Myrtle Beach development corp racks up legal fees

It says in the article:

"Created by City Council in 1999 to redevelop 266 acres in the city's core..."

...I havn't followed this from the beginning so does anyone know why they want to redevelop that area in downtown? Seems to me it's usually packed and, I'd guess, making a lot of money. Has that area fallen on hard times recently? Anyone care to do a recap of events for those of us who haven't followed this from the start? Thanks...

In a nutshell the property owners would like to see a year-round use developed. The old proposal was to level the Pavilion and erect time share condos, high-end shopping and a small amusement district.

This new effort appears to be focusing on the entire downtown area - not just the Pavilion. The area between the park and Family Kingdom (home of the Swampfox) is pretty bleak so hopefully that's where they will focus.

But this is a town with an empty shopping mall on the main drag; Myrtle Square housed 80-90 stores in 450,000 sq ft of space which is now abandoned. Yet they want to use public money to try to develop another shopping area?

My reaction to Myrtle Beach has always been expensive lodging, time-share condos everywhere, tacky side-show amusements wanting to become more than what it is. And in the MB environment the Pavilion, while upscale for the area, is probably doomed with a 3-month operating season and the ever shortening Summer out-of-school season (some school districts in Georgia go back on August 1).

^ the "tacky side-show amusements" are part of what makes MB so great. Spending a night out on the strip is one of the most fun things you can do, and not having the Pavilion there would just feel SO wrong.

If the Pavilion had more to offer maybe I would be disappointed to see it go. Usually when traveling, amusement parks catch my eye, but seeing it for the second time in two years didn't intrest me to walk around or catch a few rides. As I said before people travel to Mytle Beach for the beach not the Pavilion.

The company taking over the redevelopment is the company that is redeveloping the Myrtle Square Mall, so it is going to be re-developed.

I've said it before, I'll say it again:

If they want a year round market, re-design and re-develop the rest of the down town, keep the Pavilion open longer, and clean up the area. Get rid of the vulgarity found in the shop windows and on the signs, turn the 'head shops' and 'beach bum stores' into more appealing stores, and add some more family geared attractions around the Pavilion. Oh, and redo the Pavilion Arcade.