| General information | |
|---|---|
| Status | Complete and Operational |
| Type | Ferris wheel |
| Location | Myrtle Beach, SC Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade |
| Construction started | 2011 |
| Completed | 2011 |
| Inaugurated | May 20, 2011 |
| Cost | $12 million[1] |
| Height | 187 feet (57 m) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Ronald Bussink Professional Rides[2] |
| Engineer | Chance Morgan[2] |
SkyWheel is a 187-foot tall (57 m)[3] Ferris wheel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which opened May 20, 2011.[1]
It is the tallest Ferris wheel in the United States east of the Mississippi River.[4]
Contents |
SkyWheel is a Ronald Bussink Professional Rides designed R60 Giant Wheel, and was manufactured by Chance Morgan.[2]
SkyWheel is similar in design to the Niagara SkyWheel on Canada's side of Niagara Falls.[4] It has "42 glass-enclosed, temperature controlled gondolas"[4] described as "ballooned-out square",[5] each with seating for six to eight passengers. Unrelated people will not be required to sit together. The wheel will operate year-round.
City manager Tom Leath said, "It's big enough to be an iconic feature for the city."[4]
St. Louis-based developer Koch Development Company and Pacific Development had been looking for a site for a ferris wheel; they chose Myrtle Beach because of its new boardwalk, which has its northern end near the site, next to Plyler Park.
Architect James Hubbard, AIA a Principal with Pegram Associates, Inc. designed the site, which includes a 5,400-square-foot (500 m2) building with a restaurant, gift shop and the ticket booth. The Golden Villas motel was torn down and an alley was moved.[4]
The September 8, 2010 meeting of the Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Corporation included a discussion of SkyWheel. TLC planned a show about the wheel's construction, and a camera was positioned above the site at the Slingshot reverse bungee attraction across Ocean Boulevard.[6] Al Mers, a Pacific Development partner, said later in the month that the steel frame is being built outside St. Louis, while the gondolas are being made in Switzerland.[5] The wheel will go on a deck 20 feet (6.1 m) above sea level to protect it from possible hurricane storm surge. Construction of the building started in December, while the wheel's frame began work on February 23.[7][8] Land Shark Bar & Grille opened the same day as SkyWheel, the third restaurant in the city connected with Jimmy Buffett. The others are Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville at Broadway at the Beach and Cheeseburger in Paradise on the city's north end.[9][1]
Though the wheel itself can withstand 135 MPH winds, the gondolas must be removed if high winds are predicted, a process that takes eight to ten hours.[10]
