By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer

The city of Charleston continues to bloom north of Calhoun Street, at one time the boundary beyond which few locals and fewer tourists used to venture.

Now, a new streetscape has sidewalks lined with shops and restaurants in a neighborhood that has become known as the city’s design district. It isn’t surprising that developers have figured out visitors might also want to stay overnight in this area, too.

At least three hotels are planned for the upper King Street/upper Meeting Street area and city officials expect the area may attract more accommodations in the future.

“There are restrictions on size below Calhoun Street, so if you are going to build something medium- to large-size, it’s going to have to be above Calhoun,” said Yvonne Fortenberry, the city’s director of Design, Development and Preservation.

New hotels built south of Calhoun Street are not allowed to have more than 50 rooms, Fortenberry said.

The upper King and Meeting streets area is in the city’s hotel overlay district, she said, but developers still must adhere to a list of criteria that includes impact on traffic patterns and residential neighborhoods.

The Francis Marion Hotel at King and Calhoun Streets was the only hotel in the area until the mid-1990s, when the Bennett Hofford Co. located an Embassy Suites Hotel and a Hampton Inn in renovated historic buildings adjacent to Marion Square.

“They were pioneers,” said Randall Goldman, managing partner of Patrick Properties, LLC, which owns three businesses on upper King Street: Fish Restaurant, The American Theater and the William Aiken House.

Goldman said Bennet Hofford bought property in the area “before it was fashionable.”

“They started buying property up before anybody else thought it would be a successful area,” Goldman said.

Bennett Hofford plans an eight-story, 185-room hotel under the Hilton flagship at the corner of King and Hutson Streets on Marion Square. It will replace the former Charleston County Library building, a pink rectangle of mid-20^th-century architecture that has been vacant on the site for several years.

Bennett Hofford is in the design review process and is scheduled to go before the city’s Board of Architectural Review on Sept. 12.

Goldman’s company is planning a boutique hotel a little more than a block north, behind Fish, at 442 King St.

Goldman said such a hotel is one with individual characteristics that sets it apart from other smaller hotel brands.

The 62-room hotel will use material such as recycled antique brick, brass and bronze. Goldman said the property will help his company better serve its market, which includes conferences at the American Theater and wedding parties and other events booked at the historic William Aiken House. Patrick Properties also recently purchased Lowndes Grove Plantation, a historic bed-and-breakfast inn on St. Margaret Street near Hampton Park.

The new hotel behind Fish should fill a niche, Goldman said, because it will have larger rooms than most small hotels.

“The smallest room is 375 square feet and the largest is nearly 900 square feet,” Goldman said. “What I have found is there is a need or a market for long-term rental spaces for corporate executives.”

Goldman said the expansion of the Medical University of South Carolina and companies that have chosen the area for corporate headquarters, such as Bosch and Google, have increased demand for such accommodations.

Perrin Lawson, spokesman for the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the hotels would further revitalize upper King Street and add to the good things already happening there. If the demand for hotel rooms is not already evident in the area, it will be, he said.

“All the projects I’ve seen will be very high end and what we certainly want is high-end product,” Lawson said. “That’s the market we’re really going after, and at least one of those properties will cater to the meeting and convention crowd. That is a target market that has certainly been underserved. We have never had sufficient meeting space.”

Mary Graham, senior vice president of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, said demand for hotel rooms has been on the rise, along with the number of boarding passengers at the Charleston International Airport.

“Air enplanements were up 26 percent in June over June 2006,” Graham said. “The only difference is that AirTran is here. One of the reasons we wanted to attract AirTran is because the cost of flying in and out of here was so high, both for leisure travelers and corporate meetings.”

The chamber reported 91,159 room nights sold on the Charleston peninsula in June, compared with 87,689 rooms nights sold in June 2006. Hotel occupancy for the Charleston area averaged 84% in June, a 1% increase from the same period a year ago.

A third hotel is planned for the upper King and Meeting streets area and will be built off Meeting Street between Wolfe and Reid streets

Fortenberry said developers have received zoning approval for 180 rooms, plus condominiums, retail, a restaurant and spa in the mixed-use project. The new complex will include the Burris Liquors store at the corner of Meeting and Wolfe Street and is in the design review process

Sharon Brennan, the city’s director of economic development, said as more hotels venture into the area, there will be more foot traffic and activity in the evening hours.

“You’re looking at job creation, increasing the tax base and revitalization of the area,” Brennan said. “Any activity, like the redevelopment of these sites, helps to encourage private development in the area, so it’s all positive.”

Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.

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