NEWS

Q&Amy: Hotel to fill neglected downtown lot

Amy Clarke Burns
aburns@greenvillenews.com

Q: Who is responsible for the upkeep of the lot next to the Ogletree building at the corner of Elford and North Main streets? It looks a bit rundown.

Amy in short: The lot is destined to become a new hotel, one that's new to Greenville. But a delay in the project has led to some neglect of the current parking lot.

A bit more: The lot at 350 N. Main Street, adjacent to the Ogletree Deakins law firm and across from the Springwood Cemetery entrance, is months away from becoming a Home2 Suites, a growing suites-only brand by Hilton.

Sycamore Investment Group, which owns the Holiday Inn Express across the street, is the developer for the project, said CEO Yatish Patel.

"We've actually been trying to get this thing off the ground for a while, so we've been holding off on maintaining it," he said. "We've been trying to get permitting for four months."

Those permits are expected to come through next month, he said, and work should get underway soon thereafter.

The four-story, 117-suite hotel is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016. The hotel will include a two-story, underground parking garage, pool and patio area.

The 0.7-acre lot was owned by First Citizens Bank from 1977 to 2005, according to county property records. It has spent the last decade as a parking lot, Patel said. He purchased the property in spring 2013 with an eye to building a hotel.

Home2 Suites, a relatively new and rapidly growing brand for Hilton, was first introduced in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in September 2011.

"There are more than 40 Home2 Suites open currently with more than 35 in the pipeline for 2015," said Tiffany Wilson, a public relations manager for the company.

A different Home2 location will be the first to open in Greenville.

A hotel off Pelham Road is expected to open at the end of May 2015, said Rece Morgan, CEO of Central Realty Holdings, owner and developer of the property.

That 102-room Home2 Suites is located on Beacon Drive, situated to the side of and slightly behind the Earth Fare shopping center on Pelham Road.

Home2 Suites offers separate living and bedroom spaces, fully stocked kitchens and spacious work areas and is geared toward both business and leisure travelers, Patel said.

The Home2 Suites is the latest entrant in a recent hotel boom for downtown Greenville. Currently under construction are a 144-room Aloft Hotel at the corner of Washington and Richardson streets and a 156-room Embassy Suites at RiverPlace.

A previously announced boutique hotel by Clemson developer Raj Patel is no longer in the works.

"That project is sidelined because we don't have a site in place," he said.

Got a question? Send it to Q&Amy by emailing me at aburns@greenvillenews.com or calling 864-298-3822. You can find me on Twitter at @QandAmyNews.