Folly's Future

When a colossal peach building painted with cartoonish umbrellas and a beach ball popped up within Folly Beach's city limits, a wake-up call rang across the six-mile island.

Mayor Carl Beckmann, a straight-talker who ran on a platform of conscientious development, looks at it as almost a necessary evil.

"Once that happened, I think people made sure it doesn't happen again," he said over a mahi-mahi sandwich at the newly renovated landmark Holiday Inn.

The hotel, which springs from the sand where Folly's main drag ends, embodies what Beckmann wants for his beach. After a winter overhaul, the property traded its blushing pink facade for earth tones, and a tired interior transformed into an edgy setup that could compete in style with hotels in Miami's South Beach.

Beckmann and Jonathan Weitz, president of the companies that own and manage the hotel, are on a first-name basis. And Weitz is a lock-in for a yet-to-be-formed economic development team that Beckmann hopes will shape the island's future development.

Beckmann isn't a buzz word kind of guy, but he wants Folly Beach to grow what he calls a "commercial village."

Day-trippers

The mayor began coming to Folly at age 2 and remembers when Folly Road was a two-lane highway. Contrary to his growth-fearing reputation, he says he doesn't mind summer beach traffic and that locals know how to plan their comings and goings accordingly during the busy months.

But if all that beach traffic does nothing but clog the roads and generate trash, it leaves a financial burden on the community. If, instead, those visitors stick around and spend some money, that means lower taxes for residents.

Beckmann hopes to form an economic development team of six people or fewer, including two business leaders, one City Council member, one person from the state Municipal Association and one from county government. Their goals, he said, would be deciding what Folly wants in a commercial sector and then deciding how to lure those businesses.

As Weitz puts it, "We can't just be bars, restaurants and T-shirt shops."

He imagines Folly's Center Street becoming a "day-trip destination" as recognizable as Asheville, N.C.'s art and antiques district on Cherry Street. Folly's niche would be up to the development team.

In order for it to work, Weitz said, the businesses must complement rather than compete, filling holes instead of mimicking. His Avocet Properties owns a lot near City Hall, and if the future building there looks anything like Avocet's homey green building with a welcome mural, that's a failure, he said.

Beckmann notes that the city embarked on a similar quest 15 years ago in what he now refers to as "The Tree Plan."

"Because the only thing that came out of it was the trees," he says without a touch of sarcasm. Sure enough, pruned palmettos line Center Street, but little else changed.

Beckmann also points to the city park planned in 1999. Though finally open, it still remains unfinished.

"Folly has always been famous for coming up with great plans," Beckmann said. "We're famous for starting good things."

He said the economic development team should form in about a year after the city finishes rewriting its zoning laws. Creating that group would state formally what the city's newest businesses have been expressing silently for months.

No gates

Within about five weeks, John Davis of Trademark Properties Inc. and "Flip This House" fame will run three restaurants within a single block on Folly Beach.

Sitting at a table in the recently opened Center Street Kitchen, he said, "There's so much negativity about the economy, and I just decided not to pay attention to it."

Between the Center Street Kitchen at the former Conch restaurant, a yet-unnamed tapas bar upstairs and 'Ritas Seaside Grille across the street at the former Terrapin Cafe, Davis and his partners will provide an additional 150 jobs to the area.

Davis teamed up with his real estate clients at RPM Management, the brains behind The Kickin' Chicken, after noticing the Terrapin closed down on the busy Fourth of July weekend. Collectively known as Center Street Management, Davis and RPM will offer meat-and-three meals at Center Street Kitchen, sharing plates and an extensive drink list upstairs and all-American patio food at 'Rita's.

"The atmosphere is very different in each, but the attitude is the same," Davis said. "Very Folly."

That means most meals come in less than $10, and patrons can walk in off the beach. 'Rita's will offer showers in the courtyard and an outdoor bar. Every window in the place rolls up garage-door style.

Across the street at the Holiday Inn, the staff gradually works up to full occupancy, making about 10 new rooms available each week since the March 5 opening. Already, the hotel has twice the wedding bookings it had last year, according to Weitz, and Lifetime Television came to Folly last week to shoot a special on beach ceremonies.

As the mayor pointed out, "The last time we were on television, it was for 'Flip This House.' "

He calls the new restaurant and hotel owners partners in the village-building expedition.

Beckmann jokes that some locals want to "establish the gate" and keep outsiders off the island. He disagrees.

He sees them coming, plus an opportunity to shape what they leave behind.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or abird@postandcourier.com.