Magnolia Lofts (Spartan Hotel Renovation)

[tdreamweaver]

Not sure if anyone has heard about this...

But I've always been a bit obsessed with the old Spartan Hotel (originally the Oregon) on Magnolia Street. It was built by and is still owned by the Oakman (Oakman Glass) family. I've always wondered what would happen to it and wanted to go inside.

As I was heading down to the Farmers Market this past Saturday, I noticed the building was open. I had to stop. I asked the lady on the sidewalk what they were doing. They were having a sale (it was advertised in the paper and I missed it). She said 'everything's gotta go. We're getting ready to renovate this building."

She took me inside and gave me a tour of the downstairs. Couldn't go upstairs yet because the fire marshal had not approved that yet. I met Mr. CT Oakman. The building's owner. They explained they were planning to put 10 condos in the building. He said he wanted to keep them in the $185-225k range--not $400k! "this is Spartanburg not NY City," he explained.

They said their goal is 14-18 months. They were scheduled to start cleaning it out this past Monday and their goal is start renovations in January.

I really wish them the best. I'm guessing it will cost a small fortune!

[Spartan]

Fantastic news. I also like the old Spartan Hotel. Its the only historic hotel structure we have left (we used to have a dozen or so large hotels).

I hope they can do well with it, and I hope that end of downtown can get a little bit of life in it. Someone should reopen the Peidmont Steakhouse

[krazeeboi]

Good news on the old Spartan Hotel! That was a redevelopment project just waiting to happen. I, too, hope at least a restaurant comes to the ground floor.

[Spartan]

• old Spartan Hotel
  I ran out of time but I drove by here just in case I'm not able to get some better shots. People appeard to be working inside. No major progress on the exterior though.
  
  
  
  
  

[spartanburgh]

I passed the old Oregon Hotel on Magnolia St. today and was surprised to see how much work has been done. I think its going to be condo's or apartments on the top floors and maybe commercial on the bottom. The old structure at the back has been torn down and it already makes the main building look better. This is the last of Spartanburg's old hotels and its good to see it will be saved.

[Spartan]

Indeed. We used to have a lot more hotels- and they were much more grand that this one. Its a shame.

Good news about the Spartan Hotel though! The folks who are renovating it posted on this site a long time ago and said they were turing it into condos I think. Its defintely going to be residential. I would assume shops on the bottom (would make sense).

I'd like to see something happen with Magnolia St. It needs a reod diet for starters, then wider sidewalks and street trees. Then the lawyers between Magnolia and Church need to consolidate into one larger building or at least make way for some restaurants, bars, and retail shops on that row. They will also need to take out some of those ugly brick house looking buildings.

[westsider28]

Renovations of the Spartan Hotel on Magnolia Street are progressing. There will be 27 studio and one bedroom apartments in the 17,000 square foot building (to be called Magnolia Lofts). It should be ready for occupants by January 2013.

Herald-Journal article

I'm amazed they can fit 27 apartments in there.

[Spartan]

^Well, they are old hotel rooms, so I'm not that surprised there are 27 of them. I'm guessing most of them will be studios though. That is very exciting. What a great use for that building, and what a great way to reuse a hotel that served the train station. They don't mention what will become of the ground floor. I hope they can still get a small shop of some sort in there.

It's interesting that the developers said VCOM's campus was the impetus for completing this project. Do people not see Wofford students as a market? It's only 1 block further away.

[drexel]

^Well, they are old hotel rooms, so I'm not that surprised there are 27 of them. I'm guessing most of them will be studios though. That is very exciting. What a great use for that building, and what a great way to reuse a hotel that served the train station. They don't mention what will become of the ground floor. I hope they can still get a small shop of some sort in there.

It's interesting that the developers said VCOM's campus was the impetus for completing this project. Do people not see Wofford students as a market? It's only 1 block further away.

Most Wofford students live on campus, especially now that they have the senior village. Although, I do know some studenst that live off campus. Usually because they have a pet, play in a band, own a boat, etc. Very excited about the lofts!

[westsider28]

So, I was walking down E Main when I noticed a sign about the Magnolia Lofts next to a Longleaf Development sign in the window of the old Aug. W Smith building. There was a floor plan for the lofts, which should be completed in Winter/Spring 2013. Here are 2 pictures:

Edit: So I was thinking about this a bit more. As you can see, there are 27 apartments planned, and the 2nd & 3rd floor plans have 9 apartments each. This means the ground floor must also have nine. My question is: why would they make ground-floor apartments in an urban setting at all, and who would want one?

[Spartan]

I combined these posts into a new thread.

My suspicion is that they had to go all-residential to get financing. I've heard that it's very difficult to get financing for mixed-use (residential/retail) projects these days. Less so for mixed office/retail.

[westsider28]

Well, look what I found:

http://www.magnolialoftssc.com/

I Googled it a few months ago, and the website didn't exist then. Not much new information, but there are floor plans for all 3 floors (those units on the first floor by the street are...interesting). Good to see something, at least.

[Spartan]

It's interesting that they aren't putting in retail in those two spaces on the sidewalk. I dont know how well it would survive but I know I wouldn't want to live in either of those two units.

[westsider28]

The Magnolia Lofts are coming along quite well.  With an interior renovation project like this, the signs of progress are less obvious.  But it looks like they'll be finished pretty soon.  You can see that cabinets and ceiling fans are already being installed, and the parking lot is curbed and about to be paved.  Here are some photos from Sunday:

 

[westsider28]

The Magnolia Lofts are set to open April 15.  More than 20 residents are on a waiting list.  Rents start at $800 and go up to $1,150 for 450 to 750 sq ft apartments, respectively.

 

Herald-Journal article

Photo gallery of model apt

 

Those rents seem a bit steep for Spartanburg.  That says to me that we still don't have enough urban apartments to satisfy demand.

[Spartan]

I'm still pretty bullish on residential in downtown Spartanburg - especially rental units. The downtown condo market might not be there yet, but Spartanburg has had nearly 100% occupancy for downtown rentals for years. It seems like such a no brainer that a historic building would have a lot of appeal. The other thing to factor in here is that they are marketing themselves to college students. That is a largely untapped market in Spartanburg.

 

I agree that the rents seem a little high, but the article says that there are 20 people on a waiting list.

 

They also posted some new pictures of the interior on their website: http://www.magnolialoftssc.com

[Jael]

Not loving those kitchen cabinets, but the rest looks nice.