Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Nov. 12--MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.--A land swap that would create an industrial park on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and turn Myrtle Square Mall into an international trade and convention center was among several proposals made Wednesday for 900 acres of base land Santee Cooper is trying to sell.
Bids on the base land were due at Santee Cooper's office at noon Wednesday, and John West, an attorney for the state-owned utility, said it would take several days to sort through the proposals. It's possible some of the bids won't qualify because they didn't include a $1 million refundable deposit or meet Santee Cooper's minimum purchase price of $20 million.
'We're not so sure we can classify all of them as bids,' West said, adding that some of the submissions were in the form of inquiries rather than firm offers.
West wouldn't say how many bids were received, but said the proposals would be made public by early next week. West didn't know when a decision would be made on which proposal to accept.
Santee Cooper received at least one cash offer for the land, a $21 million bid from New Jersey developer John Burkey, who wants to build an 'urban village' of houses, offices, shops, parks and industrial space.
Burkey's $512 million development, called Central Park Village, would be financed by an unnamed Wall Street real estate investment bank.
'We're excited and hope we get it,' Burkey said. 'We're presenting a very progressive project, and we hope they (Santee Cooper) see that and want to play ball.'
The land swap, pitched by Myrtle Beach developer Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., promises to be one of the most complex bids for the property. The deal is designed to boost convention tourism in the off season by expanding the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and lure manufacturing plants and research and development facilities to the base.
The plan also would turn Myrtle Beach International Airport over to a private management group that would be charged with attracting more national air carriers. The management group, Glendale, Calif.-based Airports Group International, also would recruit businesses for B&C's industrial park, located adjacent to the airport.
More and better air service would be necessary to lure the same type of industrial clients companies such as United Parcel Service, AT&T and Siemens that AGI has recruited at some of the 27 other airports it operates and manages nationwide.
Improved air service also would be needed to bring national groups to a trade and convention center that would replace B&C's Myrtle Square Mall, which is scheduled to close in three years when a 1.3 million-square-foot regional mall opens near Jetport Road.
'If (the) expanded convention center is to be successful, B&C believes that focused development of the industrial potential of the Grand Strand and focused growth of Myrtle Beach International Airport are essential for strengthening the economic, social and cultural well-being of the greater Myrtle Beach area,' the company said in its proposal to Santee Cooper.
But in order to work, B&C's proposal would require the cooperation of Santee Cooper, Horry County, the city of Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach Air Base Redevelopment Authority. 'It's all interconnected. If you take out one of the pieces, the rest of it won't work,' said Doug Wendel, B&C's president and chief executive officer.
Here's how the land swap would work:
B&C estimates the value of its 58-acre Myrtle Square Mall property which is sandwiched between 21st and 27th avenues North and Oak Street and Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach at $30 million. Wendel said that figure is based on appraisals and recent offers from a real estate investment trust that wants to buy the mall. In its proposal, B&C says it would use $23 million of the mall property's value to trade for the 900 acres Santee Cooper is selling.
That would leave $7 million in property value that B&C would trade for an adjacent 310 acres Santee Cooper owns at the base.
After that transaction is completed, B&C would swap some of its newly acquired land with land owned by the airport and the redevelopment authority to put together contiguous property for a large industrial park. In exchange, the state would get the mall site, where a trade and convention center and sports arena would be built.
An enclosed walkway over Oak Street would link the new center with the existing Myrtle Beach Convention Center, giving the combined facility more than 300,000 square feet of exhibition space and 100,000 square feet of meeting space. While that is smaller than convention centers in competing tourist destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., it is large enough to attract many national and international groups.
The current Convention Center has about 100,000 square feet of exhibition space and attracts mostly state and regional shows. About half of the existing Myrtle Square Mall structure could be retro-fitted for use as exhibition space, Wendel said. The mall site also would have room for convention hotels.
'We've studied what should be done with the mall property, and we believe this is the best use for diversifying our economy,' Wendel said. Santee Cooper's West wouldn't comment on specific proposals for the base land.
The utility was put in charge of the property nearly six years ago when the state traded land it owned near Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter to the military for land at the Myrtle Beach base.
This is the second time Santee Cooper has tried to sell the 900-acre tract at the base. It originally was sold in 1995 to Timberland Properties Inc., which wanted to build a theme park and golf resort on the land.
When TPI defaulted on its contract to build the theme park, the land reverted to Santee Cooper. Then, when TPI filed for bankruptcy protection a few weeks later, the base land got tied up in legal proceedings.
Since B&C's proposal is a straight land swap, no cash would change hands. That could be a problem for Santee Cooper, which needs money to pay off TPI's creditors and free the base land for sale. Wendel said B&C isn't interested in buying the base land, but said the company would work with Santee Cooper if the cash requirement threatens to scuttle the land swap.
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