North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex Expansion
What's Built, What's Growing Around It, and What It Means for the Area
The North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex has grown into one of the biggest sports tourism draws on the Grand Strand, and the area around it is growing right along with it. Here is what has actually been completed, what new housing has gone up nearby, and what that growth could mean if you are watching this part of Horry County.
The Sports Complex Expansion Itself
The complex sits at the intersection of Highway 31 and Robert Edge Parkway, and it just finished a major 90-acre expansion in February 2026. The project added five new soccer fields and six new baseball and softball diamonds, bringing the total to 13 soccer fields and 12 ball fields. Two new playgrounds were also added, along with new walking trails, parking, concession areas, and restrooms.
The expansion took longer than planned. The city originally hoped to finish by fall 2025, but drainage and utility issues pushed the opening back a few months. The first tournament on the new fields happened in February 2026 and brought in 70 teams from 14 states. The complex now hosts more than 40 softball and baseball tournaments a year, along with soccer events, and the city's Christmas light show at the park has nearly doubled in size as part of the same expansion.
The full project came with a real price tag. The city spent about 36 million dollars in the 2025 fiscal year on the expansion and budgeted another 6.5 million for 2026 to finish the work, funded through a mix of hospitality fees, general fund transfers, and bonds.
New Housing Going Up Nearby
Growth around the complex has mostly shown up as new housing so far, and there is a fair amount of it. Parkway Apartments, a 360 unit complex at the corner of Robert Edge Parkway and Highway 90, is already under construction, with a mix of one, two, and three bedroom units plus pools, playgrounds, and garage parking.
Directly across Highway 31 from the sports complex, a townhome community sometimes called Palmetto Trace or Robert Edge Townhomes is planned for a 30.45 acre site, with early plans showing 182 three bedroom townhomes built by Dream Finders Homes.
Nearby, plans have also been approved for close to 400 additional homes on a 25.8 acre tract across from Valorous Church on Robert Edge Parkway, mixing smaller single-family lots with multi-family units. A few other apartment communities, including Encore at North Myrtle Beach and The Lorrel, have also opened or begun construction in the surrounding area over the past couple of years.
What About Hotels and Restaurants
This is the part worth being straightforward about. While commercial development has been mentioned as part of the broader growth plans for the Robert Edge Parkway corridor, we could not confirm any specific new hotel or restaurant projects currently under construction right at the sports complex itself. For now, families traveling in for tournaments are mostly staying at existing hotels and resorts a few miles away along Highway 17 and in North Myrtle Beach's main hotel corridor, and eating at restaurants throughout the wider area.
That does not mean commercial growth is not coming. Areas like this typically see restaurants, hotels, and retail follow once the residential rooftops are in place. It just means nothing specific has been formally announced yet as of this writing. We will keep watching this closely and update as real projects get confirmed.
What This Means for the Area
Even without new hotels or restaurants confirmed yet, this corner of North Myrtle Beach is clearly in growth mode. A newly expanded sports complex bringing in tens of thousands of visiting families each year, combined with hundreds of new housing units either under construction or approved nearby, points to real momentum for this part of Horry County over the next several years.
If you are considering a home near the sports complex, whether for the investment potential or simply to be close to youth sports, this is a great time to start that conversation. I would be happy to walk you through what is available in the area right now.
Cathy Cagno, Owner/Broker in Charge/REALTOR, Local To Coastal Realty, Inc.
336-516-4136 | localtocoastalrealty.com
