101-room hotel proposed for the heart of downtown Lexington gets key approval

A new 101-room hotel proposed for downtown Lexington has cleared a potential hurdle and is back on track to transform a vacant lot along the heart of Main Street.

The four-story, 61,000-square-foot Courtyard by Marriott to be built at 116 E. Main St., between the costume shop Wretched Collections and Bodhi Thai Dining, was approved Tuesday, March 12, by the town’s Board of Appearance following a denial the first time the board considered the project in January.

The hotel, which will also bring a bistro and bar that will sit right along the increasingly bustling dining and nightlife corridor, comes via local hotel developer Lexington Hospitality. The company 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.

There had been rumblings of a hotel coming to the lone vacant lot along downtown Lexington’s core block for years, and with its initial denial, the Board of Appearance put the future of the project into doubt.

Though the approval is a big win for the hotel, there are still more steps before it can become a reality.

“Just recently it has entered the appearance approval stages before plans and land disturbance permits are submitted,” Laurin Barnes, the town’s communications manager, said of the hotel and where it stands. “This is an early stage in the development process. The developers want to know if the town will approve the look of the building.”

The Board of Appearance must sign off on the look and size of new buildings, considering town code and how new structures will fit in with existing buildings. It denied the hotel proposal the first time around, emphasizing that the look of the building needed to better fit Main Street and expressing concern that the building as first proposed would dominate its neighbors — none of the existing buildings along the 100 block rise above two stories.

“We made quite a lot of changes,” Craig Otto, the project’s lead architect, said when addressing the board March 12.

The size of the building and the number of rooms didn’t change in the new proposal, but the look of the hotel was changed dramatically, with much darker stone on the outside and gas lanterns on the Main Street entrance to the bistro, which Otto noted is only one story and is shorter than the buildings around it. There will be a terrace above the restaurant, with a cover jutting out from the four-story portion of the building, to be set back from Main Street, and a steel or aluminum trellis covering a patio adjoining the restaurant.

The hotel, which won’t exceed the height allowed in downtown, will sit beside a new surface parking lot, which will also touch the sidewalk, with a covered main hotel entrance off to the side. When asked, Otto said they would happily comply with the town’s desire to see its aesthetic for street lighting downtown replicated with the lighting for the parking lot.

Otto also said there will be a small meeting pace in the hotel, large enough for about 40-50 people, which will be made available for the public to rent out.

While one resident spoke up during public comment to question whether the updates to the building would keep it from dominating its neighbors, a variety of local business owners, including several of those neighbors, voiced their support, as did a former Lexington mayor and the heads of both the Lexington and Greater Columbia chambers of commerce.

Matt O’Hara — co-owner and general manager of two businesses on the block, O’Hara’s Public House and the O’Hara’s Bakery Cafe — emphasized that his business chose to take over that cafe spot in large part because it would be right across the street from the hotel they heard was coming.

“The promise of that many people each night on Main Street is very exciting from our perspective,” he said.

Randy Halfacre, who previously served the town as mayor and the head of the Lexington Chamber, called the project “the missing link” to the hopes the municipality has had for its downtown.

“This is kind of the the anchor to downtown, to almost complete what we envisioned many years ago as the Town of Lexington Vision Plan,” he said. “I see no reason why you should not approve.”

Raj Champaneri, principal and owner of Lexington Hospitality, gave an opening statement, emphasizing his company’s roughly 30 years in Lexington and their success with hotels in the area.

“Over the years we’ve been approached by business leaders, community leaders and the town of Lexington to develop a hotel that will be able to cater food, beverage and meeting space,” he said. “The property has been vacant for about 15 years now. I think it’s time that we see some development. We’re very encouraged with what direction we’re going in with. Once the property is developed, we feel very confident that it’ll enhance the beauty of downtown Lexington.”