Developers unveil renderings of proposed hotel on Savannah Highway in West Ashley

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – A new hotel may be coming soon to West Ashley along Savannah Highway near Interstate 526, and developers are sharing their renderings of what it could look like.

R4 Architecture, the developers for the project, said this has been in the works since 2014. They are looking to replace an abandoned Hyundai dealership with a boutique luxury hotel.

During Wednesday’s meeting of the West Ashley Revitalization Commission, the developer shared renderings of a proposed hotel on 10 acres of land along Savannah Highway near Dupont Road.

The developers say the 200-room hotel will be seven stories tall and will include retail space fronting Savannah Highway, a 10,000 square foot convention hall in the back as well as a pool and rooftop restaurant.

Charleston City Councilmember Peter Shahid chairs the commission. He said the project could bring $20 million to the economy while creating around 150 jobs.

“It’s definitely an eyesore,” Shahid said about the abandoned dealership. “When you build a hotel and convention site of this magnitude, the collateral of businesses that need to come to support that are going to be picked up.”

Several commissioners had concerns about the project’s potential impact on traffic on Savannah Highway from cars going in and out of the proposed hotel.

The developers said they are conducting a traffic study and will make adjustments to the property to ease those concerns.

Overall, commissioners said they were on board with this project and happy that it could call West Ashley home.

While the developers hopes their project can help spur development, Shahid said the hotel is one of the biggest revitalization projects in the area.

“This is on a scale of nothing else we’ve seen in West Ashley,” he said. “It’s up there with Citadel Mall and the Sumar Street project we’re working on.”

The developer said it could take another four years of behind the scenes work before they can start construction. Once they start construction, they anticipate it will take around two years to build out.

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