The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island

Luxury Hotel Will be Latest Addition to South Carolina Resort

by Scott Judy

Owners and developers of hospitality projects are known for the lavish praise they heap upon their developments, often using terms like "unsurpassed elegance" and "unrivaled luxury."

Officials at Kiawah Resort Associates are going even further about their latest facility, the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island project near Charleston, S.C. In publicity information for the project they say, "The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island is the finest oceanfront hotel built on the East Coast in the past 20 years."

Prem Devadas, managing director with the owner, added, "We simply want The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island to be the best and will leave no stone unturned in reaching that goal." The Sanctuary will be the latest facility to be added to the existing Kiawah Island resort complex.

To that end, the resort recently entered into an advisory agreement with Horst Schulze, the former president and chief operating officer of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., and his new firm, West Paces Hotel Group.

"The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island is setting a benchmark not seen in the luxury travel market since the 1984 opening of the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Nigel in California," Schulze said.

Set along 10 mi. of beach, the 360,000-sq.-ft., four-story Sanctuary will include 255 guest rooms, a spa, 18,000 sq. ft. of meeting and conference space and three oceanfront pools. According to the owner, the guest rooms are among America's largest, starting at 520 sq. ft.

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Located about 20 mi. south of Charleston, the new resort's style reflects the region with the use of stone, stucco, wood, slate, ironwork and brick. Interior elements include elaborate millwork and a combination of polished marble, wood-planked floors and high-end carpeting. The facility's decor utilizes island designs reminiscent of the British West Indies, and Southern-style tapestries.

Leading the project is Skanska USA Building of Atlanta, which has an $82 million construction management contract. Project architects are Cooper Carry from Atlanta and Smith + McLane Architects of Richmond, Va. The interior designer is Hirsch Bedner Associates, Atlanta.

The project's final completion date is late March, with the Sanctuary's opening set for April.

Building Under Pressure

"It's going to be an incredible building when it's finished," said Ken Smith, project director for Skanska USA.

Getting to completion will be the trick, though. The facility's high-end details and unique elements, along with its sprawling, low-rise design, have added to the project's complexity.

"It's an extremely unique building," Smith added. "It's different than anything I've ever been involved with - or any of these (firms) have been involved with. A lot of the resorts of this quality and size are high-rise hotels, in more urban settings. Nothing that this team has been involved with has been quite like this."

The Sanctuary is being constructed with weathered finishes so it will appear historic upon its completion. These touches required special care from the subs.

"There were some very high-end finishes that a lot of people hadn't done before," Smith said. "The stucco on the exterior of the building is what they call a modeled finish and is made to look like it's been in Charleston for 100 years. That's something that's hard to achieve in a new building.

"It wasn't just a bunch of blow-and-go stucco on the building," he continued. You had to have someone with an artist's eye to get it right. It wasn't just one color with one smooth finish. It had to look a certain way, and the architect wouldn't accept anything less than that."

Jollay/Atlanta Masonry of Avondale Estates, Ga., handled this work.

A significant amount of the interior wood finishes are also distressed and antiqued and required similar attention to detail. Mortensen Woodwork of Union City, Ga., installed these units, which were manufactured to achieve the antiqued look.

While "artisan-type" approaches may have been required at times, a modern pace has been essential. Skanska's contract commenced in mid-2002, with design documents still progressing and only about 18 months prior to the scheduled completion date.

"It's an extremely fast, extremely difficult schedule on a job that's such a high-quality, high-end project," Smith said. He added that the team got off to a quick start and topped-out the post-tensioned concrete structure in June, eight months after the first footings were poured in October 2002.

To help stay on schedule, Skanska USA phased the construction. The project's central plant was built first, followed by a one-by-one progression through the five wings to get each closed in and air-conditioned so the interior finishes could start.

Contractors would start on the next wing when the current one was at roughly 50 percent completion.

The project's low-rise nature limited the team's ability to gain construction efficiencies.

"That's part of what made this job more challenging than a typical high-rise hotel," Smith said. "There wasn't just three or four floors of public spaces and then 20 floors of cookie-cutter floor plates that were all the same. You couldn't just blow and go."

Another hurdle was getting enough workers to the project's remote site, and then scheduling materials deliveries.

"Even for Charleston this is in a remote location," Smith added. "There's a two-lane road that runs from here to Charleston, and it's a 45-minute drive. Getting manpower and material deliveries was a challenge."

As a result, subcontractors hail from across the region, including not only South Carolina but also Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The project's labor force peaked at roughly 600 workers and was at approximately 400 in December.

Just a few months out from the original completion date, the project remains on schedule.

Smith credited "a lot of diligence by the entire project team. You've got to work closely with the architects and engineers, the owner and all of the subcontractors throughout the project to make sure that minor changes or design changes or coordination-type things don't slow you down. We try to think proactively and think ahead, but sometimes you can't see everything.

"We're very proud of what we've been able to accomplish," he added, "especially considering the duration, the amount of work we've put in place in the short period of time and the things we've overcome to get here."

Project Team:

Owner: Kiawah Resort Associates, Kiawah Island, S.C.
Construction Manager: Skanska USA Building, Atlanta
Project Architects: Cooper Carry of Atlanta, and Smith + McClane of Richmond, Va.
Interior Designer: Hirsch Bedner Associates, Atlanta
Millwork Contractor: Mortensen Woodwork, Union City, Ga.
Masonry Contractor: Jollay/Atlanta Masonry, Avondale Estates, Ga.
Drywall Contractor: E.L. Thompson and Associates, Atlanta.
Concrete Contractor: Southern Pan Services, Atlanta.