LEXINGTON, S.C. — A hotel in Lexington could be on the way, but developers have some extra hoops to jump through before construction can begin.
Farrah Schildkencht is the owner of Ohara's Public House on Main Street in Lexington. She says she's been following updates about a potential hotel across the street for months. According to the developer's proposal, the hotel would have 111 guest rooms, a bistro, a lounge, and a second-floor event venue.
"We love the fact that it will bring more people to our businesses on Main Street, our wonderful businesses," Schildkencht adds, "We've been looking for it for some time. We think it'll be a great addition to Main Street."
The idea is gaining some support from other businesses in Lexington.
Cassie Wing is the owner of Wretched Collections, which sits right next to the lot where the hotel would go.
"That field has been empty for so long, something needs to go there, and a more upscale hotel would be good for Lexington because it has grown in population astronomically in the past like 15-20 years," she says.
According to the Town of Lexington, the development did hit a snag in the meeting after the request was not approved, and the board gave notes to the developer.
In a statement to News19, the town said, "The developer and architect were given direction by the Board of Appearance and it’s incumbent upon them to make changes accordingly. This is just the first step in a series of processes that will occur.” we're also told the developers, who do own the property, will work with Lexington county officials before bringing the project in front of the town council.
Wing's main concern is parking and traffic, telling News19, "If they could build, maybe even just a two or three-story parking garage of something behind the hotel, that would help a lot and let it be pay to park public access, that sort of thing."
Schildkencht agrees, saying she'd be a big fan of additional public parking in Lexington.
"Parking is an issue but hopefully they will get that worked out, with the parking garage, if they had public parking that would be a super bonus absolutely," she says.
We reached out to the developers but did not receive an answer before this story aired.
We haven't been given a timeline for when the project would be brought up to the board or town council again.