North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By James Pease II
If you have driven down Main Street recently, you will have noticed that the Duffy Street Restaurant next to Melt Ice Cream Shop is boarded up. The building used to be known as Hardwick’s Cafeteria and opened in 1948 and closed in 1999.
The Duffy Street Restaurant is currently undergoing renovation to become a new, currently unnamed, two story dining experience.
The restaurant is part of a much bigger project being worked on by H.G. Worley and his father Harold. They are building a new retail space called “Shag City U.S.A.“
The retail space will stretch from the old Duffy Street Restaurant up Main Street to the McMillan Real Estate building. The project will be over 40,000 square feet, creating 24 new spaces for businesses.
The first of these spaces to be built will be a new flagship location for Melt Ice Cream Shop, making sure that owner Brandon Causey will be able to keep his business open during the construction process.
The retail space will not be focused on volume leasing but instead focus on leasing only to family owned local businesses through a screening process in order to keep each store diverse. Worley stated that “The space will be a mix of retail, restaurants and experiences that visitors and locals of our city will love.”
Parking will be available on the back side of the new development and behind First Avenue South.
The building has been designed to be pedestrian friendly and will include an elevator to get to the second floor.
“This plan has been in the works for over three years now,” said H.G. Worley. “We want to prepare Ocean Drive for the next 50 years.”
The Worley family plans on updating Ocean Drive by keeping it’s charm, walk ability, locally owned businesses and welcoming store fronts. “We believe it will change the face of Ocean Drive and Main Street in a good way.” Worley continues, “Ocean Drive needs to stay safe and clean. It’s the heart of our city.”
“Currently, the work site has been prepped and now are working on the last permit we need from the city,” said Worley.
The first phase of “Shag City U.S.A.” that includes Melt Ice Cream Shop is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
Once Melt has moved in their new building, the next phase of construction will begin.
“We are grateful to be a part of the future of North Myrtle Beach and Ocean Drive.”
