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Three new hotels planned near Patriots Point |
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
By Ashley Fletcher Frampton
SCBIZ Daily Staff
MOUNT PLEASANT -- Columbia-based Fowler Hospitality LLC plans to build three hotels totaling 385 rooms in Mount Pleasant near Patriots Point.
All three hotels are likely to be Marriott brands, with one targeting upscale clients, one offering extended-stay rooms, and one serving traditional transient guests, said Sam Fowler, managing member for Fowler Hospitality LLC.
The Town of Mount Pleasant Planning Commission gave the $56 million project an initial go-ahead Wednesday, but final approval is up to Town Council.
Some planning commission members questioned whether the area could absorb 385 new hotel rooms, but Fowler said the Mount Pleasant hotel market is strong, with occupancy rates around 72 percent. He expects the area to continue to grow over the next few years, he said, and the hotel market will grow with it.
“When you build a hotel like this, you’re really looking at the longer term,” Fowler said.
The hotels are to be located on eight acres off of Wingo Way, between the Omar Shrine Temple and the Quality Inn, near the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Together they will total 231,000 square feet.
One of the hotels, a six-story building with 157 rooms, already is approved by Marriott as a Springhill Suites, Fowler said. Construction on that hotel could begin late this year or early next year, he said, with the opening expected around the spring of 2010.
Fowler described the SpringHill Suites as an upscale hotel with 5,000 square feet of meeting space and a rooftop bar overlooking the harbor.
The other two hotels will be contained in a single seven-story building and will share amenities, such as a pool and business center, Fowler said. Brands are not yet final for those hotels, but one is expected to serve extended-stay guests and the other will serve short-term guests.
Construction on those two hotels is planned to start next fall with an opening in the spring of 2011.
Fowler Hospitality LLC develops and manages Marriott-brand hotels throughout South Carolina and in Charlotte. In the Charleston area, the company developed the Residence Inn and SpringHill Suites on Ripley Point Drive and a Fairfield Inn & Suites in North Charleston.
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