ATLANTA? Buckhead America Corp. will enter the South Carolina market, thanks to a deal it just signed with Coastal Development Co., which will develop up to 14 of Buckhead?s Country Hearth Inns in the state over the next five years. Coastal Development, based in Charleston, SC, has developed properties for other national brands including Hampton Inn and Courtyard by Marriott. Douglas Collins, president/CEO of Buckhead America, said the first two properties will be in the Charleston area, one at the airport, and the other in the outlying suburbs. He expects construction to start within 45 days. ?Our Victorian bed-and-breakfast design will be well-suited to the South Carolina market,? said Collins, who is a former president of Days Inn. ?South Carolina has a strong lodging market,? he added. The two Charleston properties, and some others in the state, will be comprised of 60 rooms. Others will be built using the Country Hearth Inn Rural Gold 40-unit design prototype. Country Hearth?s Rural Gold strategy is to build in areas that have three or four steady employers, a college or county seat. During the week, properties tend to capture the business market, and on the weekends, the leisure traveler who may be attending a wedding or funeral or other function. While the Country Hearth properties?priced from $50 to $75 a night?are designed around the bed-and-breakfast theme, they have the amenities of a mid-range hotel without food and beverage service. The South Carolina expansion is just part of an overall growth plan Collins has for the six-year-old, publicly-held company. Buckhead earlier this year signed with International Hotel Management to develop up to 12 Country Hearth Inns in Alabama and Tennessee. Collins said he presently has master developers working on 100 Country Hearth Inns in South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kansas and Missouri. Buckhead launched its 45th Country Hearth Inn last month in Cedartown, GA. The 40-unit property is the second Rural Gold hotel opened under a multi-property development agreement with Cassland Corp. of East Point, GA, a closely held real estate holding company. Cassland has a third Rural Gold property under construction in Monroe, GA and two more sites located in Toccoa and Hazelhurst, GA. Internet Access To jump on the hotel technology bandwagon, new Country Hearth properties going up will have two phone outlets to let guests access the Internet with their own computers. Collins said that a frequent guest program started three months ago to help promote the Country Hearth brand is going well.
