CAROLINA BEACH — A historic building in Carolina Beach, most recently home to Ocean Beachwear, was demolished earlier this week with unofficial plans to build a mixed-use retail and condominium development on the downtown property.
According to Jeremy Hardison, the town’s planning and development director, the beach clothing and merchandise store suffered substantial damages during Hurricane Florence in September 2018 and has since been closed.
“It looked like its time had come, so we were working with [the owners] to get it demolished,” Hardison said.
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The demolition of the building began on Monday, according to Hardison, and soon trucks will begin offloading the large pile of rubble on the property, located at 109 Cape Fear Boulevard. He said unofficial plans are in the works to build a mixed-use development on the property.
“They haven’t submitted anything officially. We’ve been told what they’d like to do is a mixed-use building, where you have commercial on the ground floor and you go up with residential units,” Hardison said.
The property sits inside a Central Business District, which according to Hardison would allow for a mixed-use development.
According to Elaine Henson, president of the Federal Point Historic Preservation Society, the cinderblock building that once housed Mrs. High’s Dining Room “will be torn down to make way for new retail on the bottom and condos on the top.”
In an article she posted to the society’s website, Henson said the restaurant moved into the building sometime after it had operated out of an old trolley beach car in the 1940s. (The car was bought from Tidewater Power Company, which discontinued the trolley line to Wrightsville Beach in 1939, according to Henson.)
“As business for the diner grew, the restaurant moved into the new cinderblock building next door,” according to Henson, which was also home to the Greystone Motel and Macks Dime Store.
The property is owned by On the Beach, Inc., a company based in Myrtle Beach, according to records maintained by the N.C. Secretary of State. County land records show the property was purchased for $1.6 million in May 2018.
In 2020, the land was appraised for $111,000 and the building for $601,900, according to the county.
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