Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport Hotel Plans Revived After COVID Delay
A year after COVID-19 put projects on hold, Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport has revived plans for construction of a "first-class" on-site hotel.
The GSP Airport District staff is accepting proposals from hotel developers through March 26. A pre-proposal conference with several potential companies was held Feb. 24.
"We think this will be a great project not only for the airport but the entire region," said Scott Carr, vice president of commercial business and communications at GSP.
Carr said he hopes to have all proposals ranked for the Airport Commission to review at its May 18 meeting. The commission governs the Airport District, which oversees 220 full-time employees.
He said details such as total cost and construction timeline won't be known until the proposals are received.
Carr said business travelers have long asked why GSP doesn't have an on-site hotel like other airports of similar size. For example, the airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, has a full-service Hilton and Huntsville, Alabama, has a Four Points by Sheraton hotel on-site, he said.
Carr acknowledged there are several hotels in the Upstate that accommodate air travelers. But business travelers, who make up 60 to 65% of all passenger air traffic at GSP, said they wanted a hotel on-site.
"It all comes down to a matter of convenience," he said.
in November 2019, airport officials met with eight hotel developers that expressed interest in the project. Plans were underway to send out requests for proposals, Carr said.
The airport had just experienced a record year of air traffic with more than 2.6 million passengers flying in or out of GSP, and officials anticipated continued growth in the years ahead.
But then in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, causing a huge drop in passenger air travel and forcing officials to delay the hotel project.
Also delayed was the $2.3 million construction of Parking Garage C and rental car garage next to the terminal building. The garage will offer 750 new parking spaces and 750 return-rental car spaces.
On Feb. 1, the Airport District issued the request for proposals "to develop and manage a full-service hotel with a national hotel franchise brand that is commonly recognizable to business travelers."
The hotel will be built on a 42,500-square-foot lot at the terminal building, between Concourse B and Parking Garage B.
According to the request for proposals, the Airport District is seeking a developer "that will be successful in creating an aesthetically attractive and pleasing full-service hotel ... that is fully compatible with the airport's first-class aesthetic standards."
Carr said GSP was recently recognized as the "Best Small Airport in North America" by customers in 2020, according to the Airports Council International, a worldwide industry association for airports.
"We have asked developers in their proposals to give us unique amenities, such as a rooftop bar and pool," Carr said.
The hotel may be up to four stories tall, and include a conference and meeting space, a lounge and swimming pool, a business center, restaurant with bar and lounge, exercise room and landscaping that blends in with the current landscaping at the airport.
Plans will be subject to Federal Aviation Administration review and approval.
At the GSP Airport Commission meeting earlier this month, GSP International President/CEO Dave Edwards said passenger travel was still down in January, a 65% decrease over the same month in 2020.
"Currently in the schedules, GSP flights are down 56.1% and seats are down at 49.9%," Edwards said. "However, with updates to the schedules that will occur closer to the beginning of April, it is believed that such numbers shall improve."
Contact Bob Montgomery at [email protected]
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