AC Hotel on West Main

[westsider28]

Looking up at the AC Hotel this past weekend.

[westsider28]

The front facade is now mostly complete.  Looks really good!

[spartanburgh]

Such a beautiful hotel, but what if they could have had shops past the hotel in each direction toward the train tracks and toward Kennedy St..

A two story wing in each direction with the pool set back a few feet and a two level parking deck instead of the horrific concrete wall that boarders 

the property could have made the Grain District so much more alive and awesome. There are so many small shops looking for space with no where

to locate. They could have easily had 3 small 1000' shops on Main and 3-4 along Daniel Morgan even with a drive thru for the porte cochere. 

[Spartan]

Yeah I made that same comment when they first put the design out there. They didn't have to build anything, just push the pool back and leave space for future expansion.

[westsider28]

Honestly, I look at every parking lot as temporary and as a potential future development site, and this is no different.  I think it can easily be replaced by a parking deck or building with ground floor retail when the market demands it.  We do still have quite a few small spaces available on Magnolia, and the Montgomery Building will have several.

[Jet-set]

What a building! Glad to see something constructed that can still look good 100 years from now. We need more of this type of architecture in Greenville.

[westsider28]

A few updates: From watching the webcam, it looks like a Silva-cell system (for tree roots) is being installed beneath where the sidewalk will be on West Main.  Also, the hotel's rear cladding is almost complete.  The 2nd floor of the rear protrusion is all cast stone (like the original rendering, interestingly) vs brick the rest of the way around. 

The porte-cochere is getting the same red clay tile roof that the hotel roof has.  And the rooftop trellises (which were white) are being painted beige to match the cast stone columns.  Lobby looks like it's very far along.  Wonder if they will actually open by the end of October like they hoped?  It'll be close.

Also this evening (though it was dark), I noticed that brick sidewalk installation has started along Daniel Morgan Ave (next to the parking lot), and streetlights are going in, too.  Finally, here are some photos from a few days ago:

[Spartan]

That building is a thing of beauty

[distortedlogic]

Embarrassing that Greenviles proposed AC and the Aloft hotels are so stinking awful when Spartanburg can get it right. Awesome looking building there. 

I'm still amazed that this has only 114 rooms. Greenville has gotten several new ones with more rooms and they are short ugly boxes. Greenville architecture...

[Sparkleman]

I was in Greenville yesterday and noticed the short ugly boxes mentioned above especially the Aloft. This was a miss on the part of Greenville. Also the west end is still pretty vacant albeit was a Sunday. I really think what they ask for in rent/leases will slow major growth in the future.

I was also around St Francis hospital for the first time in a while and 2 whole street have had older houses torn down and the new ones that are coming start in the mid 400's. It appears a sort of gentrification is taking place here. I much prefer what Spartanburg in doing with the north side initiative where we are trying to include everyone rather than push them back or out altogether.

[roads-scholar]

On 10/20/2017 at 11:18 PM, distortedlogic said:

Embarrassing that Greenviles proposed AC and the Aloft hotels are so stinking awful when Spartanburg can get it right. Awesome looking building there. 

I'm still amazed that this has only 114 rooms. Greenville has gotten several new ones with more rooms and they are short ugly boxes. Greenville architecture...

Times they are achanging when someone says that Spartanburg is doing something better than Greenville! 

I do think developers in Greenville have overdone it with the sterile [ugly] "boxes".   But I've complained on this forum about too many of our new  buildings mimicking Spartanburg's textile mill heritage.  I'm happy the AC Marriott is unique and has a timeless look. 

[Upstate Guy]

I am in total agreement that when it came to this hotel, Spartanburg got it right.  Not saying that I wouldn't  like to see a bit of modern mixed in along Main, but at least we don't have the same modern box with UFO landing pad top over and over and over. 

[Spartan]

Not to get too far off topic, but Spartanburg probably won't see true gentrification like Greenville, Charleston, Charlotte, etc. for many years, but it will come eventually. The other factor is actually related to Greenville - I think that some businesses will like the lower prices of Spartanburg's downtown and we will benefit from that over time. As downtown continues to grow and become a more regional destination for business and tourism it will likely cause the nearby neighborhoods to gentrify.

As far as our AC Hotel's architecture goes - I've learned that most architecture schools don't train architects to do traditional architecture. That's why all the contemporary designs you see tend to ignore the pre-war designs that most people find visually attractive. Architects are trained to take abstract ideas and find connections to real world materials and designs and turn them into buildings. I don't want to demean all architects because I know there are a lot of good ones out there, but in many cases they are out of touch with what the public actually wants, and they have a superiority complex about their ideas relative to us commoners. I know I'm over exaggerating a little, but my point is that the architects are the problem, not the local government. Most local governments don't regulate specific architectural styles.

[vicupstate]

Quote

 I know I'm over exaggerating a little, but my point is that the architects are the problem, not the local government. Most local governments don't regulate specific architectural styles.

 

Thanks for the dose of reality Spartan. 

Everyone seems to think that cities have complete control over what is submitted and built.  The basic architectural style is not within the perview of most of the governing boards in the mentioned cities, with the exception of Charleston to some degree.    

I understand the Sburg Hotel had significant incentives/subsidies that Greenville generally doesn't offer any longer.  Obviously if a city is willing to pay for that they are going to generally get a nicer project. 

The hotel is nice but I see no difference in the quality of other buildings going up in Sburg vs. what has been going up in Greenville.  The two office buildings in ONE and the Camperdown project are/will be the nice projects done in the last decade plus and they will age well i think. 

 

 

[gman430]

On 10/20/2017 at 11:18 PM, distortedlogic said:

Embarrassing that Greenviles proposed AC and the Aloft hotels are so stinking awful when Spartanburg can get it right. Awesome looking building there. 

I'm still amazed that this has only 114 rooms. Greenville has gotten several new ones with more rooms and they are short ugly boxes. Greenville architecture...

Haven’t seen the new apartment complex proposed for Renassiance Park within downtown Spartanburg I guess then.  

[westsider28]

The AC Hotel's social media pages announced today that you can now book a stay for any time after November 30.  So it will definitely open no later than then.

[krazeeboi]

This is the most beautiful contemporary hotel I think I've ever seen.

I'm proud of Spartanburg!

[Upstate Guy]

15 hours ago, gman430 said:

Haven’t seen the new apartment complex proposed for Renassiance Park within downtown Spartanburg I guess then.  

Oh its a total stinker. Absolutely horrible for its location in downtown.

[Spartan]

21 hours ago, vicupstate said:

Thanks for the dose of reality Spartan. 

Everyone seems to think that cities have complete control over what is submitted and built.  The basic architectural style is not within the perview of most of the governing boards in the mentioned cities, with the exception of Charleston to some degree.    

I understand the Sburg Hotel had significant incentives/subsidies that Greenville generally doesn't offer any longer.  Obviously if a city is willing to pay for that they are going to generally get a nicer project. 

The hotel is nice but I see no difference in the quality of other buildings going up in Sburg vs. what has been going up in Greenville.  The two office buildings in ONE and the Camperdown project are/will be the nice projects done in the last decade plus and they will age well i think. 

Yeah I started to go into Charleston - historic districts are often the exception to the rule when it comes to architectural style, and the whole peninsula is a historic district. Charleston is notoriously strict when it comes to urban design and architecture to some degree - but the results are amazing. I wish more places in SC used their approach.

I don't know the full story, but they likely did get some incentives. However, my educated guess is that Spartanburg had a combination of incentives AND a local developer both committed to making Spartanburg a better, more attractive place through his many investments into downtown while also being willing (and able) to make adjustments or take a lower profit margin/yield to make it happen. 

[westsider28]

5 hours ago, Spartan said:

I don't know the full story, but they likely did get some incentives. However, my educated guess is that Spartanburg had a combination of incentives AND a local developer both committed to making Spartanburg a better, more attractive place through his many investments into downtown while also being willing (and able) to make adjustments or take a lower profit margin/yield to make it happen. 

Bingo.

[distortedlogic]

On 10/23/2017 at 7:45 PM, gman430 said:

Haven’t seen the new apartment complex proposed for Renassiance Park within downtown Spartanburg I guess then.  

Just checked it out. Pretty bad but honestly i think it's better than some of the stuff going up in Greenville,  ESPECIALLY the Aloft. Havent been to Sburg in a few years but a lot of their new stuff at least showed some thought to it. I know it's not "Greenville" per se,  but our architects, or the projects getting approved, just seem to be putting out so many lazy and boring designs. They're  just being thrown up with no thought. This AC  Hotel did it right. There's  no reason that Greenville powers that be can't ask for a little more from these architects. Way to go Sburg on this one.

[vicupstate]

I get that Aloft won't get any awards but it isn't as bad as it is being made out to be. It is perfectly fine from the base/garage down.  The tower part is too bland and should have meshed better with the other ONE buildings.  That wouldn't be that hard to fix when a makor remodel happens sometime in the distant future.

That said I would trade in the Daniel building, Bank  of America and City Hall before I did so with Aloft.      

As for  the Greenville AC Hotel, I don't have a problem with it at all and I think Camperdown as a whole will be a tremendous addition.  

Most of the new things in Sburg have been renovations. i don't think the new buildings (other than AC Hotel) have been any better than what has been going  up in Greenville.    

[westsider28]

The cast stone railing is almost complete, as is the awning over the front entrance.  Bricks are going in on the sidewalks.  Exterior lighting is also being added.  Cropped pic from webcam this evening:

[westsider28]

Getting pretty close.  Landscaping is the main thing happening now.  Also, both West Main and Daniel Morgan were just repaved near the hotel.  Rear parking lot still needs paving (as of Sunday).  I like the granite curbing between the sidewalk and the pool-area landscaping.  Also, exterior up-lighting has been added.  Some photos from Sunday:

[westsider28]

Update article on the AC Hotel.  Nothing much new.  Parking lot still needs to be paved.  Interior is still being finished.  And employees have to have 9 days of training on site before it opens.  So I'd say that December 1 is likely (since they've been taking reservations from then forward, so it basically HAS to be open).

Also, here's an amazing night drone aerial of the hotel by Flickr user "NRE in SC".