MYRTLE BEACH — Additional tourists are just one benefit to the Grand Strand from a youth baseball camp and tournament facility that will open in 2006, organizers say.

The Ripken Experience — a $24 million joint venture with Ripken Baseball Inc. and Myrtle Beach developer Burroughs & Chapin Co. — will help underprivileged kids, draw other major sports figures to the area and create 45 jobs.

“They’re part of the spirit and fabric of the community and not just something for visitors,” said Jeff LeForce, a B&C vice president.

Ripken Baseball and B&C announced the development Friday at a news conference attended by Cal Ripken Jr., Bill Ripken and Gov. Mark Sanford. The first phase of 50-acre facility will open June 2006.

Chris Flannery, chief executive officer of Ripken Baseball, said the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation will ensure that Grand Strand kids have access to the facilities and sports equipment.

The foundation aids underprivileged kids at the other Cal Ripken complex, a training and tournament facility in Aberdeen, Md. Last year that location provided 700 scholarships.

“What Myrtle Beach does for us is give us a second outlet,” Flannery said. “In Aberdeen, we continue to really invest very significantly into our local community. We would look to do the same in Myrtle Beach and the central coast.”

The Ripken facility is the first step in a larger sports complex, said Doug Wendel, chief executive of B&C.

Wendel said B&C has several hundred acres on 10th Avenue North Extension to create a sports area, possibly for soccer, football and watersports.

Wendel said the Ripken organization will work with B&C to draw other big-name sports figures.

Paul McCulloch, director of Dixie Youth Baseball for Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties, said kids will benefit from the “top-notch instruction” that comes with the Ripken brothers.

“It depends on if the parents can afford it,” McCulloch said.

Bill Ripken said he plans to teach in the Myrtle Beach facility as he does in Aberdeen.

He and Cal Ripken will have a hands-on role with many aspects of the facility, Bill Ripken said.

“I will be here,” he said. “We will be active.”

As well as helping kids, the facility will create 45 jobs when it opens and produce $400,000 the first year in property taxes, LeForce said.

LeForce said B&C will look to hire locally for the positions.

About 15 jobs will be management. The rest would be hourly and seasonal employees, he said. The hourly employees will receive the average local rate although wages will vary because the jobs are very diverse, he said.

The companies will seek maintenance workers, medical staff, umpires, landscaping workers, camp instructors and concessions workers, he said, and half those hourly and seasonal positions will be full time.

Management, marketing and sales staff will be hired within three months, he said. The bulk of the other workers will be hired closer to the opening next June, LeForce said.

“This will create jobs and a number of indirect jobs” in hotels, restaurants and retail facilities, said Chad Prosser, director of the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.