Predicting the Future in Hospitality, Charlestowne Brings History Back to Life
Charleston, SC – May 16, 2017 – Charlestowne Hotels, a full-service hospitality management company, brings creative expertise and a bespoke management style to the adaptive reuse market, opening five boutique hotels repurposed from historic structures and landmarks in the next year.
This new set of managed properties further expands the Charlestowne Hotels portfolio geographically, advancing their industry leadership for transforming historic facilities into lifestyle-oriented boutique hotels. A diverse range of properties, each hotel is derived from an original piece of history, including a midcentury bank building, nine guest houses dating back to 1790 and a former steel foundry that supplied George Washington Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate. Observing how current consumer trends now favor a more localized and curated travel experience, the Charlestowne team is at the forefront of this industry niche, presenting guests with the next iteration of experiential travel.
“Historic adaptive reuse projects allow us the unique opportunity to positively influence a city’s growth while also defining a hotel brand from the ground up,” says Michael Tall, president and chief operating officer of Charlestowne Hotels. “These new properties give us the opportunity to fill a void: travelers are looking for accommodations that extend well beyond the cookie-cutter mold while developers are looking for management companies that are skilled in providing a desired rate of return in this space. With these adaptive reuse projects we can flex our creative muscles, managing and operating unique hotels that retain the nuances of the local destination to offer a piece of living history.”
The restoration and development of historic boutique properties is a passion point for Charlestowne Hotels, and plays to the brand’s strengths for managing lifestyle hotels. Honing in on adaptive reuse properties, Charlestowne Hotels is focused on providing accommodations that mirror the local culture and deep-seated history of a destination without sacrificing the luxury touchpoints and service levels that are expected of an upscale hotel. Known for a tailored management approach, Charlestowne views each lifestyle property as an opportunity to tell an exclusive and unique story. Simultaneously, Charlestowne Hotels provides the on-site hotel team with designated internal support systems in marketing, revenue management and operational controls that would normally be expected in a chain hotel environment.
“Charlestowne Hotels stands out for their longstanding experience in the lifestyle boutique hotel space, driven by an unrivaled dedication to authenticity and an astute focus on developing properties with a strong brand identity,” says David Tart, managing partner of Encore Lodging. “Navigating the complex intricacies of adaptive reuse properties, Charlestowne utilizes a curated, hands-on management approach for each individual hotel that captures the destination’s story, preserving and enhancing the visitor experience.”
With the management of these five new hotel properties, Charlestowne Hotels plays a major role in the growth of adaptive reuse lodging developments across the country. With each opening, the team aims to provide discerning travelers with a greater range of unexpected, exceptional and experiential accommodation options that also meet the desire for immersive, localized travel.
Current adaptive reuse properties in development include:
The Collector Luxury Inn & Gardens (Opened March 1, 2017): The first luxury accommodation of its kind in St. Augustine, FL, The Collector Luxury Inn & Gardens comprises an entire block on the edge of Old Town and features a set of nine buildings repurposed from historic homes dating back to 1790, including seven guest houses, The Well Bar and General Story lobby building – each with museum-quality décor from the Dow collection of antiques on display. Complimentary guest programming includes historic tours of the grounds three times a week, a mixology program, and bicycles for city exploration.
Fairlane Hotel (Opening Fall 2017): Located in the hub of downtown Nashville, TN, the Fairlane Hotel will open as an 82-room boutique property repurposed from a midcentury bank building. Boasting original modernist architecture and design details harking back to the 1960s and 70s, the Fairlane will include an all-American restaurant and bar, lobby café, and two rooftop penthouses with outdoor terrace space for unmatched views of Music City.
The Bristol Hotel (Opening Spring 2018): Transformed from the notable Executive Plaza which dates back to 1925 in downtown Bristol, VA, the eight-story, 65-room boutique Bristol Hotel will revitalize the city center as a new destination point, offering direct access to the city’s most prominent landmarks such as the adjacent Birthplace of Country Music Museum.
Hotel Clermont (Opening Winter 2017): Set in one of Atlanta’s most dynamic and colorful midtown sections known as Poncey Highlands, Hotel Clermont will open as a 94-room boutique hotel with a rich and fascinating history. Originally built in the 1920s, the famous Clermont Lounge will continue to be a tenant, while new hotel updates will include the introduction of a restaurant featuring French-American fare, an intimate lobby bar and rooftop garden bar overlooking the Atlanta skyline.
The Foundry Hotel (Opening Spring 2018): A historic restoration of the former steel foundry which transformed Asheville, North Carolina into the epicenter of Southern Appalachia, The Foundry Hotel will combine three historic buildings to create a stunning 92-room boutique hotel and restaurant in the heart of the city. A notable highlight, much of the steel produced from the original foundry was used to construct George Washington Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate – the largest residence built in the U.S. Paying homage to these historic ties, the new hotel property will include a number of local artifacts and design elements that retain the building’s original character.
