New Holiday Inn coming to city
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on July 19, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Contractors have started working on the site where the new Holiday Inn will be located on Sunburst Drive.
mcaulder@newsargus.com
A new Holiday Inn Express is being built on Sunburst Drive next to Chili's restaurant.
The four-story hotel should be operational by next June, said construction superintendent R.B. Mixson of Palmetto Design Associates of West Columbia, S.C.
The hotel is being built a few hundred yards away from another Holiday Inn Express, which is changing brands later this year.
The new hotel going in will have stone siding on the first level and a brick and stucco combination on the upper levels.
On Monday, workers were preparing trenches dug into the site with a backhoe for concrete so that footings could begin being poured.
The trenches will have a network of reinforced steel bars running through them to strengthen the foundation of the building once they are filled in with concrete.
"My job here is to make sure we do everything like it says in these plans," Mixson said. "We will have inspectors watching everything to make sure it's right. They'll make sure the concrete is strong enough and the wiring is right."
Mixson said that there is nine months of electrical work to be done in the hotel and expects his workers to be finished in 10 months, leaving about a month to get the hotel up and running.
"It should be by June if the weather agrees," he said.
There is currently a Holiday Inn Express operating on Spence Avenue.
The current Holiday Inn Express will undergo renovations in the next few weeks to become a Best Western Plus. The change comes after the hotel owner, ZMC Hotels, did not renew its contract with InterContinental Hotels Group LLC, the corporate parent of Holiday Inn Express.
Leanne Joynes, vice president of sales and marketing with ZMC Hotels, said the renovations should be completed by December, making the full transition to a Best Western Plus.
"We looked and Best Western Plus was the best fit for our hotel," Ms. Joynes said. "Best Western Plus is an exciting new offering from Best Western. They are also the largest hotel franchise, so having access to that customer base is a real asset."