Reports: Greenville’s Westin Poinsett Hotel Sold

Highline Hospitality Partners has acquired the Westin Poinsett on Main Street in Greenville, South Carolina, according to several published reports.

The transaction marks Highline’s 19th hotel acquisition and its third acquisition this year, after having acquired the Pittsburgh Marriott North in February and the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center earlier in March, according to Hospitality Net, a B2B digital platform and industry trade publication. 

Constructed in 1925 and included on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the Historic Hotels of America registry, the AAA Four Diamond, 11-story hotel contains 200  guestrooms, a full-service restaurant and lobby bar, street-fronting coffee shop, and nearly 10,000 SF of meeting space including two 3,200 SF art-deco inspired grand ballrooms, Hospitality Net said.

 It said that with this acquisition, Highline Hospitality now oversees a portfolio of 19 hotels comprising over 5,200 guestrooms and more than $1.6 billion in hospitality assets under management. In addition, the firm provides third-party asset management services for four additional hotels on behalf of an institutional ownership group, bringing the total number of hospitality properties overseen by Highline to 23.

Highline has engaged HEI Hotels & Resorts to manage the hotel, marking the second strategic partnership between the two firms, according to Hospitality Net.

According to Historic Hotels of America, the hotel changed ownership numerous times throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with one owner even operating the building as a retirement home for a few years.

In 1982, according to city officials, then-owners Westin Poinsett worked to get The Poinsett listed on the National Register of Historic Places, citing its preserved architecture and unique history. It wasn’t enough to keep the building open, however, and The Poinsett closed in 1987.

It was considered one of the 11 most endangered historical sites in all of South Carolina, according to Historic Hotels of America, which also said it remained empty until November 1997, when P. Steven Dopp and Greg Lenox — already the owners of the historic Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina — purchased the site and began an extensive renovation process.

The group spent three years renovating the hotel. Along with those efforts came a public-private partnership to build the 860-space, city-owned Poinsett parking garage behind the hotel. The city also made use of the skilled architects working on the hotel to revitalize Courthouse Square with inlaid brick and fountains.

Neither Highline officials nor Westin Poinsett officials could be reached for comment.