North Myrtle Beach News

~ By: Richard Caines

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH — An industrial park could soon be built near North Myrtle Beach off Water Tower Road, a two-lane highway currently undergoing a construction boom of both commercial and residential spaces.

The proposed development, Palmetto Coast Industrial Park, is slated to sit on 69 acres near the S.C. 31 interchange and will consist of three warehouse buildings totaling 514,500 square feet of space.

Potential tenants for the spaces are not currently known, however Myrtle Beach-based developer Development Resource Group said at a March 22 Planning Commission workshop they hope to attract major distributors such as beer or soda companies. The project received a unanimous blessing from the commissioners later that afternoon.

In the past, the nearly seven-mile stretch of road from S.C 90 to the former Waterway Hills Golf Club was mostly dirt and almost impassable after rainstorms.

After a 2009 wildfire that burned 19,000 acres and destroyed more than 70 homes in the nearby Barefoot Resort community, Water Tower Road was paved to aid in a faster response time for first responders.

While the developer noted in its application the proposed location allows the park to take advantage of surrounding highway corridors S.C. 31 and S.C. 22 while maintaining distance from residential communities, new subdivisions are starting to sprout up nearby.

Hundreds of homes are currently under construction in the Bell’s Lake subdivision a few miles away, with another nearby development, Watertower Estates, about to break dirt.

Less than a mile away from the proposed industrial park, nearly 1,000 homes are coming to the former Waterway Hills Golf Club which closed in 2015.

The proposed 94-acre development, Grande Dunes North, will have 998 single-family estates, cottages, villas and townhomes along with a clubhouse, a fitness center, a resort-style pool and a park that overlooks the Intercoastal Waterway when completed.

Waterway Hills was annexed into North Myrtle Beach in 2008 as part of a 1,363-acre Planned Development District called the Parkway Group PDD that was created by the owners of six parcels of land, including the 69 acres for the industrial park.

In addition to the new residential developments and the proposed industrial park, Water Tower Road is also seeing other commercial companies move in.

United Parcel Service, Inc. just finished building a $11 million, 40,000-square-foot package delivery center a few hundred yards away from the slated park. That project is slated to create more than 50 new jobs over the next five years.

Other companies calling the road home are landscape contractors Mainscape, Dan-Kel Concrete, and Coastal Storage Concepts. Kind Keeper Animal Rescue purchased land in 2021 for a future-planned facility.

North Myrtle Beach has plans to add police and fire stations off Water Tower Road, close to the proposed park. Until it’s built, the city uses the Barefoot Resort Station and has a public safety assistance agreement with Horry County.

Palmetto Coast Industrial Park now faces a first reading vote at the April 4 City Council meeting.

While there is no timetable for construction, the developers said in their application that the park is expected to be “fully built out and occupied in three years from approvals of site plan reviews.”