Somebody threw a mattress off a balcony on Meeting Street last week.
Not a crime. Just demo day prep at the old Days Inn — crews clearing out 121 rooms worth of furniture before the wrecking equipment moved in. Doors, nightstands, mattresses. All of it sailing off the second floor into a dumpster below.
Charleston's most anticipated demolition officially kicked off February 19th. And honestly? It's been a long time coming.
From Golden Eagle to Eggshell Blue
This site has lived a lot of lives. It opened in 1968 as the Golden Eagle Motor Inn — $1.5 million to build, "colonial motifs," big excitement. Days Inn took over in 1983, spruced it up, and reopened it proudly offering rooms "in the mid $40s."
Then it changed hands. Then again. Eventually sold for $12.6 million. Then $40.5 million. The city briefly used it to shelter unhoused residents. Toast! ran a restaurant out of the ground floor until last year.
And then it just sat there. Faded eggshell blue. Quietly waiting.
Enter: Bill Gates
In late 2022, Bill Gates' personal holding company — Cascade Investment LLC — started quietly buying up properties around 155 Meeting. By the time the dust settled, they'd spent $57 million on real estate in the area. Cascade also owns Strategic Property Partners, the Tampa-based developer behind the project. Oh, and it's the controlling shareholder in the Four Seasons chain itself.
So. Bill Gates is building Charleston its first Four Seasons. That's the sentence we're living in now.
Brad Cooke of Strategic Property Partners previously told the Post & Courier the demolition would be "a pivotal moment in the realization" of turning the site into something worthy of the address.
Hard to argue.
What's Coming
When it opens — currently projected for 2029 — the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Charleston will include 139 guest rooms, 36 private residences, multiple restaurants, a spa, an outdoor pool, and 7,000 square feet of event space across three buildings up to eight stories tall.
The private residences start at $5 million. One to three bedrooms. 1,700 to 3,700 square feet.
South Carolina has never had a Four Seasons. That's about to change.
One More Thing
If you're heading downtown, plan accordingly. Horlbeck Alley is down to one lane. The Meeting Street sidewalk is closed. Construction traffic is routing off Market Street.
The city says disruptions should be minimal. But that horseshoe-shaped motel that's been a fixture on Meeting Street for over 50 years?
Horlbeck Alley is about to have a very different neighbor.
This is a summary of an article published in the Post & Courier. Click here if you'd like to read that article.
