Charleston Boutique Hotels Renovate and Rebrand

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

The Vendue Inn, a boutique hotel located in Charleston’s historic French Quarter near the city’s iconic waterfront, has announced the kick-off of a $4.8 million renovation and restructuring project. Announced in October, the work will continue through March 2014 and will merge the 66-key The Vendue Inn with the adjacent 19-key Anchorage Inn, which was purchased by Avocet Hospitality Group in August. The Charleston-based full-service hospitality management company also owns The Vendue Inn.

The project will essentially create two new properties—19 Vendue and 26 Vendue—which upon completion, will be collectively marketed as The Vendue. The properties will be operated as separate hotels.

19 Vendue will consist of 45 of The Vendue Inn’s current 66 rooms. The 45 rooms are included in the inn’s main building, on Vendue Street’s south side.

Renovations at 19 Vendue will include new bathrooms, flooring and furnishings, as well as extensive metal canopy awnings on the building’s exteriors. The inn’s remaining 21 rooms, housed in a separate building on the  street’s north side will be merged with the adjacent 19-key Anchorage Inn to create 26 Vendue.

Layouts of both properties will be reworked to feature more open plans.  The Library, 19 Vendue’s popular restaurant, is also set for redevelopment and will be replaced by a yet unnamed larger establishment that will feature a full bar and additional restaurant seating. The Rooftop Bar, also a popular attraction, will have its bar replaced, lighting, bathrooms and elevator overhauled, and have additional enclosures installed as protection against unfavorable weather conditions.

Both assets were initially built as warehouses – Anchorage Inn was built in 1840 and initially served as a cotton warehouse, while the Vendue Inn consisted of five warehouses combined into two separate structures, when Avocet purchased it in 2012.

Charleston companies LS3P and Hill Construction will manage the project. 26 Vendue will remain open throughout the renovation, but19 Vendue will close.

Avocet Hospitality Group also operates the 132-key Tides Folly Beach luxury hotel in Folly Beach, SC, 175 upscale vacations homes in Folly Beach through Avocet Properties as well as almost 200 properties through St. Barth Exclusives, a high-end vacation rental company in St. Barthelemy, French West Indies.

Photo courtesy of The Vendue via Facebook