6-story Hilton Head hotel, rooftop bar opens in fall. Here’s how it’ll look inside

A six-story Courtyard by Marriott hotel with a rooftop pool and bar is coming to Hilton Head’s Coligny Beach area, but the developer said the opening date has been pushed back.

Originally intended to open in mid-September, the 115-room hotel’s open date is now going to be around Oct. 5, according John Lee, the senior vice president of Southeastern Development Associates.

“It’s going to really look nice,” Lee said, adding that the development firm hopes to have the hotel open before Oct. 5.

The concrete shell of the hotel off Pope Avenue will be on display for visitors to RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing next week.

A pedestrian path is also set to be installed in the area to help move residents and visitors down Pope Avenue safely, Lee said.

The hotel’s construction comes after a 2014 rewrite of zoning rules, which had restricted the construction of new hotels in the Coligny area, according to previous Island Packet reporting.

The Board of Zoning Appeals approved a plan in 2015 that allowed the hotel to stand taller than most buildings because it is farther off Pope Avenue, according to the meeting minutes.

Southeastern Development Associates is also giving Heritage Plaza a facelift. Lee said in November that the exterior of the retail center will not exactly match the hotel, but “it will all fit together” as a cohesive development.

“It will totally change the feel for that area,” Lee said.

Some nearby residents were hesitant about the hotel’s construction when the board approved it in 2015.

Jay Owen, a member of the board of directors of Coligny Villas who appeared before the Board of Zoning Appeals in 2015, said in November his community was still worried about the development and a tall, noisy rooftop bar.

“We expressed our concerns at that point, and the board decided to allow the developer to go ahead,” Owen said. “Naturally we still have that concern, and it seemed to fall on deaf ears.”

Last week, an application to re-zone the Hilton Head Christian Academy site to build 55-foot apartments was withdrawn after neighbors and council members criticized the height of the buildings and the perceived lack of workforce housing.

This hotel has been approved to be 65 feet tall, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet.

Katherine Kokal

The Island Packet

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Katherine Kokal graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and joined The Island Packet newsroom in 2018. Before moving to the Lowcountry, she worked as an interviewer and translator at a nonprofit in Barcelona and at two NPR member stations. At The Island Packet, Katherine covers Hilton Head Island’s government, environment, development, beaches and the all-important Loggerhead Sea Turtle. She has earned South Carolina Press Association Awards for in-depth reporting, government beat reporting, business beat reporting, growth and development reporting, food writing and for her use of social media.