Well, I just got back yesterday from my fourth visit to PCB. Weather was absolutely great. Don't remember ever seeing that many fish so near to shore. Little ones, big ones. So cool.

It's really too bad that once you've left the beach you are now surrounded by these towering buildings that completely obscure it from view. It's just like being at Myrtle Beach or any other beach "resort town" now. Local shops? The feel of being at the beach (once you go beyond the sand). So sad. I guess this must be what rich people like? Bigger, better, more... ha

I stayed at Bikini Beach Hotel for the third time and last time....hearing it's also been sold.
I don't begrudge anyone their chance to make some money..., but I gotta tell you whoever is on the building/planning comission for PCB oughta be replaced. If anyone else who feels saddened as I do knows of another town along the Gulf that's more like the PCB I used to know - please post. I'll be looking for another place to escape to next Summer.

Jim in Chicago

Hi Jim,
I respect your opinion and probably a lot fo people feel the same way. My opinion is it is great for PC. Gets rid of the drunks and loonies and brings in the families. Granted, the prices are higher, but more people will vacation with other couples and be able to afford the condos.

Well, the higher lodging prices will certainly get rid of the poor drunks and loonies, so that just leaves the rich drunks and loonies to worry about. Maybe PCB can one day price those guys out, too.

Seriously though, $250-a-night rooms also will get rid of many working class families. It's not always easy, nor preferable, to coordinate vacations to double-up with another family just to go to the beach for a few days. I agree with Radar: Those huge buildings are eyesores when they're between you and the surf. All those parking decks popping up across the street from all of them are even worse to look at. A parking deck on Front Beach Road would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago. I certainly hope all this "growth" leaves at least a few of the old, beloved places such as Spinnaker, La Vela, Schooner's, Funland, and such. It's a shame about Salty's, Breakers, Harpoon Harry's and the Miracle Strip Amusement Park. I'll bet if the Miracle Strip tower hadn't been damaged by that hurricane several years back, it'd probably have been sold to make room for a condo by now.

All that said, I enjoyed my two trips to PCB this year. I plan to keep coming. I just hope the town doesn't get a 100-percent makeover before all is said and done.

Here's the difference (from the local government perspective): If the room tax is 10% (it's close ... I'm just using an example), do the math. One night of renting a $50 room gives the area government $5.00. One night of someone renting a $250 room gives the government coffers $25.00.

Do the math on a few thousand rooms per night at the new higher, rates, and you can hire a lot of cops, widen a lot of roads, and do whatever else is needed to take care of the influx.

Look ... it's always sad to lose what you grew up with. When I was in high school in Oregon, we drank beer in these fields that were miles from nowhere. Now those fields are subdivisions with a light rail line running through them! But if someone has some property, it is their's. And they have a right to build on it.

As I've posted before (this thread has been retread time and again), I believe the jury is still out on whether all these condos will be sufficiently occupied in the long run. Sure, if you charge 5-6 times more per night per room you don't need as many people to turn a profit, but the number of these rooms is incredible. I don't believe it's a sure thing that whatever influx of people who are drawn by the "bigger, better, newer" aspect of lodging in PCB will make up for the people who will be turned off by them and/or can't afford them.

Just because the condo companies have the right to build whatever they want on their property doesn't mean what they're planning is correct. By that logic, the oil companies are right to charge whatever they want for their product just because they own it. Hey, wait a minute, hmmm ...

:)

Ok, I would much rather vacation in a condo with 2 bedroom and a family room and kitchen, rather then a single room with 2 beds, tv and a bathroom. Granted, more often the condo will be more expensive but two couples can share it. Some people do not want to do this or can not find another couple. Anyway, I looked at the prices of Holiday Inn Sunspree and compared it to Edgewater Beach Resort for the week of Oct 1.

Holiday inn is $113 per night for 2 queen beds
Edgwater is $179 for a 2 bedroom condo. If this is split - $89.50 per couple. It is very very easy to rent Condos cheaper by renting firectly from the owner. Normally the owner will rent it up to 30% off. If this is the case, the price would be $126 per night.

Now your turn, tell me if I am nuts. I am far from rich and can not afford to stay in a room for $250 a night.........but for the last 10 years, I have stayed in nothing but Condos at PC. Actually we are going to stay at Edgewater the first of next month for 7 days. Price......A whopping $450 for the week or $64 per day. 1/2 the cost it would be for holiday Inn that week. It is possible!!!

I don't argue that bargains can be found, but you're paying offseason prices next month, Kfung. The same condo for a week during June or July, when I usually go, would easily get up around $1,300 or more, not the $400-plus rate of October. Also, it seems that the motels have upped their rates because they can make more money just as long as they're cheaper than the condos. Bargains are harder to come by during the summer, unless you go to one of the older condos such as Sunbird, at which I've stayed the past two years. I've broused the prices of the new condos - Boardwalk, Landmark, Twin Palms,Majestic, etc. - and they're much, much higher than Sunbird and all of the remaining motels. Ultimately, the public (market) will determine if these dozens of high-rise condos pay off in the long run in helping PCB prosper, or if the condos turn out to be a temporary gold rush. Then again, the final answer could fall somewhere in between.

this thread is getting good. I'm in Myrtle Beach and this conversation has been taking place here as well. I lived in PCB for several years, I moved to MB 3 yrs ago. Everytime I return to PCB I'm amazed at how much has changed.
I'm following this thread with interest, I appreciate the points of view.

Riley,

You are correct about the off-season prices. Good catch and I should have said that. Summer rates are very high, as are spring rates. The $450 I talked about in Oct is a major discount. We own the condo, but we still pay around 1/2 of what it would cost to rent directly from the resort itself. Although we own, we still pay so we do not lose out a weeks of payments (mortgage). Anyway, it is not uncommom to rent directly from an owner. You probably will not get 50% off, but 30% is very likely and in that case, it is very comparable to a nice hotel. Even though I like the progress, I too hate to see everything leaving. I have vacationed here for 20 years and hate to seem some of the things leaving. I especially hate to see the amusement park leave, Breakers...and yes I do not like to see all of the mom and pop hotels leave that I have become accustomed to throughout the years. I really beleive PC will be a better place and will be affordable. Like I have said, through the years, I have stayed at Chateua, Trade Winds, Flamingo, Tourway Inn and other hotels. They are nice, but the Condo's make it a much better vacation, if you can find one at a discount price. I also go in the summer for two weeks and always go with another family (freinds family member etc) because like you said, it is more expensive and splitting the cost is the way to go, without it being a burden.
www.kylefernung.com

Although I'm not shy about missing the old landmark places, there's no doubt the new condos are nice. I stayed four nights in the new Boardwalk Resort just before Katrina passed (she actually swept past on the third of my four nights), and that place is incredible! The weight room is awesome. The exercise bikes have flat-screen TV monitors attached to the front of them. There's a below-ground parking deck so your car doesn't burn up or get caked with ocean spray as quickly. The room had a walk-in, glass-door shower, a separate tub with jets, and an in-room safe in which you set your combination with push buttons. And this was just the "efficiency room"! The Barny Gray Motel, this certainly wasn't! The Boardwalk offered a " buy three nights, get one free" deal for $119 per night, so it was very affordable to me. But again, this was an offseason rate. The same room during the summer, I bet, would be more than $200. And when I come back to PCB in June with a buddy of mine, we'll need a room bigger than the efficiency room, which is very likely to easily cost $250 per night or more.

Would I like to stay at the Boardwalk again? Of course! The place is awesome! But will I be able to afford it during July? Probably not, and I'm solidly among the nation's white-collar middle class. If I can't afford it, I know there are many, many more people who can't either. All this rambling has been to make this point: There are things I love about the progress, but I'm just hoping the town doesn't price itself out of a big chunk of its tourism base. I used to be one of those college guys who struggled to come up with enough money to stay a few nights in the Lamplighter, and I'm glad those days are past. So I don't like the feeling that I might end up struggling to stay in PCB again 20 years later.

Well Said!Kyle
www.kylefernung.com