As the Myrtle Beach Sun News reported yesterday, the Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Corporation (DRC) is in the process of buying two more Superblock properties.
The DRC held a meeting Wednesday afternoon where Board members that include John Pedersen – DRC Treasurer & Myrtle Beach City Manager, Chuck Martino – Chairman, David Stradinger, Lizzie Daniel, Leigh Meese – Vice Chairman, Craig Atkins, Efi Shahar – Myrtle Beach Area Realtor, Chip Smith, Noam Pyade, Taylor Damonte, and Kris Kubal agreed to move forward with a contract for sale of 807 and 809 Main Street.
Online records show that both properties are currently owned by Marlene Mendez.
Coastal Carolina University is looking at the two properties for the purposes of a theater and more classroom space. The measure being considered by the DRC is one that realtors, like HGTV’s FLIP OR FLOP, call a speculative move. [Known as “Speculative Buying” so as to flip real estate, usually at a hopefully large profit when done by the private sector.]
The Sun News wrote: While the city and CCU do not have a formal agreement yet, city officials hope that purchasing and renovating the property will make the Superblock more appealing to the university.
During the Freedom Action Network’s Wednesday Water Cooler, among other issues, we asked if such speculative purchases were wise tax investments for the residents of Myrtle Beach. Should residents have more say in whether local city government makes speculative real estate investments to flip a property?
“It’s for the city to be able to go to CCU and say ‘here’s the property, here’s what it’s going to cost to upfit it to make it into a theater,’ and then they go from there,” Lauren Clever, director of the DRC, told the Sun News.
HO– USE MONEY
The DRC is a private corporation owned by the city of Myrtle Beach. The DRC is funded with parking meter monies collected by the City of Myrtle Beach through its contracted partner, Lanier Parking.
Should the investment flop, who will be responsible?
One former SuperBlock owner asked us, “Why would the City of Myrtle Beach simply not let Marlene Mendez and CCU work out some agreement on their own?”