By Kim Chen Wiseman
Contributing Writer

In the coming months, oceanfront resort Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms will tear down the Island House, its original 10,000-square-foot conference center. In its place, a state-of-the art facility, the Sweetgrass Pavillion, will be built.

Like its predecessor, the pavilion will host business meetings, conferences, receptions and other social events at Wild Dunes Resort. Architects have designed two large ballrooms that can be separated into intimate conference rooms. Plans also incorporate precise climate controls in each room, wireless high-speed Internet access, contemporary audio/visual capabilities and state-of-the-art lighting.

Guests will be able to step out onto terraces that open to views of the Tom Fazio-designed Harbor Golf Course, the Tennis Center, the Boardwalk Inn and the resort’s 350 homes and villas.

The new facility is being designed by Charleston-based LS3P Architects, and RJ Griffin, based in Charlotte, N.C., is constructing the center. Groundbreaking took place this summer, and the resort aims to open the new conference center in September 2006.

“We have already booked a number of conferences at the new facility,” says Frank Fredericks, vice president of sales and marketing at Wild Dunes. The conference center is a core of the resort and plans to redevelop it are part of the resort’s master plan, he says.

The new conference center will bring in more corporate meetings, companies’ employee-performance incentive programs, federal and state associations, weddings and other social events. Like the Island House, the new space will total 10,000 square feet and will accommodate about 250 guests for corporate meetings and 350 guests for social events. The resort also houses a full kitchen and culinary team to provide onsite catering for all events.

While other renowned facilities, like Kiawah Island Resort and Charleston Place in historic downtown, also provide conference space in the Charleston area, Fredericks says Wild Dunes will focus on attracting new business that otherwise wouldn‘t have come to Charleston.

“From a marketing standpoint, we will compete aggressively against outside beach resorts such as Hilton Head and Amelia Island to attract new business to our area,” Fredericks says.

According to the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, about 4 million people visit Charleston each year as individual travelers, group travelers or to attend a convention or meeting.

In a 2003 profile study on convention delegates, the chamber estimated convention and business meeting guests spend about $185 a day, staying an average of four days in the Charleston area.

But the economic impacts run deeper than one-time visits. The delegates tend to be high-income earners, with more than one-third of them earning $100,000 or more. The study found that an overwhelming majority, more than 80% of the delegates, said they would likely return to Charleston for vacation.

Wild Dunes Island Resort was first developed in 1972 by Sea Pines Co., the developers of Hilton Head Island. Family-owned Lowe Enterprises in Los Angeles bought the resort in 1992.

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