Three Boutique Hotels Set to Open in Aiken by 2027

Three boutique hotels will appear in Aiken by 2027. Two sit planned for downtown's center, while the third rests about a half-mile away. Developers will transform three old buildings into guest rooms, eateries, and drinking spots.

Work remains in early phases. Designers must finish blueprints. Officials need to grant approvals and permits. Financiers have to secure funding. Then construction crews can begin.

Rose Hill, an estate built in 1900, sprawls across a 4.35-acre city block. Vantage Realty Partners from Atlanta and Raines, a Florence-based hospitality management company, will handle development. The property joined the National Register of Historic Places back in 1974.

Plans show the main house's first floor becoming a restaurant, with several outbuildings converted into cottages providing up to 24 overnight guest spaces. Vantage Realty Partners founder Chris Carter expects doors to open in fall 2027. 

The Laureate will occupy the Farmers and Merchants Bank building at 167 Laurens St. S.W., which has stood on the northwest corner of Laurens Street and Park Avenue since 1889. Park Place Ventures bought the 22,000-square-foot building in 2023.

The Design Review Board approved plans in January to demolish a bank drive-thru and build a four-story, 80-room boutique facility on the parcel. Johnston said he hopes construction can begin by June 2026, with an opening tentatively scheduled in 2027.

Hotel Aiken represents the largest of the three projects. Oliver Hospitality will refurbish and redevelop the three-story, 127-year-old building at downtown's center on the southeast corners of Richland Avenue and Laurens Street. Ethan Orley, co-founder and managing partner of Oliver Hospitality, estimated that the final closing of the transaction will happen in late winter or early spring 2026.