A hotel planned for a key gateway site on the Charleston peninsula is coming back for another try at design approval after a first proposal was unanimously rejected.
Renderings for a 175-room, 11-story hotel just off the Ashley River Bridge and across from the growing WestEdge development came before the city's Board of Architectural Review in June.
There, as a new design submission for the project notes, board members made a few key comments before sending developers back to the drawing board: First, the prominent site deserves a "gateway building," they said. The hotel will be one of the first structures people see as they cross the river and drive down Cannon Street.
Board members also argued that the submission seemed like a "strong corporate design," not "architecture suited for Charleston."
Comments — and criticism — extended beyond the board. The opinions of multiple residents were shared during the meeting, mostly via letters and emails that were read aloud over a Zoom conference call.
One of the renderings of the first design submitted for an Aloft hotel at 194 Cannon Street. The submission was denied in June, and a new design is coming up for review Aug. 12. Provided/LS3P Associates
One letter-writer called the proposed building a “a brutal, avant-garde monstrosity.” The Preservation Society's opinion described the initial design as “incredibly jarring” and “driven by the corporate hotel brand.”
But, since that plan was turned down, the BAR this week will review a new design submission from the locally based architecture firm LS3P Associates. Plans still call for 11 floors with a rooftop lounge and bar. The Marriott brand Aloft has been selected for the property.
The lot where it will go, at 194 Cannon St., used to be a Wendy's fast-food restaurant. It was bought by an affiliate of PeachState Hospitality in 2018 for $7.35 million. The Warner Robbins, Ga.-based hotel group owns dozens of lodgings in its home state.
While the design of the hotel itself will be going for its first of three "yes" votes, plans for a five-story parking garage with ground floor retail spaces were able to cross that first threshold in June. The garage will go behind the hotel, and a new access drive connecting Spring and Cannon streets will be added between them.
The board will meet virtually at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday over Zoom. Details on how to access the meeting online are available on the meeting agenda.
Occupancy inching up
Hotel occupancy in the Palmetto State continued to inch upward last week after experiencing a brief two-week dip in early July. But the industry is still operating at significantly lower-than-normal levels for the summer.
About 53 percent of hotel rooms in the state were occupied last week, up from 52 percent the previous week and 51 percent the week before that.
In the first two weeks of July, as coronavirus case numbers in the state were spiking, the closely watched metric was starting to dip. Occupancy dropped from 58 percent — a high for the state during the pandemic — to 49 percent over a two-week period.
Since that drop, however, the number has slowly crept up, by about one percentage point each week.
South Carolina is still named on multiple travel advisories cautioning residents from other states against visits, and, in some cases, mandating a two-week quarantine upon return. But at least one place, Ohio, struck the Palmetto State from its travel warning list last week.
