DC4MS

City, vacation club reach settlement

The Post and Courier - Charleston.net

Charleston, SC Latest Local News: City, vacation club reach settlement

Friday, April 25, 2008

The city of Charleston and a vacation club operating at 47 Smith St. have agreed to settle a court fight over whether city zoning rules prohibit such a business in a residential area.

Members of vacation clubs pay up-front fees and annual dues in exchange for up to 50 nights a year in club properties located around the U.S. The city said residential zoning rules didn't allow such a business at the Smith Street address, and a court fight ensued, with the city's zoning decision being upheld in Circuit Court.

With an appeal by Private Escapes LLC pending in the S.C. Court of Appeals, a settlement has been reached, according to the city, in which the club will stop offering accommodations at the Smith Street location by June 2 and the city will dismiss pending fines for zoning violations.

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This 4,770 square feet property is the Private Escapes Pinnacle antebellum mansion is a masterpiece, mixing both history and modern amenities.

Built in 1845, it has been fully restored with 4 luxuriously appointed bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 2 powder rooms, a formal dining room with an opulent chandelier, living room, billiards room, and a large kitchen. From the two stories of wrap–around porch you can look out over Charleston’s charming historic district. Traverse the three stories by the magnificently constructed staircase.

The Clubs - Destinations

TarheelTraveler

That's an amazing, unique house, and no other club to my knowledge has a similar property. I wonder what PE will replace the house with.

If I remember correctly based on past articles, the house is in a more residential area instead of where most of the B&Bs and inns are. I suspect we'll see more and more of these types of disputes as DCs grow in popularity, and DCs will use more and more enclaves or "DC-friendly" resort communities. What I don't understand is why DCs are sometimes frowned upon, when most places allow you to rent to complete strangers. Seems like DCs would be more likely to keep the house in good condition with professional management, and while I'm generalizing, you'd have more wealthy travelers who probably spend more money in your town or resort.

Kagehitokiri

definitely unfortunate for members.

isnt solstice's florence property also historic?

TarheelTraveler, dont rental restrictions ignore rates? residents seem concerned with turnover, and some hotel residences have 1 year minimum leases possibly for the same reason, but i would presume the hotels mainly dont want people making huge rental profits.

for example >
Villazzo.com Miami Disclaimer
one of their properties rents for $399K/month. (with the 6 month minimum)

Desties

It's a shame, but not unexpected as the club wasn't taking any bookings for the home for stays after June 2nd.

The hardest part is having to sell a house that was painstakingly updated to PE specs in a market that is unlikely pay the same prices as when the home was acquired a year ago.

I'm not sure if the plan is to replace the home or to wait post-merger since PE Pinnacle will be growing its property count substantially at that point, but as a home it surely will be missed.

DC4MS

Just to clarify, this is not a fault of Private Escapes as it is obvious discrimination of a city against a Destination Club.

It would be nice to see the DCA get involved and have some ability to lobby against these rules as Destination Clubs can offer tremendous opportunities to locations such as bringing in a wealthy clientèle to support local businesses.

Private Escapes does indeed own the home (personal call to PE today) and has not decided what they are going to do with the home yet.

LTTravel

Maybe if they convert it to a homeless shelter the city of Charleston will reconsider allowed the DC to use the home.

NeilGoBlue

Unfortunately, that is legal discrimination.

Kagehitokiri

municipal governments, HOAs, and COOPs can do whatever they want, cant they?

TarheelTraveler

I forgot about that one Kag. That is a really great historically unique property as well.

If a development has a short-term rental restriction as well as a DC restriction, it doesn't bother me as much, because they are clearly concerned about turnover and they are applying their standards more uniformly. But there are developments that don't allow or try to keep out the DCs, but let people rent their houses on a daily or weekly basis which seems arbitrary and inconsistent.

It's my understanding, however, that some resort developments have gotten better about DCs, because they realize that the DC guests spend more money on average in the club restaurants and on the golf courses than the residents.

Kagehitokiri

what the heck? that does seem really odd to me... but it would still technically be allowed, right?

ITVHI

If the members of a DC are equity members, would they be considered "owners" such that they would not be subject to short term rental restrictions? Is fractional ownership also prohibited? Maybe PE can carve out a sub-group of equity owners for the Charleston property and operate it on an "ownership" basis.

vineyarder

Since the zoning law was put into effect after the home was already owned by PE and being used as a DC, if they were to do this, the city would just change the zoning law to prohibit this as well.. Our development recently passed a bylaws change to forbid DC's, and it included language that would prevent an equity DC from getting around the rule via 'shared ownership'...

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Living in a vacuum sucks!

Kagehitokiri

welcome to the forum ITVHI.

vineyarder, does your community allow leasing? whats the minimum length?

vineyarder

It allows up to three leases per year, with a minimum term of one month, so you could do 3 one-month leases, or 2 6-month leases, or 1 12 month lease, etc., but the maximum number of tenants per year is 3. Then there are additional residency restrictions to prevent 'shared ownership' models with higher turnover... i.e. a destination club.

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Living in a vacuum sucks!

Kagehitokiri

gotcha, that seems fairly reasonable IMHO.

TarheelTraveler

That is interesting vineyarder that your development took that step. I know that the equity DCs sometimes have that advantage depending on the community, because of the shared ownership (essentially a partnership or LLC with lots of owners). In my view, if a community allows unlimited rentals, it should also allow DCs.