Mills House Hotel

The Mills House hotel on Meeting Street is coming under new management. Provided

A longstanding hotel in downtown Charleston, known best for its eye-catching hue and its history, is coming under new management. 

The Mills House Hotel at Meeting and Queen streets will now be operated by Atlanta-based Davidson Hospitality Group, under Pivot, the firm's "lifestyle" vertical.   

Also known as the the "Big Pink Hotel," the property has most recently been part of Wyndham Grand Hotels

Under its new management, the hotel "will undergo a significant transformation and elevated repositioning," according to an announcement from Davidson and RLJ Lodging Trust, the Bethesda, Md.-based owner. 

The name will remain The Mills House, and a full renovation of all spaces is planned, according to Davidson. 

It will continue operating under the Wyndham flag in the meantime, and more details about the hotel's "transformation" will be available later, a spokesperson said. 

The Mills House will be the third property under Pivot's management in Charleston.

In 2019, the company took over management of Hotel Bella Grace, a 50-room boutique property on Calhoun Street. The lodging opened in 2018, across from Mother Emanuel AME Church.

Pivot also took over management in late 2020 of the King Charles Inn at Meeting and Hasell streets, a property that was closed, remodeled and completely rebranded. It opened as The Ryder Hotel with a new poolside restaurant, Little Palm, in May. 

Thom Geshay, Davidson Hospitality's president, said in a statement that it is a "privilege" to expand the company's Charleston footprint with a "historic asset" like the Mills House. He said the company looks forward to "stewarding an enhanced, differentiated product in the Holy City."

The Mills House has seven floors, 216 rooms and suites, 10,000 square feet of meeting space and a restaurant, The Barbadoes Room

The hotel dates back to 1853 when it was opened by real estate developer and grain merchant Otis Mills. The five-story building had the first large-scale running water system in the city. It survived the fire of 1861, and the original structure continued to host guests for most of the early part of the 20th century as the St. John Hotel. President Theodore Roosevelt was a guest there in 1902. 

By 1968, it had fallen into disrepair and was demolished.

"We wanted to restore it," read an advertisement that ran in The Post and Courier in October 1970. "But it couldn't be saved."

Developers who included the late Wall Street titan and preservationist Dick Jenrette did "one better," the ad read, and, with approval from the city and historic groups, completely recreated it. 

Its grand opening, as the Mills Hyatt House, coincided with the city's tricentennial. 

The reproduction has two more stories than the original. Many of the key elements of the 19th-century design were incorporated, like the ironwork and cornices.  

Starting in 1983, the hotel operated under the Holiday Inn brand for three decades before becoming part of Wyndham Grand Hotels in 2013. 

The hotel is in the heart of Charleston's historic downtown. Its next-door neighbor on Meeting is Hibernian Hall, and the Queen Street side of the property shares a block with the popular Poogan's Porch, 82 Queen and Husk restaurants on Queen Street. The historic City Market is a short walk to the north.

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Reach Emily Williams at 843-607-0894. Follow her on Twitter @emilye_williams.

Emily Williams is a business reporter at The Post and Courier, covering tourism and aerospace. She also writes the Business Headlines newsletter and co-hosts the weekly news podcast Understand SC.

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