Roper eyes Charleston’s hospital district for hotel

Roper Hospital wants to build a limited-service hotel of up to 150 rooms on Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston across from the hospital.

The proposed hotel would “primarily serve patients, their families and health care professionals in the medical district,” according to Roper’s application to the City of Charleston Planning Commission.

That district includes Roper Hospital, Medical University Hospital, Hollings Cancer Center and Ralph A. Johnson VA Medical Center. Several other hotels are located nearby along Lockwood Boulevard and the Septima P. Clark Parkway.

Roper will ask the commission at a 5 p.m. public meeting Feb. 20 to include the 1.07-acre site in the city’s accommodations district. It’s now zoned for limited-business use. The property is used for offices and storage, and houses about 50 office workers, according to Roper St. Francis Healthcare spokeswoman Kim Keelor.

“The buildings under consideration for rezoning have largely outlived their use and the system is exploring ways to repurpose them,” Keelor said.

The proposed six-story hotel would sit on the corner of Calhoun and Fourth streets on the existing site of a one-story, red-brick building that houses some of Roper’s administrative offices and a four-story building that houses other offices for Roper. Hospital spokeswomen did not say where the offices would relocate if the hotel is built.

Plans submitted to the city call for four small retail units of about 1,000 square feet or less each on the ground floor facing Calhoun Street and a large parking deck behind the hotel.

The proposed hotel abuts the Harleston Village neighborhood between Calhoun and Broad streets.

“We will not oppose the hotel,” said Yvonne Evans, the neighborhood association’s liaison to City Council.

The group has some concerns about the parking garage backing up to a small lake, but Evans said in a meeting with those planning the hotel that they were told it was a work in progress. “They are staying very close in touch with us,” Evans said. “We are taking it one step at a time.”

Editor’s note: In an earlier version the public meeting date was noted incorrectly.