Not So Common
A former Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach presents a unique redevelopment opportunity that results in exciting new retail as well as office and multifamily space.
Jaime Lackey

McCaffery Interests is developing The Market Common, Myrtle Beach, on the site of a former Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Chicago-based McCaffery Interests and the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, are redeveloping approximately 120 acres of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, which totaled 3,790 acres.

According to Buddy Styers, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority, “When I was hired in 1995, we didn’t have a plan. But the city had a community development plan that included an urban village on the former Air Force Base. We adopted the plan, and in 1997, we purchased the land. It took us 6 years to find McCaffery Interests.”

He continues, “We were looking for a developer who had a good track record with Neo-traditional neighborhood developments and the right tenant contacts. We saw the quality and the retailers at McCaffery’s Market Common, Clarendon project in Virginia, and everything fell into place.”

McCaffery Interests and the city of Myrtle Beach created a tax increment finance plan to fund public infrastructure, including two parking garages, five parking lots, roads, water and sewer. And the development began coming to life.

The first two phases of the project — called The Market Common, Myrtle Beach — total 99 acres and include 556,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 44,000 square feet of office space, 114 apartment units and 81 vacation rental units.

The retail component of the $600 million project will open in April. Approximately 80 percent of the retail space has been leased, says Styers, who serves as senior project manager – development of The Market Common with McCaffery Interests in addition to his role with the MBAFB Redevelopment Authority.

National retailers include Ann Taylor, Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Barnes & Noble, Pottery Barn, Orvis, Brooks Brothers, Victoria’s Secret, White House | Black Market and Williams-Sonoma Grand Cuisine.

Tommy Bahama is opening a 12,000-square-foot retail and restaurant compound. “It will be gorgeous,” Styers says.

The project will also feature Grand 14 Cinemas, operated by Consolidated Theatres.

Local specialty shops that will have locations at The Market Common include The Toy Isle, Booty Outdoor Gear and izzi-b, which specializes in clothing and jewelry fashions.

Restaurants include South Carolina’s first P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, the state’s first Gordon Biersch Brewery, Ultimate California Pizza, Travinia Italian Kitchen, and Coldstone Creamery. Locally based The Divine Dining Company is also opening a Divine Prime restaurant, which will serve steaks and seafood, as well as introducing a new concept called Roy & Sid’s Restaurant.

The project targets locals as well as tourists. “The metro-county area has 350,000 people,” Styers says, adding that many people from nearby cities currently drive to Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, or Wilmington, North Carolina, to shop the national retailers that will open at The Market Common.

“Myrtle Beach is also a great tourism market,” says Styers. “According to the Chamber of Commerce, we have 14 million visitors each year. We have the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast, and we have the entertainment to attract tourists.”

Hard Rock Park and Busch Gardens are opening later this year. These projects are expected to attract additional tourists, who will spend money eating and shopping at The Market Common.

And McCaffery Interests is making sure some of the tourists have particularly easy access to The Market Common.  Resort Quest International will manage the on-site luxury vacation rentals at the development. These units will be available beginning in June.

The apartment units will also be available in June. Styers indicates that these residences may someday be converted to vacation rentals, depending on market demand.

Office space will also be available beginning in June.  Three tenants have pre-leased space in the three-story building. Styers anticipates great interest in the office space once the retail component opens.

McCaffery Interests plans to develop an additional 21-acre tract across the street from the first phase of The Market Common. The project is still in the planning stages, but Styers says it will likely contain office and retail space.

And The Market Common isn’t the only development underway at the former Air Force Base. The Myrtle Beach International Airport is in the early stages of its plan for a 400-acre aviation and industrial park. Withers Preserve is a 900-acre development west of The Market Common; RWO Communities is developing single-family and multifamily residential at Withers Preserve. Lennar Homes is developing single-family housing on an additional 250-acre tract. According to Styers, “There will easily be 6,000 residences within 1 mile of the retail at The Market Common.”