Hotel planned for downtown Lexington takes another step forward. When could it be complete?
A four-story, 111-room hotel planned for Lexington’s Main Street is closer to becoming a reality nearly a year after the project was given a key approval to move forward.
Almost a year to the day that Lexington’s board of appearance gave developers the initial go-ahead on the Courtyard by Marriott planned for 116 E. Main St., the board unanimously approved changes to the upcoming project at a March 11 meeting. It’s the first sign of progress on the development in a year.
The changes include removing a metal trellis from a patio near the front entrance of the hotel and expanding the roof of the second-floor terrace, which faces Main Street, to extend across the whole terrace.
“I like the idea that the canopy comes all the way to the street edge,” said Wayne Rogers, who sits on the board of appearance. “It creates a nicer streetscape on Main Street so that’ll be a nice addition.”
Since it was approved by the board of appearance, the project is not required to go through the planning commission or town council, a town spokesperson explained.
Construction permits for the hotel must be approved by the town’s staff, which is in the process of reviewing the project, according to the spokesperson. Once approved, the construction process could begin.
The hotel, which will be part of the Marriott chain of hotels, comes from local hotel developer Lexington Hospitality which already manages a Quality Inn and Suites and a Holiday Inn Express & Suites a couple blocks up West Main Street. It also maintains the Aloft and Holiday Inn in downtown Columbia.
Construction is anywhere from two to six months away from starting, lead architect Craig Otto told The State. Part of the holdup has come from a parking lot being built next door, he explained. After the project begins, Otto said it could take a little over a year to complete. The project was initially denied by the board of appearance in January of last year, but was later approved after developers made aesthetic changes to the proposed building.
The 61,000-square-foot building will sit in a long vacant lot in the heart of Lexington’s downtown, which has bolstered its food and entertainment offerings in recent years with new restaurants and bars like TakoSushi and Molto Vino and planned ones like a forthcoming steakhouse from some prominent Midlands restaurateurs.
