New 50-room hotel proposed for convenience store site near City Market | Business

A 50-room hotel is being proposed for a property in Charleston’s French Quarter that currently houses a convenience store.

The boutique-sized lodging would be at 56 State Street, which used to be a gas station and is now a Scotchman convenience store. Charleston’s Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled to hear the request at its next meeting on June 7.

The project would have at least 2,000 square feet of meeting space and feature a lobby bar, according to materials submitted to the city. 

Plans show four main floors and a mezzanine level. The hotel entrance would be at the corner of Cumberland and State streets. 

The lot is directly across from The Loutrel, a high-end, 50-room hotel inspired by Charleston’s gardens that opened last November and recently got buzz as one of two local hotels named on Travel + Leisure‘s “It List” of the top hotel openings in the world. The Loutrel is operated by Charlestowne Hotels, which also runs The Spectator Hotel on State Street.

The historic City Market is down the block from the proposed location. It’s also steps from local dining venues like O-Bar at Oyster House and Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar.

Charleston law firm Womble Bond Dickinson is representing the buyer and will present the proposal to the zoning board.

The current owner of the site is East Bay Company Ltd., which has owned 56 State Street since 1984, according to county property records.

The 56 State Street proposal will be the second request to open a new hotel in Charleston that the zoning board has reviewed this year.

Last month, the board heard an application for a 150-room hotel that will be part of the Morrison Yard mixed-use development on Morrison Drive. That request was approved unanimously at the board’s May 17 meeting. That hotel will feature a rooftop terrace with a pool and a dining venue. It will be built next to a 12-story office building that’s under construction. The Morrison Yard complex will also include residences and retail.

Fore-tunate results

South Carolina tourism indicators were all up last month, according to data released last week by the state’s tourism department.

Golf, in particular, is going strong, and South Carolina is leading the nation for year-to-date growth for golf rounds, tourism director Duane Parrish wrote in his recap of April results.

Golf rounds are up 5.7 percent compared to 2022 which was a banner year for the sport in South Carolina.

State parks revenue is also up, even compared to record revenues from 2021. From the start of the fiscal year last July through this April, South Carolina’s parks have brought in $41.8 million, up about 12 percent from last year, per the latest data from the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. With May and June still to go, that’s not far off last year’s annual total of $45 million in revenue.

In April, parks brought in $5.9 million, up 9 percent from that month last year.