SUN NEWS -- MYRTLE BEACH, SC — The start of construction on the first new hotel in Myrtle Beach in four years has been delayed until after the summer. Crews
had aimed to start work on the 14-story Homewood Suites Oceanfront
Resort & Conference Center by the first of June, but that schedule
was too tight, said Buddy Lindsay, president of Sonship Hospitality,
which is developing the new hotel. Construction now is expected to
start Sept. 1, with the $25 million property scheduled to open Dec. 1,
2014 on the oceanfront at 1805 S. Ocean Blvd. next to the Hampton Inn
& Suites, which also is owned by Lindsay’s group. “This will
allow a much more relaxed construction schedule instead of the
‘fast-track’ schedule that we had planned,” Lindsay said in an email.
The
planned $25 million Homewood hotel, which will share pools and other
amenities with the Hampton Inn, will have 100 suites, a mix of
two-bedroom, one-bedroom and studios, all with kitchens and private
balconies. Homewood also will have a 300-seat conference center, three
pools, a fire pit, fitness center, a Pilates-aerobics room for women
only and a bistro serving sandwiches and snacks. This will be the
only Homewood of the 399 in the chain that is on the oceanfront and the
first dually branded Homewood-Hampton hotel in South Carolina, Lindsay
said. Lindsay has used the extra time from the delay to visit
other dually branded properties, including the first two
Hampton-Homewood branded hotels in Toronto and Denver and the Hilton
Garden Inn-Homewood in Atlanta, he said. The Myrtle Beach addition
is the first new hotel in the city since 2009, when the south tower of
the Hampton Inn opened next door to where the Homewood will be built.
The beach hasn’t seen any new hotels for four years as the market tried
to correct from the overbuilding of lodging units during the height of
the real estate market. Demand at the Hampton Inn prompted Lindsay to expand the property, he said.
