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The Market Common, nestled in the core of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, will debut this week with the hopes of becoming one of the beach's commercial hubs.

Though many shoppers have been abuzz with excitement about the new stores the complex will offer, The Market Common's location on land invisible to major highways could be a challenge as the development launches.

The location makes for a prime urban village because of the amount of open land available for redevelopment. Because the base has been closed for more than a decade, however, many Grand Strand residents have grown accustomed to zooming past the site, which is tucked between Kings Highway and U.S. 17 Bypass.

"A major challenge for The Market Common is to capture the attention of potential customers as today it lacks visibility and familiarity," said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "People do not see the progress unfolding unless they happen to be driving through that area. Even though redevelopment has been under way for several years, many residents remain unaware of what has transpired on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base."

The base has been closed for 15 years, but is being resurrected as a shopping hub that incorporates a live/work atmosphere where apartments and townhouses are mixed with shops. The concept was the only successful idea in a string of redevelopment plans that cropped up since the base closed.

Advertising and the buzz about the shopping complex's debut will help The Market Common overcome any hurdle the location might create, developers said.

"We will be advertising in enough places to direct people down there to use that road," project manager Buddy Styers said. "Farrow Parkway has become a real thoroughfare for people wanting to go from the beachfront to the [U.S. 17] bypass."

TUCKED AWAY

Unlike Broadway at the Beach, which is positioned to catch traffic off U.S. 17 Bypass, or the Hard Rock Park, where towering roller coasters peek out at U.S. 501, The Market Common is more off the beaten path, Dean said.

It has been difficult to make the 250,000 Horry County residents aware of this project, Styers said.

"The whole community should know by now since it's been going on since 1995," he said. "We have got billboards all over town ...and I've probably given 30 presentations to civic clubs. ... I don't know how you get to everybody."

It's important people know that an urban village "is not an exit off of a highway," said Clayton McCaffery, vice president of leasing for McCaffery Interests, which is developing The Market Common.

"We would have never done this project on Highway 17 or Bypass," he said. "There is no room for creativeness that allows for a downtown, urban village development."

Not every resident along the Grand Strand knows about The Market Common, but people are talking about it.

Carolina Forest resident James Strangler said he's been hearing radio commercials about The Market Common.

Strangler's talked with a few of his buddies about The Market Common, but they mostly discuss whether they can afford to shop and live there - not where it's located.

Myrtle Beach residents Rick and Pat Ward drive by the site often. "We may check it out once it's open," Rick Ward said. "It's going to be interesting to see what all is going to be out there."

Spreading the word

Signs are going up around town promoting The Market Common.

A billboard directs drivers on Kings Highway to turn onto Farrow Parkway, which leads to the development.

In addition to billboards, ads will appear in newspapers and magazines and on radio and TV. The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce also stops there on tours it gives to travel writers.

A long wait

Philip Pecora, owner of Toffino's Italian Bakery & Deli, moved his restaurant to the former base a year after it closed because he knew something good like The Market Common would come - it just didn't come as fast as Pecora thought it would.

For the 13 years Toffino's has called the former base home, the eatery has struggled as redevelopment officials tried to find the perfect project to revitalize the area. Ideas for a theme park and other large developments failed.

Pecora said he's paid the price. "Put it like this, if I had to do it over, I wouldn't have done it," the 48-year-old father of three said. Pecora said his business was a niche, so he didn't rely on foot traffic. "Most of my customers came looking for us," he said.

But once construction started on the base, Pecora ran into a slew of problems such as having to shut down several times because of water and electrical outages.

Now that The Market Common has arrived, and more houses are in the works, Pecora plans to expand.

Officials envision this area - once a collection of old military buildings with little traffic - becoming one of a half-dozen major, commercial hubs in Myrtle Beach.

Raising the bar

It's unclear how much business The Market Common will take away from other area shopping centers. There are three major malls on the Grand Strand as well as outlet centers and other shopping/entertainment complexes that are all competing for shoppers.

"In the short term, other retail establishments might feel the impact of these additional offerings, especially considering the economy," Dean said. But in the long term, he said, "The Market Common will help raise the bar on retail growth."

Coastal Carolina University research economist Don Schunk said The Market Common will lure customers from the other shopping complexes, but it won't hit any one of them too hard.

"It sort of has to take business away from other places," he said. "I don't expect a very dramatic drop-off in business at any one of those places."

Officials with the nearest mall, Coastal Grand, aren't concerned about the competition. Marketing director Deb Bramlett said shoppers might stop at both Coastal Grand mall and The Market Common in one trip because they're so close.

"Competition makes us all ... strive to be better," Bramlett said.

The addition helps elevate the Grand Strand shopping environment, Dean said.

"I don't think we can announce that this puts us at the level of an Atlanta or a Charlotte, even though we're growing quickly and gaining notoriety," he said. "As we grow more diverse, we are better positioned to compete with other major markets in the region."Contact DARRELL HUGHES at 626-0364

Contact JESSICA FOSTER at 626-0351.