Proposed 12-story Charleston hotel cuts itself down to size by 2 floors (2024)

The developer of a Charleston hotel that originally was to rise a dozen stories on the south side of the Ravenel Bridge has lopped off two floors without changing the number of guests it will accommodate.

TheKimptonwill still have 250 rooms as designers propose to extend the structure out rather than up.

The shorter 10-story lodging was presented for conceptual approval by the Board of Architectural Review at a meeting this week after being proposed previously. The two-floor reduction "really brought the height or the mass of the tower down," said Brooke Taylor, a principal with Atlanta-based TVS Design.

It's the third iteration of the mixed-use marshfront project in the Morrison Yard development between the Ravenel and the State Ports Authority's Columbus Street Terminal.

The BAR approved the first concept in September 2022, when plans submitted by DSM Real Estate Partners showed a nine-story, 150-room hotel with 175 multifamily units to be built in a future phase.

But that idea was later scrapped because of rising costs and liabilities associated with the residential portion. The development group then replaced it with the 12-story Kimpton,a boutique flag owned by U.K-based InterContinental Hotels Group.

The recently proposed 10-story version call for 16,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, a rooftop restaurant and bar with a pool, among other amenities. A four-story office building is planned next door.

At the June 12 meeting, BAR members seemed satisfied with how the developer approached a blank wall space on the exterior façade. At previous meetings, they discussed the building's significance due to its visibility from the Septima P. Clark Parkway.

Anna-Catherine Alexander of the Preservation Society of Charleston called for the revised project to be deferred for further study to fit into the peninsula's "distinctive character," citing "fundamental issues with scale and massing."

She described the shortened structure this week as "100 feet longer than the office building next door" and "a football-field sized building between the city and its waterfront."

"It will be an overwhelming and permanent addition to the coastal skyline that will negatively impact interior views from downtown Charleston," Alexander said.

Charleston architect Eddie Bello, who represents the Kimpton developer, told the board Wednesday that he "feels it's very appropriate for the upper peninsula zoning district" and is in line with the existing architecture of Morrison Yard.

BAR Chair John Robinson said the "unique characteristics of this North Morrison corridor are driven by things that are necessarily the purview of this board," noting that the Kimpton project responded to all comments and fulfilled all requests from the city.

The revised version of the hotel development was given conceptual approval Wednesday, allowing it to proceed through the rest of the city's architectural review process.