Myrtle Beach working to complete new affordable homes on Canal Street
Each house is about 1,100 square feet of heated space, and each has a front porch that adds about 150 square feet, plus some “extra touches” like 9-foot ceilings and crown moulding that “make them nicer,” said Myrtle Beach Housing Coordinator Edna Wright.
“We’re all so excited about this,” Wright said.
The land where the houses stand belongs to the city and will be turned over to the Myrtle Beach Housing Authority once the homes are ready so it can be sold along with the houses to buyers who qualify based on income.
A fourth building on the property — which used to be a classroom attached to the Friendship House — is being considered for rehabilitation into a home, although Wright said she and others would like to see it removed and replaced by a brand-new modular that is in keeping with the other three.
The decision about the building has not been made yet.
The $433,000 project has been run by the city using money from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The houses are appraised at $85,000, but because buyers will have to meet low-income standards, there will be a variety of programs to help them, such as down-payment assistance, through the Housing Authority.
Plans are to have the houses completed by Dec. 6 so the City Council can tour them on Dec. 13. The public will be able to see the homes at an open house from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 18.
Some applicants have already been in touch with the Housing Authority and Wright is working with others to see if they qualify.
For more information, call Wright at 918-1051 or Teresa Ross at the Housing Authority at 918-1560.
Wintertime projects
Every winter, Myrtle Beach begins to get ready for her spring debut.
Work crews usually have a list of tasks to complete before the late spring and summer crowds arrive — everything from new sidewalks and pothole repairs to new roofs on city buildings. One year, not long ago, the boardwalk was the wintertime project.
Some of the bigger projects have been placed on the back burner until the economy really starts to turn around.
There’s one people have been expecting to see — on Third Avenue South — that cannot start until the state transportation agency makes some decisions.
Work from U.S. 501 to Kings Highway, to be performed by the S.C. Department of Transportation, has been postponed numerous times, and is now on hold because of funding concerns, said assistant city manager Ron Andrews.
“The estimated cost is now higher than originally thought,” Andrews said.
The state’s Senate Transportation Committee is investigating the DOT because it has had cash flow problems and paid some contractors and the State Infrastructure Bank late this summer. A $52 million advance from the federal government allowed the agency to catch up on payments, but it still needs money.
All of the agency’s projects are on hold until after the first of the year, said Mike Petrakis, Myrtle Beach capital improvements plan project manager Mike Petrakis. The DOT’s part of the 1.2-mile project is estimated at $9.3 million, but that’s just for the road.
The city has worked out a deal with DOT to allow it to work on the water and sewer lines under the road while construction is going on, as long as the city takes over maintaining the road once it’s completed. The plan calls for the burial of utility lines at the same time the other work is going on.
The project’s total is closer to $16 million between the DOT, the city and the utility companies, Petrakis said.
The city hopes to hear a decision on when construction can start after the new year begins, Andrews said.
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