Burroughs & Chapin

Family destinations┬áMyrtle Beach, South Carolina has become part of the national vocabulary, but its visionary owners have now taken the concept further afield, as Martin Ashcroft reports. The Burroughs and Chapin families have been associated with Myrtle Beach for over a centuryÔÇöthey were even responsible for its nameÔÇöand in that time have created what is now a premier family vacation destination.Twenty-three-year-old North Carolina native Franklin G. Burroughs arrived in Conway, South Carolina, in 1857 to seek his fortune. By 1870, he and Benjamin Collins were partners in Burroughs & Collins Company, pursuing commercial interests in timber, the manufacture of turpentine, and farming. They also built and operated a fleet of riverboats to expand trade in the area. After a hurricane destroyed much of the timberland in the area in 1893, the partners turned their attention to real estate, surveying a 14-mile straight line from Conway to the beach which became the first railway through the swamps and marshes to what was then called New Town. BurroughsÔÇÖ widow, Miss Addie, later dubbed it Myrtle Beach after its native wax myrtle bushes.The Chapin connection began in 1912, when Simeon B. Chapin, a New York stock broker and real estate investor, joined to form the Myrtle Beach Farms Company to manage the partnershipÔÇÖs land holdings, while the mercantile component remained under Burroughs & Collins Company. Development continued at a gradual pace until 1987, when of a group of younger shareholders joined the board of directors. Their vision was to transition from being a company that sold or leased land to others, to one that built and operated its own business endeavors on its own land. In 1990 Burroughs & Collins Company merged with Myrtle Beach Farms Company to form todayÔÇÖs Burroughs & Chapin Company, Inc., which now comprises 76 businesses and operates in four US states and Canada. Say Myrtle Beach to most people, and they think golf. The historic Pine Lakes Country Club, Myrtle BeachÔÇÖs first golf resort, has been the epitome of the traditional golf resort since its opening in 1927 as the Ocean Forest Golf Club. Designed by the legendary Scotsman Robert White, Pine Lakes cemented Myrtle BeachÔÇÖs place on the map.The Pine Lakes clubhouse is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar restoration project that will restore the grandeur and status it enjoyed in its early years as the Ocean Forest Hotel. Work is on schedule for a grand opening in March 2009 which will include the inauguration of the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame, situated in Pine LakeÔÇÖs new Hall of Fame Garden adjacent to the clubhouse.Another of the companyÔÇÖs celebrated golf clubs, the Grande Dunes Resort Club, was recently selected as the 2009 National Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA). This accolade recognizes four criteriaÔÇöexceptional quality of the course, exceptional quality of ownership and management, outstanding contribution to its community and significant contribution to the game.But Burroughs & Chapin has also been rapidly establishing itself in residential and commercial development, entertainment and recreation amenities, retail, hotels and more. B&CÔÇÖs residential and resort developments in Myrtle Beach include Grande Dunes, a 2,200-acre upscale residential and resort community stretching west from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway, and South Beach Resort, a timeshare community.Broadway at the Beach is a 350-acre retail complex with 100 specialty shops, restaurants, theaters, attractions, nightclubs and hotels surrounding Lake Broadway. Hard Rock Caf├®, Planet Hollywood, RipleyÔÇÖs Aquarium and other nationally known businesses located there. Broadway at the Beach created a new and positive buzz that changed many peopleÔÇÖs perception of Myrtle Beach.As well as the ocean and the golf, shopping is now a top draw for visitors to Myrtle Beach, with the 1-million-square-foot Coastal GrandÔÇôMyrtle Beach Mall, a joint venture with CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., of Chattanooga, Tennessee, featuring all the ÔÇ£big boxÔÇØ stores; Seaboard Commons; South Strand Commons; Arcadian Shores Commons; and many smaller ÔÇ£jewel boxÔÇØ centers.As recently as September this year, B&C celebrated the opening of Grande Dunes Marketplace, offering over 91,000 square-feet of retail space for an array of fine retailers and restaurants, situated across Highway 17 from the Grande Dunes community and anchored by a 49,000-square-foot Lowes Foods.Baseball great Cal Ripken and his brother, Bill, joint ventured with the company to create The Ripken Experience. With five ball fields and extensive training options, the facility hosts youth tournaments that draw teams (and their families) from around the country. Hurricanes are always a threat on the coast, so at the turn of the 21st century B&C began to diversify geographically to develop alternative revenue streams to protect itself from the possibility of a wipe out at Myrtle Beach. It has since developed Crown Park Resort, a timeshare community in Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Wendell Falls, a joint venture residential community with Mercury Development just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina; and Tall Pines, a joint venture mountain residential community in South Carolina with Silver Companies. The company has also established NASCAR SpeedParks in Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri and Toronto, Canada.It seems Burroughs & Chapin is on its way to becoming as much a part of the national vocabulary as Myrtle Beach already is.┬á