In May, 2008, The Congress for the New Urbanism announced the recipients of its 2008 Charter Awards, the annual prize honoring the best of the New Urbanism.

About the "Vision," it was said: "One project envisions how prominent building renovations can bring grace and coherence to a blighted square, in the process showing historic preservation officials how to incorporate high-quality classicism in historic districts."

For the full details of the Award and award recipient press release, click here.

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The Post & Courier reported in December, 2008:

Lawsuits delaying Marion Square hotel

By Robert Behre(Contact)
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The lawsuits continue to swirl around a 10-story hotel planned for Marion Square, but the developer said construction could begin as the legal clouds part, possibly in a year or two.

"Is the economy hurting it? That's not the reason I can't build the hotel today," developer Michael Bennett of the Bennett-Hofford Co. said.

"The reason I can't build the hotel today is because we're still working through these lawsuit issues."

The most recent lawsuit, filed by project architect Goff-D'Antonio Associates, claims that Library Associates and the Bennett-Hofford Co. have failed to pay it $371,072 in fees for its work.

Bennett said Goff-D'Antonio is still the project architect "and will continue to be. I would describe that as a good faith dispute that we're working with them. That won't have any bearing on the project."

Still, it marked the third civil suit for the project, which has spent more than five years on the drawing board.

Earlier this fall, the S.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the city did not err when it renewed a special zoning exception that allowed a hotel on the site, currently home to the former county library.

The Historic Charleston Foundation and the Preservation Society, which brought the lawsuit, hope that the S.C. Supreme Court will hear the case on appeal.

Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit regarding how the city approved the height could be heard before a circuit judge next month.

Charleston's Board of Zoning Appeals granted a height variance for the project; and when preservation groups protested that ruling, the City Council amended its height ordinance, a move that preservation groups contend is illegal spot zoning.

"It was not part of a grander zoning plan," Trenholm Walker, attorney for the Preservation Society, said. "It was simply to do a favor to that particular property owner."

Attorneys for the city and the developer maintain the height issue was handled properly and within the law.

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