MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Air Force will be in Myrtle Beach today to honor the group who redeveloped the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.
The Air Base Redevelopment Authority is being awarded the National Site Reuse award in the Base Realignment and Closure category. Officials with the Authority tell News13 this is a big deal as it means of all bases closed since 1988, the Myrtle Beach base has had the greatest positive impact.
The Myrtle Beach Air Force Base was nearly 4,000 acres, guarded at both sides and was in use from 1954-1993.
The former base is now home to Horry Georgetown Technical College, a golf course, the Myrtle Beach International Airport, a Technology and Aerospace facility, thousands of homes and the Market Common District.
Despite all of the growth in the area, one thing holds true; the history of the Air Force on the former base.
“One of the prime objectives of the redevelopment authority is to ensure as important as the air force was to us all those years, from ’54 to ’93 we didn’t want people to forget the Air Force was here,” Buddy Styers, Executive Director of the Redevelopment Authority said.
Styers said the Authority did everything they could think of to honor the Air Force, including Warbird Park, Valor Park, about 160 historic signs to identify where old facilities were, and all of the streets on the base are named after people who were assigned there.
The redevelopment has also had a significant impact on the economy in the area, employing 25,781 people and providing $2.9 billion in economic activity.
“We are going to continue to grow,” Styers said. “We have right now 23 acres left to develop.”
The award will be presented this afternoon at 1 P.M. at Horry Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach.
