More hotel rooms, fitness center planned in downtown Beaufort. Here’s what’s coming
A development group with a broad hospitality foothold in downtown Beaufort is moving forward with plans for another hotel building.
The boutique-style hotel on Port Republic Street would include 12-15 rooms with leased space on the ground floor for a fitness or wellness center, said Dick Stewart, with 303 Associates. The real estate company owns the Beaufort Inn, which would neighbor the new building.
Work could begin in the first half of next year, Stewart said.
The three-story building on Port Republic would include 3,668 square feet on each floor, according to plans submitted to the city’s Historic District Review Board. The board previously approved plans for the building in 2008, and drawings with some changes had to come back for new approval.
As the economy has thrived and Beaufort has received regional and national recognition as a travel destination, dozens of new hotel rooms have been proposed downtown. Two more hotels are under construction on Boundary Street, even as local hotel operators face apparent increasing competition from the rise of short-term rentals.
The Beaufort Inn and 303 Associates have been actively expanding its overnight properties in a downtown area in the blocks just off Bay Street.
A full-service hotel planned as part of Beaufort Inn at the corner of Scott and Port Republic streets could break ground with demolition work as soon as next month, Stewart said. That will include 68 rooms, a restaurant, courtyard and pool.
A 12-room cottage with a courtyard on Craven Street was built in 2017 to complement the Beaufort Inn’s main historic building on Port Republic Street.
The inn’s affiliated properties also include Tabby Place, an event venue on Port Republic, along with nearby garden courtyards and a rooftop event space with views of downtown.
A proposed parking garage is still a possibility at the block bordered by Charles, Craven and West streets, and more parking is an expected need as more overnight rooms are built on vacant lots, Stewart said. The developer has also proposed tearing down a former BB&T Bank building on Port Republic to build meeting and event space for large groups and conferences.
