Research by MyrtleBeachSC News shows that Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune is the largest land owner in an area that the City of Myrtle Beach calls the MID. Bethune owns 10 parcels, which amounts to 15.5 acres in that section of town, highlighted on the map above.
Commercial property owners, in the mid, are billed 1% of the assessed value of their property generating about $600,000 for the 2023 fiscal year and $10 million over the next decade.
Those funds are used toward services such as street beautification, additional sanitation services, enhanced security, marketing, special events and research to support neighborhood economic development.
Mayor Bethune also owns six tenths of an acre in the Arts and Innovation district. She and her husband recently purchased the Cozy Corner located in that district for $1.35 million.
The Better Brands building is one of her largest holdings in the Mid. Better Brands was sold in 2022. The building (still owned by Bethune) is expected to be vacant, as the new owners, Southern Crown Partners, want to build their own distribution center on the Highway 31 Expressway.
An empty building can be a challenge to sell, so it is doubtful that Mayor Bethune is holding up re-development.
IF THE MAYOR ISN’T HOLDING UP DOWNTOWN RE-DEVELOPMENT, WHO IS?
What to do with the former Pavilion empty lot oceanfront?
The former Myrtle Beach pavilion site is not likely to be re-developed anytime soon. Why?
Burroughs and Chapin’s top local manager
Burroughs and Chapin owns the land the former Pavilion once sat on. According to the company’s website: Chad Carlson is responsible for the Company’s investment and financial activities. Mr. Carlson is also involved in all areas of the Company’s strategic and financial planning as well as new business development and key relationship management.
Only a hotel, with related retail opportunities, makes sense for this location. A good example of this is CHARLESTON PLACE in Charleston, S.C.
Such a venue would harm retail sales at Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing, however. Burroughs and Chapin owns both of these shopping outlets.
Why would Burroughs and Chapin be interested in competing with itself? Don’t look for redevelopment on that empty lot any time soon.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce?
The City of Myrtle Beach may have created an unanticipated antagonist with the passing of the Tourism Development Fee in 2009. The 1% tax was heavily championed at the state level by then S.C. Rep. Alan Clemmons in the House and State Senator Luke Rankin in the S.C. Senate.
The tax generates $24 million annually for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, which allows the chamber to then sell ads to local businesses, converting tax monies into private MBACC dollars.
The tax also makes the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber a formidable political powerhouse locally.
Even with the power MBACC C.E.O. Karen Riordan wields, Mayor Bethune recently publicly questioned Riordan as to what a typical Chamber of Commerce spends in ad dollars.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce collects and spends over $51 million in annual tax subsidies. The Orlando Chamber of Commerce spends no more than $16 million, including Disney.
Even with the record amount of spending MBACC does annually, projections have Summer 2023 expected to be significantly down from the previous year. We reported those facts last week.
PUSH FOR CHANGING AD TAX INTO A BRAND TAX
Multiple sources connected to city government privately tell MyrtleBeachSC News that the city would prefer changing the TDF “AD TAX”, into a City of Myrtle Beach “BRAND TAX”. The collected monies would remain at 1% on the sale of items sold in the City of Myrtle Beach.
However, 80% of the funds would go directly to the City of Myrtle Beach for upgrading sidewalks, drainage, pipes, infrastructure, lighting, electronic policing assistance, etc.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber would only get 20% of those funds once the tax is converted.
Residential homeowners would continue to get their portion of the tax and would not be affected.
Look for Riordan and the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber to push back against any such effort as this. This change would need to be approved at the S.C. state level.
LEGACY LEADERS ARE SELLING OUT
Mayor Bethune is not the only business leader selling her businesses. We reported 2022 as a transitional year of change where many high level hotel operators sold out to national REITS.
Practically the entire board of ONE GRAND STRAND is comprised of legacy leaders.
One Grand Strand’s goal was to accelerate and facilitate with the city on Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment.
However, since the private/public organization was founded, the City of Myrtle Beach has practically carried the entire freight for city re-development, spending over $30 million to date.
Private investors simply have not stepped up to the plate in any significant way.
SINGING OUT OF THE SAME HYMNAL?
Perhaps, downtown redevelopment has been slow because these different groups, named above, find it increasingly hard to work together.
Culturally, these different groups are much the same. It is their desired outcomes that appear to be at odds.