Rendering of the interior of the convention center headquarters Hilton Hotel

Hotel developer Bo Aughtry says his firm’s convention center headquarters Hilton Hotel is following long–announced plans for the corner of Senate Street and Park Street. Groundbreaking should be in another few weeks. “Certainly before Thanksgiving but just as soon as the last two wrinkles get ironed out,” said Aughtry.

Greenville–based Aughtry and his architect Danny Bounds from Memphis have been through a few months of inflationary pressures and countless hours of redrawing and value engineering to keep the Hilton on track. In reinforced concrete costs alone, Aughtry saw his pricing go up in a recent 30–day time frame from $3 million to $3.6 million. Blame Katrina. Blame demands for new housing. Blame macro–economic forces.

Hilton Hotel developer Bo Aughtry and Hampton Inn manager Tony Tam with their backs to the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center Besides inflation looming, interest rates are threatening. Another 50 basis points in interest (.50 percent) hits Aughtry with an additional $135,000 in annual debt service payments. To start construction sooner than the next meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee is to stop the rise in both soft and hard costs.

At a projected room rate of $131 (plus parking), the Hilton is well within market limits, but it has to stay there. Across the street, Aughtry’s Hampton Inn on Gervais Street, one of the brand’s highest occupancies in the US, is filling up at around $120 a night, including parking. The Hampton Inn is managed by Tony Tam, another player in the planning of the headquarters Hilton.

One budgeted item doubled in cost. That was the interiors accommodation for Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the Hilton’s outsourced food vendor. Ruth’s Chris is a class act, especially in hotel food service circles. Ruth’s Chris has rising standards, and costs rise with the new interior upfit specifications. Kitchens cost anywhere, but here with Ruth’s Chris they really do cost.

Aughtry’s contractor, M. B. Kahn, is ready to sign the construction contract and get on to completion in short order. And the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center is clearly ready to send customers to their headquarters Hilton. In fact, the convention center, already open for a year, is only half built. The other half is the headquarters hotel.

Through it all Aughtry shares his optimism and anticipates quick construction, if only those last two wrinkles could decide to flatten out by themselves.