A new $20 million hotel is slated for downtown Spartanburg on the corner of Main Street and Daniel Morgan Avenue.
Developer George Dean Johnson Jr. and OTO Development, a Spartanburg-based hotel development and management company, announced plans to build the hotel last week and received first-reading approval by Spartanburg City Council.
In the agreement, the city of Spartanburg would contribute $750,000 in streetscape improvements, provide “best efforts” to designate the project site as a multi-county industrial/business park to achieve a 50 percent property tax abatement for 20 years, agree to let OTO purchase city-owned property at the site for $1, and restrict economic development incentives for any other select service hotel for a period of three years from the project’s date of opening.
OTO Development would need to construct a hotel with 100 rooms or more, affiliate the hotel with a national brand, make a capital project investment of at least $18 million and open the hotel for business by Sept. 30, 2017.
“In evaluating several alternatives for hotel sites in Spartanburg, it was clear that the right choice for the market is to be in the heart of our community,” said Corry Oakes, CEO of OTO Development. “One of the most positive examples of the city of Spartanburg’s vision and leadership has been the focus on revitalizing our urban core. This new hotel will become an important part of the energy and vitality of downtown.”
OTO has more than $1 billion in urban new development projects in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Manhattan, south Florida and Washington, D.C. Brand partners the company has worked with in the past include Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood.
“We have been waiting for the right opportunity to develop a hotel in Spartanburg, where we live and work,” Oakes said.
The hotel site will consolidate property previously purchased by Johnson with the land, which is currently occupied by Event Rentals. Event Rentals will relocate to a new home on West Main Street.
Johnson, a Spartanburg native, has a long history of development in Spartanburg. In addition to bringing several corporate headquarters to downtown Spartanburg with partners, including OTO Development, Johnson Development, Pure Barre and American Credit Acceptance, Johnson has invested nearly $60 million over the last 15 years to build four buildings representing more than 330,000 square feet of office space. The George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics (“The George”) at USC Upstate is named for him.
“The downtown area has grown into a remarkably vibrant social and cultural scene, and we want to fuel that growth by making it even more accessible to visitors,” Johnson said. “This hotel’s location will provide a springboard from which visitors will experience the local businesses, restaurants, art galleries and shops downtown, as well as participate in the many community events held throughout the year in Morgan Square.”
Johnson said OTO Development wants the hotel “to be a sophisticated complement to the artistic and entrepreneurial fabric that makes our downtown area so unique.”
Additional details are being finalized and will be shared in the coming weeks, he said.
