A city board owns a hotel that was days away from having to close its doors because of a looming contract deadline.
But city government intervened with City Council unanimously voting to extend contract negotiations between the Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel Corporation and the downtown Sheraton for an extra 60 days.
Part of the contract allows for the City of Myrtle Beach to fly the Sheraton flag outside the hotel, according to Myrtle Beach’s Chief Financial Officer Michelle Shumpert.
“We have not quite come to terms with the renegotiated franchise agreement and we would like a little bit more time to work out a few more points,” she said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Without the Sheraton flag and deal in place, Shumpert said the hotel will no longer operate.
A voicemail was left with the hotel’s General Manager Suzanne Hinde on Tuesday.
“The parties are still in negotiation over a few details of the franchise agreement and would like an extension of the existing agreement to allow additional time to come to an agreement,” the motion extending contract negotiations said.
That motion was presented by Shumpert to city council on Tuesday. Myrtle Beach’s Public Information Officer Meredith Denari said via email that technically the city owns the convention center and the hotel is owned by the Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel Corporation.
She said the corporation has owned the hotel for about 23 years, and that it was something else before it was a Sheraton.
“Negotiations are ongoing so I don’t have any line item topics to share,” she said via email on Tuesday at 12:58 p.m.
City resident Dustin Ritter showed concern about the transparency of the negotiations during the city council meeting on Tuesday morning.
“I think there’s a very large number of debt associated with the convention center hotel,” he said during public comment. “When I’m looking at research online it’s very very difficult to impossible to see those meeting minutes. So, as a public citizen it’s incredibly hard to attend those meetings during the day and then not follow up with the meeting minutes.”
The city’s Convention Center Hotel Board of Directors currently has six members, one vacancy and city staff member Nicki Stoddard, according to the city’s website.
Councilman Bill McClure asked Shumpert if the city would need another extension once this one expires on Nov. 30.
She said in response that she feels that they are “close enough” that they will be able to get the agreement in front of City Council by their November meetings.
At a City Council meeting earlier this month, council members were presented with a proposed ordinance would have allowed for the city to provide the issuance and sale of $81,000,000 of “aggregate principal amount limited obligation bonds,” according to meeting’s agenda.
That money would be used to defray the costs of renovations to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and improvements to the downtown Arts and Innovation District, as well as refinance other debts the city owes, Ordinance 57-2024 said.
City officials previously said they needed to replace all the glass windows at the convention center and hotel, which would make up a portion of the $81 million.
After council member Gregg Smith made a motion to approve the ordinance on first reading at the Sept. 10 meeting, no other council member seconded his motion so the ordinance failed to move forward.
“I guess we need to bring this up in another workshop so that it’s better understood,” Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune said after the first reading failed on Sept. 10.
The city does not typically discuss ongoing contract negotiations in public due to privacy and legal concerns. Instead, top city officials will go into executive session to discuss ongoing negotiations.
According to the motion, the current contract has been in place for the last decade since Sept. 25, 2014.
The city also owns the convention center that’s adjacent to the hotel, according to property records.
Sheraton Myrtle Beach is currently undergoing room modernization, according to an alert on their website.
“Guest room modernization project will be in progress from September 8, 2024 – May, 31, 2025,” the alert said. “Work activity may be noticed 9 am to 6 pm Monday-Saturday. All hotel facilities remain fully operational.”
