DEVELOPMENT |
|||||
|
developing and operating branded hotels and believe strongly in the value these brands bring,” he said.“ But, every once in a while, a project comes along that’ s different.”
The Lantern was one such— a project that couldn’ t be corralled by stringent brand standards.“ Maintaining the flexibility to tell our own story, design our own guest experience and build our culture was more valuable than fitting into an existing brand framework,” Tart continued. The Lantern is part of a newly established vertical within Raines called Woven, which specializes in the development and management of soft branded and independent properties. The Lantern is the first and will soon be joined by The Lantern Rock Hill, about an hour north of Columbia, which is already under development.
The Lantern Columbia’ s architecture was headed by Garvin Design Group with construction by Mashburn Construction. The design brief was clear: honor the building’ s legacy as a firehouse while introducing modern, boutique luxury. Adaptive reuse projects can be tricky and The Lantern was no exception. Programmatically, adapting into a hotel provided many challenges throughout design and construction, Tart said.“ One of the biggest is maintaining the authenticity of the structure and not producing something that feels manufactured or overly renovated.”
|
Beyond the trappings of the lobby of The Lantern are imagery of the hotel’ s past and location. A photograph, here, pays homage to firemen of the past, while an illustration, below, depicts the convergence of Columbia’ s three rivers.
There are inevitably surprises when redeveloping a prior, older structure.“ Once walls are opened, you often discover structural conditions, utilities or simply some construction methods not documented,” Tart said.“ The reality is these
|
types of projects can’ t be replicated, and this is what can truly differentiate the guest experience.”
Beyond the building’ s bones sits something even more important: those delivering the differentiated guest experience
|
David Tart, managing partner, Raines |
||
14 hotelsmag. com September 2026 |