The company behind Charleston's Lowline Hotel has quietly expanded its footprint on Upper King Street, picking up four commercial buildings that front the hotel for $19.5 million. The deal adds to an already sizable bet on the stretch of King Street between Spring and Cannon streets, where the Alabama-based owner reopened a fully rebranded hotel earlier this year.
A New Slice of King Street Changes Hands
According to county land records cited by The Post and Courier, a Highline Hospitality Partners affiliate acquired the four buildings in 2025 from Asana Partners. The properties sit at 550 to 570 King Street, just south of Spring Street, and are leased to several bars and other tenants, including Felix Cocktails et Cuisine, Lamar's Sporting Club and Bourbon N' Bubbles. For now, the report notes, Highline has no immediate plans for the properties, though the company said it would consider a larger project if the right opportunity came along.
Highline has said its intention is to be a good landlord and steward of the buildings. Chuck Pomerantz, speaking to the outlet, put it simply: King Street real estate is never a bad investment. The remark echoes the company's broader approach since it first moved onto the block two years earlier with a much larger purchase.
Building on a Hotel Already Reshaping the Block
The new storefront purchase follows Highline's 2024 acquisition of the 113-unit Hyatt House and the adjoining 191-room Hyatt Place near King and Spring streets, a deal the company closed for $113 million, per the same Post and Courier account. That transaction ranked among the priciest commercial real estate deals in the Charleston region that year. Other reporting on the sale has varied slightly on the final number: Traded put the price at $113.1 million, or $372,039 per room, while the seller, Union Investment, told the Post and Courier it had owned the Hyatt properties since 2018 and originally paid $121 million for them.
That hotel purchase set up what became the Lowline Hotel, a 197-key property that underwent a complete renovation and rebranding of the former Hyatt Place Charleston Historic District, according to Hotel Dive. Hyatt and Highline opened the hotel in downtown Charleston on July 15, welcoming its first guests over the summer. Highline has said it saw an opportunity for a lifestyle boutique hotel rooted in the community when it took on the project.
Grand Opening Capped a Rebuild With Rising Reviews
The Lowline held a grand opening ceremony on November 4, celebrating its first months since the rebrand and spotlighting its food and beverage lineup. That lineup includes Leeward Restaurant and Patio, serving Lowcountry-inspired dishes; The Long Game golf simulator lounge; a rooftop Pour Taproom; and Spirited Coffee & Provisions, described by the Post and Courier's reporting on the property as a market-style café. The hotel also includes an indoor pool and nearly 8,000 square feet of event space.
Pomerantz said the hotel has its own personality and reflects the character of the space it occupies. The property hired about 100 employees and prioritized service training, including a month of mock service before welcoming its first guests. Ed Brogan said the hotel hired more for attitude than experience, and that its approach was upscale but not uptight. One month after opening, the hotel was already exceeding expectations within Hyatt's JDV by Hyatt collection, per Brogan — the Lowline is one of the first hotels in the Southeast to join JDV, Hyatt's independent lifestyle brand. The property has also climbed from No. 68 to No. 8 on Tripadvisor, and Avion Hospitality manages day-to-day operations.
A Market Riding High Rates and Rising Deal Flow
The Lowline's ownership group has said it plans to help sponsor the city's Lowcountry Lowline project, a planned linear park and multiuse trail running about two miles along the peninsula. The investment lands as Charleston's hotel market posts some of its strongest numbers in years. Colliers reported market occupancy averaging 80.30 percent in the second quarter of 2026, with Upper Upscale and Luxury average daily rates surpassing $400 for the first time on record.
The strong hotel-market numbers provide a backdrop for Highline's purchase of the storefronts fronting its own hotel, which looks less like a one-off and more like a company settling in for the long haul on one of King Street's busiest blocks.
