Jun. 27--The USC Foundations' plans to open a 125-room hotel near campus have local hotel operators fuming. 

"An analogy would be if the university wanted to build a seafood restaurant to train hotel and restaurant students on cooking right next to the Blue Marlin," said Ted Hasbrouck, general manager of the Holiday Inn Northeast. "The restaurant association would have a nuclear reaction." 

The criticism comes as the university is fighting off objections over the hotel's location from neighbors and historic preservationists. 

The foundation, the university's nonprofit fund-raising arm, wants to open the Inn at USC near campus on Pendleton Street. 

The hotel would be open to the public. It would help the university house an overflow of trainees from the nearby National Advocacy Center, as well as other campus visitors, the foundation says. 

The Greater Columbia Hotel and Motel Association sent letters last week to incoming USC President Andrew Sorensen and state leaders. It states the group opposes the project, calling it unfair public competition with the private sector. 

Members of the hotel group represent 80 percent of hotel rooms in the Columbia area, said Hasbrouck, the group's president. 

Foundation officials take issue with the hotel operators' arguments. 

The hotel is not a public venture, said Susie VanHuss, executive director of the USC Foundations. The Inn at USC is a private, for-profit effort of the foundation and Columbia-based developer Bert Pooser of Interstate Management and Investment Corp., she said. 

The foundation will pay for the hotel, just as any private company would, VanHuss said. Public money won't go toward it, she said. 

"And we will be paying taxes: We will pay the room tax, the same accommodations tax, the same property tax," she said. 

Profits will go to the foundation for USC research and property acquisition, she said. 

USC spokesman Russ McKinney declined to comment, referring all questions to VanHuss and the foundation. 

Regardless of the setup, whether the money comes from USC or its foundation, the university still is competing unfairly with area hotels, said Tom Sponseller, president and CEO of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina. 

"The question is whether the government and their foundations should be allowed to enter the private sector. They're going against their mission," he said. 

The project also could strain the university's relationship with the hospitality industry, he said. Area hotels provide internships for USC students, offer discounts to groups traveling on USC business and have supported the accommodations tax to build the USC arena, he said. 

The Inn at USC would be about the same size as the Fairfield Inn on Two Notch Road and less than half the size of Adam's Mark downtown, the area's largest hotel. 

VanHuss said the foundation is looking to meet USC's needs. "We're not looking to go after their business." 

Those needs include about 400 rooms a week for trainees at the National Advocacy Center, she said. The university also needs rooms for scholars, athletic prospects and other visitors. Plus parents, future students and sports fans visit the campus. 

A 125-room hotel would not meet all that demand, VanHuss said. 

Meanwhile, preservationists and neighbors are seeking historic designation to protect two structures on the site: the Black House and Kirkland Apartments. 

City Council members say they are likely to grant the designation, but hope to hear from Sorensen at a second public hearing on the issue after July 1. email this | print this 

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