SPARTANBURG – A proposed $ 20 million hotel project for St. John Street in Spartanburg has come a step closer with the approval of a development agreement at first reading by Spartanburg City Council.
The 136-room hotel would be branded as the Fairfield Inn and Suites, a Marriott Select Service brand. The city council’s approval on July 12th paves the way for a final reading on July 26th.
“We believe this project is a great use of this website,” said Chris Story, Spartanburg City Manager. “It will support and complement other activities in the city center and will allow us to capture some hotel businesses that we are currently losing to locations outside of the city.”
The hotel would be between the Montgomery Building and the George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics. The development agreement is with Hawkeye Hotels to develop the property. Under the agreement, payments in lieu of taxes would be made for a period of 10 years. Story said taxes would be $ 70,000 the first year, increase to $ 220,000 in year 10, and then revert to conventional value taxes the following year.
Story noted that the project was moving forward at a time when the hospitality industry continued to recover from losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Christopher George, Spartanburg’s communications and marketing manager, said the city expects the hotel project to be completed in 2023 when it receives final approval. The hotel would use up to 140 parking spaces, which are made available in an existing parking garage behind the premises.
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Councilors Jerome Rice and Meghan Smith asked if there was enough parking space in the garage for college students and residents of the Montgomery building. Story said the 750 parking garage was designed for growth and is within the bounds of what would be needed.
Since St. John Street is one of the busiest streets in the city, Councilor Ruth Littlejohn asked what kind of disruptions the hotel building could have on the flow of traffic.
“Will we be able to reroute this traffic and not get blocked?” She asked.
Story said traffic going west on St. John Street would not be completely closed due to construction, with at least one lane open at all times. The proposed hotel would be built on 0.76 acres and would help the city meet its macroeconomic development goals by providing more hotel space to guests in the area, Story said.
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