FedEx to make $64M investment at former Hard Rock Park site in Horry County

FedEx is planning to make a nearly $64 million investment on property once part of Horry County’s Hard Rock Park.

In return, the company will get a deduction in its property tax rate, paying on 6% of its assessed value rather than 10.5% for the next 20 years, according to an agreement made public Oct. 4 by county officials.

Code-named “Project Crestfield,” it’s the shipping and distribution giant’s latest expansion into South Carolina. FedEx broke ground on a $45 million logistics facility in the Upstate city of Anderson over the summer.

The company’s interest in Horry County wasn’t a secret. In February, FedEx confirmed plans to open a 251,000-square-foot building after filing commercial permits.

County property records show the company purchased 39.2 acres along George Bishop Parkway in February, with plans to spent $12 million on construction.

A timeline for when the site may open and how many jobs FedEx is creating was not immediately available.

New life to entertainment venue

The project will bring activity back to what once were major but short-lived entertainment venues.

Formerly known as the Hard Rock Park, and briefly the Freestyle Music Park, the site was once expected to be a draw for tourists, sitting just on the outskirts of Myrtle Beach.

It closed permanently in 2009, changing hands a few times since, including when a group of investors from China bought the land in 2016. Some of the rides for the park have been sold internationally, with one being used in Vietnam.

The FedEx sits at Fantasy Way along the Intracoastal Waterway in Horry County.

At a county planning commission workshop last year, Myrtle Beach attorney Shep Guyton requested an extension of distribution space on the land after its entertainment uses were scrapped.

He said then that it’s no longer realistic to expect another major amusement park on the site.

“I think we all have finally recognized that Fantasy Harbour was aptly named, because it was a fantasy that it would be those uses,” he said. “The demand seems to be much more consistent for the type of uses that we’re looking at now.”