Myrtle Beach's Grand Park on new path

Lorena Anderson - landerson@thesunnews.com

People visiting The Market Common this winter will see a lot of construction near Grand Park.

Myrtle Beach is working on the first three fields of a nine-field baseball complex it hopes will draw tournaments from all over the country.

The city has made clear its focus on developing into a sports-tourism destination, and assistant city manager Ron Andrews said this is a step toward that goal.
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"This is going to be a complex people talk about and want to play at," he said.

Phase One, which the city hopes will be complete by late February or early March, is a nearly $9 million project, including the three new baseball fields, a scoring tower, restrooms, concession stands, 550 new parking spaces, the relocation of Myers Avenue, fencing, turf and several new retention ponds.

The city used the earth dug for the retention ponds to elevate the new baseball fields for the best drainage, Andrews said, and the new ponds will handle the stormwater for nearly the whole Grand Park complex.

"There was a lot of site work to be done with this phase," he said.

The city's Grand Park master plan calls for an open-space facility that residents and visitors can enjoy, with the Crabtree gym, a natatorium, biking and walking trails, outdoor exercise and play areas, a stage area for theater or music, gazebos and the sports complex.

Andrews said it could be years before the whole master plan is realized, because the city needs about $20 million more to finish all the work.

"That won't be done all in one gulp," Andrews said. City Manager Tom Leath is working on funding recommendations for next year's budget that could give the city about as much as it has had to build Phase One, but the council would have to approve those plans.

Leath said the city has about $1.2 million it could use for the next phase, and he's considering asking for the council to approve a bond issue for more, but at today's City Council meeting he will get a report from Andrews on what various park projects will cost.

The city also is considering working with Horry County on infrastructure at the entrances to the new aviation and aerospace park, near Grand Park, and that work could take precedence over the ball fields for next year.

But even before Phase One is finished at the baseball complex, there's a municipal election in which four of the council's seven seats are open. The completion of the sports complex could depend on who's elected Nov. 3.

Andrews also said the city probably wouldn't want to just build the rest of the seven main fields or the two youth fields alone.

"There's a cadre of details that go along with a field. You have to have enough parking, restrooms, concessions and field maintenance to accommodate everyone. We're trying to build a whole package."
Contact LORENA ANDERSON at 444-1722.