Walking into the lobby of Hilton Head Island's Best Western Ocean Breeze Inn, you'd never know that just three and a half years ago, the property was close to being condemned.
Today, it's a stylishly modern and welcoming space where columns of stacked natural stone punctuate an open and airy space boasting a bank of high-top tables and quieter conversation nooks.
In 2013, you'd be far more likely to find ceiling tiles hanging by a thread, crumpled beer cans strewn about and the telltale signs of vagrants squatting among the former guest rooms.
"We look for properties that need a lot of work or that we can reposition and rebrand," said Sam Johal, owner of the property along with his cousin Hari Johal.
"Sometimes it feels like that 'Hotel Impossible' Show; especially this property."
Abandoned in 2008, the property had been at turns a Sheraton, Best Western and a Radisson before serving as the annex to South Forest Beach's Metropolitan hotel (which the Johals now own as well). The difference between the blighted husk and the fetchingly modern boutique property that exists today could not be starker.
Working night and day, Sam and his wife Sandy completely gutted the old Metropolitan Hotel Annex, taking the interior "down to the concrete" and completely rebuilding the port o cochere out front, which was close to collapse.
The 63 guest rooms at the Best Western Ocean Breeze Inn boast a designer blend of modern colors and materials, offering up amenities like 48-inch TVs, high-speed fiber optic Internet and quartz counters on the 14 rooms offering a kitchenette. Just beyond the doors of the lobby, crews were preparing what will become a covered outdoor swimming pool.
Part of those renovations may include something that is shockingly hard to find on Hilton Head Island, a rooftop bar with a view of the ocean.
"All the other cities like Savannah, Charleston, they all have rooftop bars, so we're excited about that," said Johal.
This promises to be one of the island's most exciting new properties and will serve as a signature statement that the wave of renovation and refreshment sweeping Hilton Head Island has finally arrived in South Forest Beach.
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