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Sale of Folly Beach Holiday Inn is off
By Shannon Cavanaugh
Contributing Writer
The sale of the Holiday Inn on Folly Beach is off, and it is not for the buyer’s lack of desire. Despite numerous rescheduled closing dates and last minute details, the 132-room Holiday Inn on Folly Beach will remain the property of Horace and Robin Rooke of James Island, at least at press time.
Brokers in this on-again, off-again business deal have courted the possibility for almost one year. A spokesperson for Suncoast Properties released this statement to the Business Journal on Sept. 9.
“I have been informed by Suncoast Properties of South Carolina that it has received notice from the attorney for the current owner of the Folly Beach Inn that the current owner will be unable to perform its contractual obligation to close the sale of the Folly Beach Inn to Suncoast,” said Vicki Hollingsworth, spokeswoman and president of Beachside Real Estate Inc.
“This inability has nothing to do with Suncoast’s readiness and willingness to close and move forward with creation of the Folly Beach Inn Horizontal Property Regime and the sale of units to the 132 prospective purchasers who have entered into Unit Purchase Agreements and made required deposits.”
This announcement came two weeks after the Business Journal reported the pending sale. The Rookes were asking $20 million for the oceanfront view but did not return phone calls to discuss details.
Just as the sale was hush-hush, so is its fallout. The hotel manager at the Holiday Inn said the “deal didn’t go through and probably won’t ever. You need to talk to Horace and move on to another story. There’s no story here.”
The sale and conversion of the Holiday Inn on Folly Beach from a traditional hotel into a condo hotel concept would have reduced the number of traditional hotel rooms with an oceanfront view to 68 in the Charleston area.
Typically under this condo-hotel concept when the owner is not using the condo, it is rented out for short-term accommodation like a hotel. A management company oversees the property. Profits from room revenue are split between the developer and the condo owner with the management company receiving 10%.
During the past year, real estate brokers and attorneys have worked under strict penalties and confidentiality agreements to handle all the legalities and pre-sell of each unit. LuJuan Kennedy of Fred P. Holland Realty of Folly Beach represented the buyer of the property. She did not return phone calls by press time. Hollingsworth was responsible for selling the individual units as condos.
“This is obviously extremely disappointing for Suncoast, Beachside Real Estate Inc. and the prospective purchasers. Nevertheless, in view of the current situation, Suncoast and Beachside agreed that the only fair and proper option is to offer to return all deposits to the persons who have existing purchase agreements,” Hollingsworth said. “Notice is going out to all those persons notifying them of the situation and enclosing the standard release that a real estate broker must obtain in order to release the escrowed deposits.”
Those refunds to pre-sold individual buyers will also come with disappointment. The hotel property never went on the public market, yet already 132 units were either under contract or considered for purchase by individual owners by late summer.
The closing on the sale of the Holiday Inn property was to have taken place on Aug. 24 but was pushed back to work out last minute details and rescheduled for Aug. 31, Kennedy said. That closing never took place.
Folly Beach city officials confirmed they had met with real estate developer Pete Manos of Greenville a couple of months ago to discuss the Holiday Inn and zoning regulations with his “intention to buy it and convert the rooms into condos.”
The property is zoned as a short-term accommodation, and even though units were sold to private individuals, it would continue to operate as a hotel.
Though the deal is currently off, Hollingsworth did say in her release, “Suncoast has informed me that, if the current owner resolves its problems and Suncoast proceeds with purchase of the Folly Beach Inn during 2005, Suncoast will offer a first right of refusal to existing purchasers to purchase the same units at the same purchase price as in their existing purchase agreement.”
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