Stores: 5
Neighborhood Markets: 0
Sam's Clubs: 9
Distribution Centers: 2

Average store size (national average)
Supercenter: 185,000 sq. ft. with approx. 142,000 items
Discount Store: 108,000 sq. ft. with approx. 120,000 items
Neighborhood Market: 42,000 sq. ft. with approx. 29,000 items
Sam's Club: 132,000 sq. ft. with approx. 5,500 items

People
•As of September 2010, the total number of Walmart associates in South Carolina is 28,255.
•As of September 2010, the average wage for regular, full-time hourly associates in South Carolina is $12.61 per hour (Walmart Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets). Additionally, associates are eligible for performance-based bonuses.
•In recent years, Walmart has contributed four percent of an associate's eligible pay to their combined Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan.

Suppliers
•In FYE 2010, Walmart spent $812,224,336.00 for merchandise and services with 753 suppliers in the state of South Carolina. As a result of Walmart's relationship with these suppliers, Walmart supports 32,683 supplier jobs in the state of South Carolina.
•Supplier figures provided by Dun & Bradstreet.

Taxes and Fees
•Walmart collected on behalf of the state of South Carolina more than $244.6 million in sales taxes in FYE 2010.
•Walmart paid more than $35.3 million in state and local taxes in the state of South Carolina in FYE 2010.

Community Involvement
•In 2009, Walmart stores, Sam's Club locations and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $6.6 million in cash and in-kind donations to local organizations in the communities they serve in the state of South Carolina. Through additional funds donated by customers, and Walmart and Sam’s Club associates throughout the state, the retailer’s contributions in South Carolina totaled more than $9.2 million.

How Long Can Cap Rate Compression Last?

2010-11-02T11:54:00.000-04:00

Multifamily Executive - Many multifamily buyers and sellers have been surprised at just how quickly, and how steeply, cap rates have fallen this year. Several factors have conspired to drive down cap rates a little more each month this year. A wealth of opportunity funds looking for acquisitions has resulted in frenzied bidding wars for Class A assets. Low-priced debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has allowed more deals to pencil out. And stabilizing fundamentals have inspired confidence in the future value proposition. But just how sustainable is this cap rate compression? Most multifamily finance professionals don’t expect it to last into next year. In a poll of 168 senior-level professionals conducted by Apartment Finance Today conducted in August, half of all respondents expected cap rates to stay flat in 2011, while more see cap rates rising (27 percent) than falling (23 percent) next year.

“It has to level off,” says Mike McRoberts, national head of production and sales for McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac. “One thing that’s going to drive cap rates is availability of product, and we’ve already seen an increase in availability of product. That has to have an upward pressure on cap rates.” In the first six months of the year, there were about 29 multifamily transactions of $10 million or more with cap rates of 6 percent or less. Yet, since the beginning of July—in a span of just over three months—there have been 28 such transactions, according to market research firm Real Capital Analytics. These range from the very large—last month’s $193 million acquisition by CBRE of the Resort at Pembroke Pines in Hollywood, Fla., drew a 6 percent cap—to smaller assets, such as the $25.5 million acquisition by Trinity Property Group of the 76-unit Clay Park Towers in San Francisco, which had a 5 percent cap rate.

While some of today’s cap rates seem aggressive, when you factor in the price of debt from Fannie and Freddie—around 4 percent for a 10-year loan, and sub-4 percent for a seven-year loan—it makes sense. “If you’re buying a quality property in a core market with a going-in cap rate around 6 percent, and you’re getting 75 percent leverage at 4 percent, you’re getting huge positive leverage,” says David Rifkind, principal and managing director of Los Angeles-based George Smith Partners. “You’re spitting out cash flow.” Some in the industry are marveling that in the high-barrier coastal markets, there’s been a return to the cap rates seen at the height of the last boom period. But one notable difference is that cap rate compression is only really seen on the upper echelon of deals in select markets. “I think we’ll continue to see the cap rate differentiation that we hadn’t seen four or five years ago,” says Michael Berman, president and CEO of Needham, Mass.-based CWCapital. “We’re seeing cap rates of 4 percent for really fine, triple A properties, but B and C properties aren’t seeing that kind of compression.”

The high-barrier coastal markets have experienced the biggest cap rate declines. But some believe that the dynamic will soon begin to emerge in the Midwest as well. “On the coasts, it’s always a little bit of an anomaly. In the Midwest, we’re not seeing a lot of transactions of stabilized, well-occupied properties yet,” says Greg Cazel, executive vice president of Midwest markets for Boise, Idaho-based lender A10 Capital. “But as we continue to see leasing and occupancy strengthen like we’ve seen for the past 18 months, I think cap rates are going to continue to come down.” Everyone knows, however, that today’s interest-rates can’t last, and that it’s impossible to time the bottom. The economy will enter into an inflationary period sooner or later. “Based on the federal deficit and the capacity of the economy, at some point we’re going to be back in an inflationary period,” says Berman. “And when that happens, cap rates will drift up again.” But for now, interest rates continue to fall and the pace of transactions continues to rise. The fourth quarter is shaping up to be the kind of “busy season” that we haven’t seen in a few years. Carpe Diem.

120 Unit Motel sold in Myrtle Beach

2010-10-06T15:13:00.002-04:00

A 120-room "Value Place" property in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina sold to Deesha Hotels for an undisclosed sum. The hotel is well-located directly off Highway 501, approximately seven miles from the Myrtle Beach International Airport and is proximate to many lifestyle amenities including high quality shopping, entertainment and restaurants including Myrtle Beach downtown, Freestyle Music Park, Broadway at the Beach and golf courses.

North Myrtle Beach channels in midst of legal battle

2010-10-06T14:14:00.002-04:00

North Myrtle Beach officials will be heading back to court in November over ownership of the channels in Cherry Grove after a mistrial in September on the issue. City officials and East Cherry Grove Realty - which claims ownership of the channels in Cherry Grove - went to court in September after both parties were unable to reach a resolution regarding the property issue. Horry County Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman denied the city's request earlier this year to dismiss East Cherry Grove Realty's claim. The city has been working to dredge the channels in Cherry Grove since 2004, but ongoing legal battles over marshland ownership have prevented the work. The city contends that the state owns the channels. The case was tried in court over four days in September. After two hours of deliberation, one juror said she felt she could not be a fair juror to the state and was dismissed by the judge, according to North Myrtle Beach City Attorney Chris Noury and Gene Connell, a Surfside Beach attorney representing East Cherry Grove Realty.

Noury said the city was willing to move forward with 11 jurors, but Connell said his client felt strongly that 12 people should decide the case. The case will be back before a judge on Nov.15, Noury and Connell said. "We want the court to see the channels are owned by East Cherry Grove Realty," said Connell, who said the group - heirs of C.D. Nixon, who built the canals - has owned the channels since the early 1960s. "You can't condemn our property and do anything to it without our consent," Connell said, regarding the dredging work. The city says the state owns those lands and a local government cannot condemn lands owned by the state. Last year, North Myrtle Beach received a state Department of Health and Environmental Control permit for the nearly $4.2 million dredging project, but it will not be issued a second required permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until East Cherry Grove Realty's claim of ownership of the channels is settled, city officials said. An assessment district also cannot be established until the property issues are resolved. Connell said the issue was settled in 1969 when the judge at the time ruled that East Cherry Grove Realty owned the marshland under a king's grant. "It's a question of documentation interpretation," Connell said about his client and city officials going to court over the issue. A recent survey shows sediment has increased in the channels from 4 inches to 15 inches in the past five years.

Over time, the canals could become impassable if nothing is done, city officials said. The City Council passed a resolution during its meeting Monday in support of the project. "The city will continue to pursue through all possible means on public behalf the dredging of the Cherry Grove channels so that the full use of the channels might be reinstated and perpetually preserved for the public use and enjoyment by the city's residents and visitors," a portion of the resolution stated. The dredging work planned in the project would affect about 600 property owners, officials have said. Some channels are excluded from the current dredging permit, and Noury said the city "feels those channels omitted should be included." "We're working with DHEC staff to determine which method will be best - applying for a new permit [for them] or amending the current permit [to include them]," Noury said.

Hotel makes way for Ferris wheel in Myrtle Beach

2010-09-16T09:42:00.003-04:00

Sun News - Crews have started clearing out the two-tower Golden Villa hotel in downtown Myrtle Beach, which will be demolished next week, to make way for a new Ferris wheel. Al Mers, a partner in Pacific Development, the St. Louis-based company that's bringing the 187-foot-tall SkyWheel to downtown Myrtle Beach, said work is moving ahead as crews remove asbestos from the hotel in preparation for its demolition. The Golden Villa has stood in downtown Myrtle Beach for many years, becoming a regular vacation spot for families returning to the Grand Strand. On some travel websites, vacationers have written comments asking that the hotel not close, offering their fond memories of staying there as children or with their own children. "There's something to be said for the older places remaining, but it's also in themiddle of the entertainment district," said Myrtle Beach City Councilman Randal Wallace. "This is an opportunity to bring a fun, new attraction to downtown." The demolition is scheduled to begin Monday or Tuesday, and Mers said the lot at 1106 N. Ocean Blvd. should be flat by about Oct. 22.

"The first thing people will see going up are the piers," he said. Because the wheel and the adjoining building are being built in the hurricane surge zone, they must be constructed on a deck that will sit 20 feet above sea level - 3 to 4 feet above the ground on the lot. Piers to hold the wheel's steel frame will sink 30 feet deep, Mers said. Pacific Development plans to place a camera atop the Slingshot, a thrill ride across the street, to shoot time-lapse photos of the hotel demolition and the wheel complex's construction to produce a 12-minute video that will show people the process. The wheel is part of the ever-changing face of downtown Myrtle Beach. Wallace said he remembers the 1970s when downtown's then-tallest feature, the Astro Needle, was in operation. It was a 200-foot attraction at the corner of Eighth Avenue North and Chester Street - an intersection that doesn't even exist anymore.

"When I was a little kid, it was really a neat ride. I was so small, and it seemed huge," Wallace said. "You got in this UFO-like car and it took you up to the top and spun you around, and then brought you back down." But the needle, which opened in 1970, was removed after Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. bought the site and expanded The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park to Kings Highway. Wallace said he's looking forward to the new SkyWheel and the views people will have from the gondolas. When the SkyWheel is finished, it will be one of the downtown district's tallest structures. The height limit is 240 feet, and there are nine resort towers that are between 20 and 23 stories, said Fire Marshal Bruce Arnell, including the Ocean Forest Plaza, the Carolina Grand and the Grand Atlantic. The Slingshot frame is about 170 feet tall and stands on a small hill, and when the SkyWheel is finished, it should be about 200 feet tall.

The wheel is scheduled to open in the first week of May. "It's like putting a puzzle together," said Pacific Development partner Todd Schneider. The steel frame is being constructed in pieces outside St. Louis, and the "ballooned-out-square" gondolas that will carry riders are being crafted in Switzerland, Mers said. "They are like what you'd see on a ski lift," he said. "They are the latest upgrade - the fourth generation." Each gondola is temperature controlled, and because they are clear from floor to ceiling, each will have a slight tint to help keep it cool in the summer and make scenery watching more comfortable. Once the lot is cleared and prepared, about "50 truck loads" of steel will arrive and be stored in Myrtle Beach, delivered to the site as needed. Mers said the A-frame could be here by December. Mers said the project, while not that big by construction standards, is creating local jobs. Rhino Demolition-Environmental from Little River is removing the asbestos, and Thompkins & Associates heavy construction company will demolish the hotel. As that work goes on, Mers said, other details must be finalized, including what size motors to use for heating and cooling. Pacific Development has one more meeting with the Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board, likely later this month, and all the pre-construction requirements will be filled, Mers said. "So far, everyone has liked the design," he said. "But we can't finish the plans until all those little details are settled."

Bank Watch: Regulator Says Bankers, Not Bricks, Main Reason Behind Most Bank Failures

2010-09-14T10:43:00.001-04:00

CoStar - Don't blame the current wave of bank failures on commercial real estate; much of the blame belongs to bad bankers. While it is clear that commercial real estate and construction and land development loans have figured in most every bank failure in the last couple of years, it is also becoming evident that bad bank management and, in some cases, outright deceit, were at the core of many of the banks' problems. In addition, more regulatory supervision may have mitigated some of those problems, according federal bank failure audits. The Federal Deposit Insurance Act requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s (FDIC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to conduct a material loss review of individual bank failures. A review of the seven material loss reviews completed and released this summer by the OIG show common themes.

Many failed banks' boards and managers did not implement adequate controls to identify, measure, monitor and control the risks associated with significant and growing CRE loan concentrations; Many failed banks exhibited weak internal controls and questionable credit underwriting standards; and They financed growth in lending through potentially volatile non-core liabilities such as higher-priced certificates of deposit, including brokered deposits. In the seven audits, the OIG also pinpointed instances of insufficient federal oversight. In general, the audits suggested that the FDIC, while good at following required supervisory procedure, could have done more. For example the audits suggested the FDIC should have: Placed greater supervisory emphasis on more forward-looking assessments; Taken a more aggressive supervisory approach where risky loan concentrations were growing rapidly; Issued more critical assessments when banks were not adhering to original business plans; and Taken further steps to ensure that management and internal controls were commensurate with the business strategy.

US Banks Report CRE Loan Troubles Subsiding Amid Strong Quarterly Earnings

2010-09-14T10:24:00.000-04:00

CoStar - It appears that commercial real estate adversity at U.S. banks has reached the high-water mark and is abating. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), second quarter numbers show 90-plus day delinquencies leveling and eventually set to decline because 30-89 day delinquencies are declining. Also, net charge-offs are leveling or declining. The only CRE distress levels still rising at banks is the amount of foreclosed assets, the total of which now stands at $29.77 billion, up from $7.4 billion two years ago.

Also, the banking industry's quarterly earnings of $21.6 billion are up dramatically from the year-ago loss of $4.4 billion and represent the highest quarterly earnings since third quarter 2007. Almost two out of three institutions (65.5%) reported higher year-over-year quarterly net income. And while the proportion of institutions reporting quarterly net losses remained high at 20%, it was down from more than 29% a year earlier. "This is the best quarterly profit for the banking sector in almost three years," said FDIC chairman Sheila C. Bair. "Nearly two out of every three banks are reporting better year-over-year earnings. As long as economic conditions remain supportive, most institutions should maintain profitability and increase their capacity to lend."

Reductions in loan-loss provisions underscored improvement in asset quality indicators during second quarter 2010. Insured institutions added $40.3 billion in provisions to their loan-loss allowances in the second quarter. While still high by historic standards, this is the smallest total since the industry set aside $37.2 billion in first quarter 2008 and is $27.1 billion (40.2%) less than the industry's provisions in second quarter 2009. Fewer than half of all institutions (41.3%) reported year-over-year reductions in quarterly loss provisions. Only 40% of community banks (institutions with less than $1 billion in assets) reported year-over-year declines. Reductions were more prevalent among larger institutions. More than half (56.2%) of institutions with assets greater than $1 billion had lower provisions in the second quarter. The amount of loans and leases that were noncurrent (90 days or more past due or in nonaccrual status) declined by $19.6 billion (4.8%) during the second quarter. This is the first quarterly decline in noncurrent loans since first quarter 2006. Noncurrent levels declined in most major loan categories during the quarter. The sole exception was nonfarm nonresidential real estate loans, where noncurrents increased by $547 million (1.2%). However, that was the smallest quarterly increase in three years. The largest reduction in noncurrent loans in the quarter occurred in real estate construction and development loans, where noncurrents fell by $5.9 billion (8.3%). This is the third consecutive quarter that noncurrent C&D loans have declined. Multifamily delinquencies also declined.

Total loan-loss reserves of insured institutions fell for the first time since fourth quarter 2006, declining by $11.8 billion (4.5%), as net charge-offs of $49 billion exceeded loss provisions of $40.3 billion. The number of institutions on the FDIC's "Problem List" rose from 775 to 829. However, the total assets of "problem" institutions declined from $431 billion to $403 billion. Also, while the number of "problem" institutions is the highest since March 31, 1993, when there were 928, it is the smallest net increase since the first quarter of 2009. Forty-five insured institutions with combined assets of $47.3 billion failed during second quarter 2010. For 2010 through the end of the second quarter, 86 insured institutions with combined assets of $69.4 billion failed, resulting in an estimated current cost to the DIF of $16.8 billion. "Without question, the industry still faces challenges. Earnings remain low by historical standards, and the numbers of unprofitable institutions, problem banks and failures remain high," FDIC chairman Bair added. "But the banking sector is gaining strength. Earnings have grown, and most asset quality indicators are moving in the right direction."

The U.S. thrift industry also reported a profit in the second quarter ($1.49 billion), the fourth consecutive quarterly profit for the industry. "The thrift industry has clearly improved from the height of the recession but has certainly not recovered in full," noted OTS acting director John E. Bowman. "The performance of the industry reflects the state of the overall economy and the stresses from high unemployment, weakness in the housing market and the spread of weakness to the commercial real estate market."

Plans OK'd for Brunswick County housing development - Despite traffic concerns, South Cape project gets a thumbs up

2010-09-14T10:16:00.000-04:00

Star News - A new gated community off N.C. 133 earned the approval of the Brunswick County Planning Board Monday evening. It's a major development at a time when the economy has greatly slowed construction projects in the area. It's also connected to a company that has ongoing legal issues with its yet-to-be-completed subdivisions elsewhere in the county – and it lies right in the path of the proposed Cape Fear Skyway. The development, known as South Cape, is slated to contain 290 single-family homes, 144 multi-family units and 81 townhomes, according to documents filed with the county. It would include about 400 acres on either side of N.C. 133 near Mallory Creek. After an extensive presentation, several board members raised concerns about the effect a new development would have on N.C. 133, which they described as already stressed. The board also discussed at length whether the development's streets should be made to connect with future surrounding neighborhoods. But the only additional requirement applied before approval was that an archaeological survey be conducted on the area before land is cleared. The property, which abuts the Cape Fear River, is owned by BLT Trust, with William E. Saunders Jr., as trustee. The trust is an affiliate of The Coastal Companies, an umbrella unit for several subdivisions in Brunswick County in different stages of completion. Its CEO is Mark Saunders, the son of William Saunders, TCC attorney Elaine Jordan said.

Myrtle Beach National takes over Pawleys Plantation

2010-08-24T23:35:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Myrtle Beach National Co. has acquired Pawleys Plantation, giving the largest golf course management/ownership group on the Grand Strand operation of 14 Strand courses, including three 27-hole facilities. The company also has a marketing arrangement with the TPC of Myrtle Beach. Jim Woodring, vice president of golf operations and marketing for Myrtle Beach National, predicts the company will stand pat with its holdings for a while. The second largest course management company on the Strand, Burroughs & Chapin Co., owns and/or manages 10 of the Strand's approximately 100 courses. "This is a good number," Woodring said. "We're very comfortable for the time being. We have plenty on our plate right now."

Pawleys Plantation opened in 1988 and is a challenging Jack Nicklaus-designed layout with Lowcountry features including tidal marsh and large live oak trees. Myrtle Beach National acquired Pawleys Plantation from original owner Les Morris. It had a contract to purchase the course this past spring and was finally able to finalize the details. The acquisition also includes all the resort amenities and real estate contained on the property. Myrtle Beach National will maintain the property's dining and convention facilities including three restaurants and more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space highlighted by the Plantation Ballroom. The company will also serve as rental manager for the more than 100 villas at Pawleys Plantation. The Pawleys Plantation course has been rated among the top 25 courses in South Carolina by Golf Magazine, Golf World and the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel. Pawleys Plantation is also home to the Ritson-Sole Golf School, rated by Golf Magazine in 2008 as one of the Top 25 Golf Schools in America.

Pawleys Plantation has also been judged as one of the top meeting facilities in the Southeast by ConventionSouth magazine. "It's such a great fit with the other courses we have down there for package programs," Woodring said. "Arguably it's one of the prettiest courses in the area and it gives us both Jack Nicklaus courses in the area, along with Long Bay Club on the north end." Myrtle Beach National also owns and operates three courses at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club, Aberdeen Country Club, Waterway Hills Golf Club, Long Bay Club, Litchfield Country Club, River Club and Willbrook Plantation. The company has management contracts with Blackmoor Golf Club, Wachesaw Plantation East, Wild Wing Plantation and Tradition Club.

New Bank Under Construction

2010-08-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Bank of America has started building a branch at the corner of Pine Island Road and Seaboard Street in Myrtle Beach. The 4,452-square-foot bank will have a drive-through ATM, according to paperwork submitted to the city of Myrtle Beach. The location is being built because Bank of America identified a need in the area, a bank spokeswoman said when the new branch was approved several months ago. "We actively manage our retail distribution network to meet evolving customer demand," she said at that time.

Freestyle Music Park board resigns following foreclosure

2010-08-24T23:27:00.001-04:00

Sun News - The majority of Freestyle Music Park's board of directors have stepped down in the wake of a foreclosure suit against the park, former president Steve Baker said in an interview today. A single member, appointed by the park's Russian investors, stayed on the board and continues to try to sell the park, said Baker, who also resigned. All other members of FPI MB Entertainment LLC, the park's owner, resigned after the park's mortgage holder, FPI US LLC, filed a foreclosure suit on Aug. 5, he said. Baker said he could not confirm the identity of the remaining board member with FPI MBE. The future of the park looks grim, Baker said. "I don’t think its dead…but I’m not real optimistic because I don’t think there’s anyone close to buying it," he said. Attorneys Nate Fata, representing FPI MBE, and David Slough, representing FPI US, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.

The park failed twice in two years after lackluster seasons: First as Hard Rock Park in 2008, then as Freestyle in 2009. The park did not reopen for a 2010 season. The resignations leave Russian investors on both sides of the foreclosure suit. The mortgage holder, FPI US LLC, is a US division of MT Development, a Russian developer. FPI US formed a joint venture with MB Entertainment LLC to start the park under the name FPI MB Entertainment LLC, according to court documents, and appointed its own representative to the resulting company's board. FPI MBE responded to the foreclosure suit Friday, admitting most of the claims against it, according to court documents. FPI MBE affirmed that it owes nearly $25 million on the park, is in default on its loans and is unable to pay the outstanding amount. "They're pretty much admitting a debt is owed and they're pretty much admitting there’s a mortgage and there’s going to be a foreclosure," said Joseph Wachter, an attorney not affiliated with either party.

The response said that FPI MBE should not be responsible for its debt beyond what can be repaid if the property is auctioned off. That's the only claim FPI MBE denied outright with minor claims being denied due to lack of sufficient information, Wachter said. The response indicates a change in the legal approach for FPI MB Entertainment LLC, the park's owner, which has sporadically responded to lawsuits. Local and federal courts have issued at least eight rulings against FPI MB for failure to respond to lawsuits. Baker and the board had been working to find a new buyer for the park prior to their resignations, he said. The foreclosure suit puts additional urgency on the park to find new investors and will make it more difficult to sell, he said. "The Myrtle Beach market can support a park, and I think that market can be attractive," Baker said. "But I think time is not on the investors' side."

Construction, sales to start at new Grande Dunes Subdivsion

2010-08-24T23:22:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Construction and sales will start in September at Cipriana Park, a new subdivision in Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach. The subdivision, on Grande Dunes Boulevard between U.S. 17 Bypass and U.S. 17 Business, will have 182 single-family homes when it is completed. Leonard, Grigg & Associates LLC and Traditional Homebuilders of Little River teamed up on the project. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom houses will range in size from about 2,000 square feet to about 3,200 square feet and base prices will range from $270,000 and $390,000. Sales will begin at the development in September and Traditional Homebuilders will build two models, which will be completed by January.

Development near Market Common Defaults

2010-08-24T23:20:00.003-04:00

Sun News - More than 200 acres of former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base property near The Market Common is up for sale after the owner failed to make payments and the lender started foreclosure proceedings. The Withers Preserve planned unit development was zoned for commercial and residential uses, and the undeveloped land is now under the jurisdiction of a court-appointed receiver. Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc. filed to foreclose on Myrtle Beach Property Development LLC a few months ago and asked the court to appoint a receiver to take care of the property, according to court documents. Myrtle Beach Property Development owner Robert O'Neel could not be reached for comment Thursday. His company borrowed $50 million from Barclays in 2006. The land is the collateral for the loan, and when the development company failed to make payments Barclays began the foreclosure process. The company owes Barclays about $47.2 million.

Stephen McCrae, a lawyer with K&L Gates in Rock Hill who is representing Barclays, said he couldn't comment on what the lender's plans are for the property but said that the foreclosure action was awaiting referral to the Master-in-Equity. Two parts of the planned development, the Alexan Withers Preserve apartment complex and the strip of commercial properties owned by Tennessee-based real estate development company, Holrob, are not part of the foreclosure. The 12 parcels involved are on both sides of Farrow Parkway near the intersection with U.S. 17 Bypass. "Our role is really to step in. It's a positive move," said Wilson, who has 22 years of experience as a receiver throughout the country. "We're there to preserve the entitlements and take care of the property and maintain the insurance." Wilson said that he is seeing an increase in similar cases across the country and that the foreclosure does not mean it is a bad property. In fact, he said the property has a strong long-term value and there has already been interest from potential buyers. "It's merely a situation reflective of the real estate markets in general," Wilson said. "The transaction is reasonably straightforward. You just have an overbuilt product without a lot of demand today."

Wilson has had to negotiate new insurance policies and ensure the safety of the property. He recently hired Colliers Keenan, a Columbia-based commercial real estate company, to market the property. Another of Wilson's duties has been to negotiate with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, which is trying to buy two pieces of the property. Richard Lovelace, a Conway lawyer, is representing the receivership in court in the sale because a judge has to approve the sale of the property to the SCDOT. "I think they're close to reaching a settlement with the highway department on two parcels," he said. In June the court authorized Wilson to proceed with the sale of the land to SCDOT, according to court documents. O'Neel, the owner of Myrtle Beach Property Development, could not be reached for comment but he had invested heavily throughout the country and many of his projects are now in foreclosure, according to The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif. "You know, I can look back at all kinds of things and say I never should have done it. But I can't. Those were decisions I made at the time," he said to The Press Democrat.

Buddy Styers, the executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority, said that the foreclosure could be good for the area. "I hope it's a good thing that they can get something started out there. It would sure benefit Myrtle Beach, Horry County and it would certainly benefit The Market Common to get some more development out there." David Wilkes, the executive vice president of Dock Street Communities, which built much of The Market Common, said the company is watching the foreclosure process. "We would not be not interested in any opportunity that would present itself in that area but are we actively seeking it currently? Not right now," he said. While Dock Street is focused on some residential construction projects, Wilkes said the land would be a great property for someone to buy. Gary Roberts, the broker-in-charge of commercial division of Coldwell Banker Chicora Real Estate, who sold the property to O'Neel years ago said he thinks that plans are great and the area has a lot of potential. "I absolutely believe that there will be a buyer for that," he said.

Utility Authority projects could cost hundreds of millions

2010-08-10T19:25:00.000-04:00

The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will soon have a new plan on what it will build, fix and upgrade during the next decade – and what customers will pay to make it reality. The authority board on Wednesday will begin formulating a new 10-year capitol improvement schedule, an ever-evolving map on how authority leaders will spend money to repair aging infrastructure, promote growth and development and bring water and sewer to unserved parts of the county. The list of projects won't be cheap – the total price tag will likely be in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars and mainly paid for with bonds that will require rate increases to pay for.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/9IYqJv

Job opportunities coming with new convention center

2010-08-10T19:22:00.000-04:00

Star News- Wilmington's new convention center will need contractors for a wide range of tourism and technical jobs, and businesses that are local or certified as small or minority-owned could stand out among others seeking those positions.At a forum hosted Thursday night by the city of Wilmington and an urban planning contractor, local business representatives learned about opportunities for contract jobs and criteria required of them to be selected as a contractor with the Wilmington Convention Center. The city has a policy to encourage the inclusion of women, minorities and small businesses in doing business with the city, said Ken Weeden of Ken Weeden & Associates, a consulting firm contracted by the city to plan Thursday night's forum. Weeden told the forum's attendees that the city will require small or minority-owned businesses seeking contractor positions to have a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise certification, which means the state has recognized the business as being small and independent with at least 51 percent of the business owned by one or more socially or economically disadvantaged individuals. Certifications are issued by the N.C. Department of Transportation or the N.C. Department of Administration.

Click on the link below for the article:

http://bit.ly/akdULS

Myrtle Beach airport sees record traffic

2010-08-10T19:02:00.000-04:00

Sun News - More people flew into and out of Myrtle Beach International Airport in July than ever before, breaking the 100,000 passenger mark, according to airport numbers released Monday. More than 111,000 passengers boarded outbound planes and more than 117,000 passengers arrived in Myrtle Beach in July, breaking records set in July 2005 and beating peak months in 2007 before the economic downturn began. Additional markets and direct routes to places like Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Chicago added in recent months have bolstered passenger demand. Direct marketing in those new destinations also helped bring more people to the area to spend tourism dollars, according to airport and tourism officials.
Click on the link below for the full article:

http://bit.ly/c1KHpn

Port of Wilmington gets focus with International Terminal project on hold

2010-08-04T16:49:00.000-04:00

With the N.C. International Terminal project on hold and its future in question, N.C. State Ports Authority officials say they will turn their focus to existing ports in Wilmington and Morehead City. At the Port of Wilmington, there is momentum to build from – at least in the shipping container business. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, container volumes increased 29 percent from the year before, from 194,600 TEUs in 2008-09 to 249,850 TEUs in the latest fiscal year, according to Ports Authority statistics. A 20-foot equivalent unit, or TEU, is a measure used for capacity in container transportation.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/d7J1hl

Work starts on Expansion of 38th Ave. North in Myrtle Beach

2010-08-04T16:39:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Work has started to widen 38th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, but it will still be weeks before drivers experience traffic delays. "There's a lot of preparation that goes into a project like this," said Public Works Director Bill Oliver of the 270-day job. Between now and the end of April, crews will transform a half-mile segment of 38th Avenue North between U.S. 17 Bypass and just east of Robert M. Grissom Parkway. When the work is completed, the now-two-lane road will be five lanes with a center turn lane, sidewalks, gutters, bike lanes and a new traffic signal at 38th and Oleander.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/9sjyVH

75,000 Sq. Ft. Office Building in Myrtle Beach SOLD

2010-07-15T11:45:00.001-04:00

Core Commercial - The Pinnacle Group has just sold a 4-story, 75,000 square foot office building known as Founders Centre I located in Myrtle Beach, SC. The office building was acquired by a group of investors. The Founders Centre I is situated on approximately 8 acres in the heart of Myrtle Beach’s financial and business district within walking distance to several major banks as well as the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The building's tenant mix is anchored by the National Bank of South Carolina. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.myrtlebeachcommercialrealestate.com/.

Industrial Sector Lags Despite Manufacturing Gains

2010-07-14T14:24:00.000-04:00

NREI - Widespread improvement in the industrial sector won’t occur until 2011 and 2012 despite recent economic and manufacturing gains. That is according to a new report issued by Encino, Calif.-based Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. While the manufacturing sector grew for the tenth consecutive month in May on the strength of new orders and production, industrial vacancies will remain elevated throughout 2010 as tenants have more space than they need. However, some industrial markets like Houston, a port city, are better positioned to rebound faster as tenant demand rises and greater employment growth is expected.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/ahlfug

Myrtle Beach boardwalk ranked third in nation

2010-07-14T12:44:00.000-04:00

The Myrtle Beach boardwalk came in third on National Geographic's top 10 list of the nation's boardwalks, the latest in a string of top rankings for the city and the new walkway. The list credits the boardwalk with rehabilitating Myrtle Beach's downtown. Boardwalks across the country stacked up as follows:

1. Atlantic City Boardwalk, N.J.
2. Coney Island Boardwalk, Brooklyn, N.Y.
3. Myrtle Beach
4. Ocean City Boardwalk, Md.
5. Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, Calif.
6. Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, Del.
7. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Calif.
8. Sandwich Boardwalk, Mass.
9. Virginia Beach Boardwalk, Va.
10. Wildwoods Boardwalk, N.J.

The boardwalk also found the national spotlight last month when NBC's "Today" show featured the walkway in a segment on Travel + Leisure magazine's boardwalks. Add that to Myrtle Beach's ranking in USA Today's Top 5 Affordable Destinations in May, which also prominently featured the boardwalk. The $6 million boardwalk, which opened in May, stretches 1.2 miles.

Pace of Hotel Investment Deals Quickens

2010-07-14T12:40:00.000-04:00

Co-Star - Investors are demonstrating confidence that the hotel sector is rebounding at midyear, shelling out large sums for marquee properties from Manhattan to Atlanta to San Francisco. Analysts believe the lodging market is entering one of those rare moments of equilibrium where both buyer and seller enjoy opportunities. The uptick in sales is occurring after the hospitality sector, hit by dramatic declines in revenue per available room (RevPAR), saw property sale prices crater like no other commercial property category. But now RevPAR declines are waning and hotel prices are starting to firm up after falling as much as 50% from their 2006-07 peaks. Investors seem intent on taking advantage of bottom-of-the-cycle prices to establish a foothold in the recovering market, although most properties are trading well below replacement costs and historical valuations. Sellers, meanwhile, are cashing in on the dearth of quality product on the market, improved borrowing conditions and the willingness of buyers to accept lower initial yields.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/dw2nVj

Gains creep up quietly in Myrtle Beach area

2010-07-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

Sun News - The commercial real estate market improved slightly in the first half of 2010, according to Realtors and experts, but challenges getting financing and a still shaky economic environment will mean a slow path to recovery. While it may not look like it with a significant number of vacant buildings throughout the Grand Strand, the market for office, retail, multifamily and industrial space is improving. Stokes Graves, the president of Core Commercial, said that business is up from last year. While there is too little data to show exactly what the improvements are, the indicators point to a brighter future, he said. "I think last year was definitely a recessionary time," Graves said. "I think we're coming out of the recession and entering a recovery period." Commercial real estate sales are difficult to track because many of the transactions never get posted in the Multiple Listing Service database. The slow improvements on the Grand Strand seem in line with the national trend, which has begun to recover as well.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/bs5h82

S.C. 31's winding path hits new turn in Myrtle Beach area

2010-07-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

Sun News - Clearing for the path of the extension of S.C. 31 is moving along, but permit problems could keep drivers off the new road for a few more years. Environmental questions over extending the road 4.2 miles from its existing end point at S.C. 544 farther south to S.C. 707 could hold up the project a number of months beyond what the state Department of Transportation and Horry County officials had hoped. The permit issue arose because the road's existing permit had to be altered. When S.C. 31, also known as Carolina Bays Parkway, received its original permits in 1998, the road was designed to end farther east at U.S. 17 Bypass just north of Holmestown Road.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/b16xiE

State puts beach development under scrutiny

2010-07-09T11:36:00.000-04:00

Sun News - South Carolina's environmental agency is looking to tighten a 22-year-old oceanfront development law that has failed to stop the march of new condo buildings and houses toward the sea - despite a 1988 mandate to limit building on the beach. A special panel, to be appointed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control board, will come up with specific changes for the legislature to consider in 2012. The DHEC board approved forming the panel Thursday at the request of department staff members. The panel would use data from an extensive two-year state study that said South Carolina's effort to limit new seaside development hasn't worked as intended. Any recommendations to toughen the law could affect thousands of seaside property owners and put DHEC on a collision course with development interests.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/d4ssc4

North Myrtle Beach unveils study of tourism tax proposal

2010-07-09T11:34:00.000-04:00

Sun News - A study released Thursday predicted a proposed 1 percent sales tax for tourism promotion in North Myrtle Beach could generate about $4.5 million in the first year and a possible 3,000 new jobs in the city. The proposed tax also will likely fuel the debate between the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce and businesses that support the tax, and other businesses and council members who are concerned about its impact on permanent residents. A similar debate became a major issue in last year's municipal elections in Myrtle Beach, which passed a tourism promotion sales tax in 2009. The North Myrtle Beach study, which was requested by the chamber, was conducted by Don Schunk, a research economist at Coastal Carolina University. It looked at the economic impact of tourism on the city and the potential impacts of the sales tax there.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/cuGz4p

Plans revived for big Hampstead development

2010-07-09T11:30:00.001-04:00

Star News - A proposed Hampstead subdivision's request to change its master plan design will bring the project back before Pender County's planning board Tuesday after a 2½-year delay. The developers of the residential and mixed-use project on 376 acres formerly called St. George's Reach, off County Club Drive, have changed its name to Hawksbill Cove. They will be asking the planning board to approve a revised master plan because they were unable to buy the land to build a connector road along a previously approved route, said Patrick Davenport, the county's director of planning and community development. Besides moving the proposed connector road 700 feet to the south, the new plan calls for the construction of an extension road from Country Club Drive that ties into the existing Transfer Station Road, which intersects U.S. 17. The connector road's relocation would reduce the amount of commercial, office and retail area to 50,000 square feet from the 200,000 square feet initially planned. It also would reduce housing units by 45 to 1,105 units, consisting of 710 single-family homes and 395 multi-family homes.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/arOXZm

Coke distribution center moving from Wilmington to Leland

2010-07-09T11:23:00.000-04:00

Star News - Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated is moving its Wilmington regional distribution center across the river. The Charlotte-based bottler's offices and operations at 921 Princess St. will move later this year to the space that now houses MarKraft Cabinets in the Leland Industrial Park. MarKraft no longer needs the 80,000-square-foot facility and is looking for something smaller. "We are very excited about this new facility in the Wilmington market and believe that it will help us enhance our ability to serve our customers," said Coca-Cola spokesman Lauren Steele. The Brunswick County Economic Development Commission worked with the bottler for several months to make the deal happen.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/bFgqSN

Coastal Carolina University OK to buy Quail Creek Golf Course

2010-07-02T12:36:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The S.C. Budget and Control Board unanimously approved a measure Wednesday allowing Coastal Carolina University to purchase a Conway golf course that the school previously leased under a controversial agreement. Coastal proposed to buy Quail Creek Golf Course, 107 Citadel Drive, for about $3 million from Chestnut Holding LLC, a West Virginia-based company. CCU has leased the 188-acre course since 2005 as part of its professional golf management program in a deal that could have been extended to 2020 but came under criticism for costing more than if the school purchased the property.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/aaryMI

Margaritaville hotel possible for Myrtle Beach

2010-06-22T10:22:00.000-04:00

Myrtle Beach may be getting a Margaritaville Beach Hotel - the latest in Jimmy Buffett's brand endeavors, according to a company spokesman. Margaritaville Management is considering Myrtle Beach as the site for a hotel, said Mike Stommel, a publicist for Margaritaville Management.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/92D0la

Ferris wheel gets Myrtle Beach CAB's OK

2010-06-18T11:25:00.000-04:00

The Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board likes the concept of the giant Ferris wheel complex proposed for Ocean Boulevard. At Thursday's meeting, the board gave a conceptual review to the plans for the 5,400-square-foot building that will house a restaurant with a two-story deck, a retail shop, a gift shop and the SkyWheel ticket booth on the two .28-acre lots where the Golden Villas motels now stand at 1106 N. Ocean Blvd. The board doesn't have approval over the wheel itself, because it's an amusement. But it does have to approve the support building and its look.

Click on the link below for the full article:

http://bit.ly/d7bZgz

Hotel Outlook Improves After Stronger-Than-Expected First Quarter

2010-06-16T11:24:00.000-04:00

CoStar - U.S. hotels should enjoy revenue growth the rest of this year, but it probably won't translate to the bottom line until next year, according to new lodging industry reports released this past week. According to Smith Travel Research (STR), lodging demand in the first quarter of 2010 increased 5.3% compared with the first quarter of 2009. This is the largest quarterly increase in hotel demand since the second quarter of 1989. Hotel transaction activity also appears to be thawing, although it still remains a fraction of what it was a couple of years ago, according to Jeff Myers, a real estate economist with CoStar Group, Inc. Through the first four months of the year, hotel sales volume was on pace to surpass 2009's total, and its proportion of overall commercial real estate investment activity has spiked.

Click on the link below for full article:
http://bit.ly/c1bvBC

Hotel Appraisals Still Have Clout With Lenders, Survey Shows

2010-06-16T11:17:00.000-04:00

NREI - Although hotel lenders always take appraisals with a grain of salt, a newly released survey of capital providers indicates that appraisals are still the biggest factor when determining market pricing for hotel properties — even though many appraisers do not have specific knowledge of the lodging industry.

Click on link below for full article:
http://bit.ly/cAps7c

Myrtle Beach area real estate finds footing

2010-06-16T11:12:00.001-04:00

Sun News - Grand Strand real estate sales rose and prices dropped at a slower rate in May, which Realtors say signals the potential for stability in the market. Single-family home sales increased 25 percent in May from the same month last year, according to data gathered from the Multiple Listing Service. Condominium sales rose 11 percent in May when compared with the same month last year. The median price of single-family homes dropped 5 percent last month when compared with May 2009 and condo prices dropped 1 percent.

Click on the link below for full article:
http://bit.ly/bcZiyo

Ferris wheel may roll to Myrtle Beach

2010-06-16T11:07:00.000-04:00

Sun News - There could be a big wheel in Myrtle Beach next summer - a really big wheel. If St. Louis-based Pacific Development gets its way, it will build a 175-foot-tall SkyWheel Ferris wheel on the oceanfront just north of Plyler Park. "We're really excited about the thing. It's big enough to be an iconic feature for the city," city manager Tom Leath said. The wheel would be the largest east of the Mississippi in the U.S. and be just like the one on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, said Downtown Redevelopment Corp. Executive Director David Sebok.

Click on the link below for the full article:
http://bit.ly/9aS4YY

Community Appearance Board Looks at Grand Dunes Projects

2010-05-25T14:34:00.000-04:00

Sun News - The Myrtle Beach Community Appearance Board on Thursday gave the go ahead for one project in Grande Dunes but said a second needed work before it could consider the plans again. The board approved a sales trailer at Cipriana, a planned single-family home development, and it sent the architects of Ocean Tract, a proposed condo development, away with some homework before the next review. Ocean Tract, which is on about 26 acres along the oceanfront between the Dunes Club and Vista Mar, would be built in three phases, with one tower in each phase. The first phase would be a 16-story, 125-unit condo tower. Grande Dunes is an upscale 2,200-acre residential and golf community that stretches from the oceanfront to west of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Read more: http://bit.ly/cXQJ4h

Cap Rates Plummeted During First Quarter

2010-05-17T11:46:00.001-04:00

Retail Traffic Magazine - An uptick in investment in top retail properties helped send average cap rates for the sector down for the first quarter. Overall, the national cap rate decreased 24 basis points in the first quarter of 2010 to 8.34 percent, according to data from Valuation & Advisory Services. It is the first major decline that the brokerage firm has measured in three years. The data jibes with other reports that indicated an improvement in the investment sales climate driven primarily by transactions on class-A assets. In fact, some analysts have speculated that since the most closings are for the best assets, it is skewing the data a bit. If more deals were closing on class-B or class-C centers, average cap rates would be higher.

The Midwest was the region with the sharpest compression in cap rates. There, cap rates lurched downward by 126 basis points, the largest quarterly move recorded since the first quarter of 2003. “Rate increases seemingly had to stop at some point, and it appears some form of stabilization in the market is at hand,” CBRE wrote in its report. “Average rates are now comparable to Q2/Q3 2009. While it is too early to tell, Q4 2009 may have been the cap rate peak during the current cycle.”

Cap rates also fell sharply in the West—from 8.90 percent to 8.21 percent. Cap rates in the East, however, actually rose slightly from 8.21 percent 8.26 percent. Cap rates also fell in South from 8.83 percent to 8.41 percent.

The data points in CBRE’s results are confirmed closed transactions, adjusted for assumed financing, and are used to reflect overall market trends.

Read More: http://bit.ly/aCKcok

Myrtle Beach International Airport is ready to grow

2010-05-17T11:18:00.000-04:00

Horry County will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the terminal expansion project at the Myrtle Beach International Airport today, and a project that has taken on several forms in the almost three years it took for final approval of a site plan and design will begin.

Read more: http://bit.ly/b6if7Y

South Carolina Attracts Substantial Jobs and Investment

2010-05-12T14:43:00.000-04:00

Despite the challenging economic environment, the SC Department of Commerce succeeded in producing impressive levels of new job and investment recruitment. South Carolina was #1 in the Southeast for job recruitment in 2009. Click below to view the 2009 Activity Report

http://bit.ly/b5yyfE

Hotel Cap Rates Hold Firm as Investors Change Approach

2010-05-12T14:37:00.003-04:00

Loopnet CRE - Hotel capitalization rates are holding comparatively firm as the sector's expected recovery from a deep downturn in operating fundamentals is changing how investors value properties. Hotel investors are more inclined to consider projected performance versus trailing 12-month activity that has been dismal for most properties, according to some of the sector's top brokers and analysts. Investors also are more prone to base bids on the cost to develop a similar property. That has contributed to hotel capitalization rates being kept in check, when compared to rates for other sectors.

Click here for full story
http://bit.ly/cBzUoJ

Foreclosure filed on The Market Common in Myrtle Beach

2010-05-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

http://bit.ly/cLb9aV

Horry County hacks away at pile of tax appeals

2010-05-10T23:42:00.001-04:00

http://bit.ly/dv9H3R

Scarcity Premium Seen Driving Current Cap Rate Compression

2010-05-10T23:41:00.002-04:00

CoStar - Cap rates are a benchmark determined by dividing income by property value. Increasing cap rates typically imply that property values are falling. Last year, no one in commercial real estate doubted that the rapid rise in cap rates reflected an equal rapid decline in property values. However, this year's decreasing cap rates, which would normally imply rising property values, are being viewed with some skepticism over whether they reflect a long-term trend in values, or simply a short term phenomenon.

Click on link below for full article
http://bit.ly/dzJ7N8