MURRELLS INLET, S.C. (WBTW)- Friday afternoon dozens of people from the community came out for the groundbreaking of a new restaurant in Murrells Inlet.
The Claw House will open in the vacant lot next to Dead Dog Saloon in March of 2016. The concept for the restaurant came during the owner’s visit up north who hopes to bring that kind of flair to the Grand Strand.
“We wanted to do something different to differentiate from the rest of the restaurants on the MarshWalk. We’ll be serving fresh North Atlantic Lobster daily. They will be two to three pounds in size. We’ll be driving to New Bedford, Mass twice a week to get them ourselves,” Managing partner Charlie Campbell said.
The Campbell family owns Dead Dog Saloon which is next door and has spent the last 11 months meeting with county leaders and going through the permit process for the new building.
Owners originally planned to hold the groundbreaking in September but say it was worth the wait now that everything is done.
Charlie Campbell says the addition of new restaurants show the growth in Murrells Inlet.
“The introduction of the MarshWalk really turned Murrells Inlet around. Murrells inlet was in big trouble, restaurants were closing. Broadway at the Beach came in and they took a lot of market share. You could ride down here on a Friday night at 9:00 and there’d be no one here.”
Now, The Claw House will be the first restaurant to be built from the ground up along the MarshWalk. It will be a raised building with indoor and outdoor seating.
The new restaurant is also expected to bring at least 80 new jobs to the local economy.
“This is exactly what we want. We want to bring more economic development, more stores and more restaurants in here and grow our community,” Renee Williamson, Executive Director of Murrells Inlet 2020 said.
With the addition of the new restaurant there were some concerns about parking in an already busy area. Campbell says they have purchased and expanded the land across the street to accommodate. That will add an additional 40 spaces.
“That is the number one issue is parking. I think we need to start talking to the county about getting into the parking business because it’s to their benefit,” Campbell said.
The owners say there is another part of the restaurant that will make it unique but they are keeping that a surprise until the Grand Opening next year.
