The curtain will soon open and performers will take the stage in Myrtle Beach鈥檚 Arts and Innovation District for the first time.
Officials broke ground Monday, July 22, on what will be the centerpiece of the Arts and Innovation District -- a 300-seat, $22.3 million performing arts theater.
The renovation of three addresses 鈥 807, 809 and 811 Main Street 鈥 is expected to be complete in summer 2026. Coastal Carolina University will primarily operate the theater, using the building as a classroom and performance space for the university鈥檚 performing arts programs.
鈥淭his will be a central, integral part of the Myrtle Beach Arts and Innovation District,鈥 said CCU president Michael Benson. 鈥淭he university will assume theater operations, which means we will have 150 use days in the year. This will consist of performances from film screenings, rehearsals, classroom instruction, speaker or lecture events, concerts, you name it. We鈥檙e only constricted by our imagination.鈥
City of Myrtle Beach and Coastal Carolina University leaders and others ceremonially upturn sand in front of what will become the centerpiece of the Arts and Innovation District, a 300-seat, $22.3 million performing arts theater on Monday, July 22, 2024.
Benson said Myrtle Beach 鈥渋s starving for a venue like this鈥 and emphasized the importance of the arts in a community by reading a quote from German philosopher Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: 鈥淎 man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.鈥
The city鈥檚 investment into the Arts and Innovation District is part of a plan to revitalize the area bound by Main Street, Broadway Street and Kings Highway.
The city may use the theater for 30 days a year and CCU will be able to rent the theater out to third parties 100 days a year.
The vision for the downtown district, Mayor Brenda Bethune said, is a place that attracts residents and visitors to the area to see the arts.
鈥淭his area in the next three to five years, you will not recognize it,鈥 Bethune said. 鈥淭he street will become a pedestrian thoroughfare, and you will have new businesses and new arts organizations spring up as they should be.鈥
The idea of it being pedestrian-friendly and a bustling downtown is similar to what Carolyn Mates, whose mother owned the Helen Mates Dress Shop, remembers about downtown Myrtle Beach from years past.
鈥淏ack in the day, there was a pharmacy over here, a pharmacy around the corner, the end of that building was a post office,鈥 Mates said while pointing to different areas around the district. 鈥淪o people were just criss-crossing the street like crazy. This was it. We didn鈥檛 have a mall. If you wanted to have a mall atmosphere, you鈥檇 have to go to Conway.鈥
The three historic buildings at 807, 809 and 811 Main Street will be renovated into a performing arts theater that will seat 300 and be operated by Coastal Carolina University.
The Helen Mates dress shop was located at 807 Main Street, one of the three addresses that will make up the new theater. Next door to the dress shop at 809 Main Street was J & J Drug Shop, and at 811 Main Street was the Broadway Theater. All three buildings were built in 1938, Horry County land records show.
LS3P is the new theater鈥檚 design firm and construction work will be done by Monteith Construction.
The history of the buildings will be remembered as some doors, lighting, shelving, cabinetry and a staircase will be salvaged and incorporated into the new structure.
The Mates building was originally a restaurant opened by Carolyn Mate鈥檚 grandfather after he served in World War I, the Argonne Forest Caf茅.
Mates said her mother, who leased the building from her grandfather and turned it into a children's clothing and then dress shop, was very involved in the arts and would be happy to see the building she once owned and did business in converted to a theater.
鈥淭his fits her to a tee,鈥 Mates said. 鈥淚 just think she is beaming right now to have her store be part of all that鈥檚 going on here. I think she鈥檚 real, real happy, and we are too. We鈥檙e just thrilled.鈥
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