The restoration project of a Main Street building in downtown Kingstree has stirred excitement among many locals. Clay Wine with Berenyi Construction out of Charleston created the rendering of 'The Fitz' and will be in charge of the restoration project. Jamison Dail provided the rendering to The News and hopes the project will be complete by December 2024.
Rendering Provided
The historic Marcus building at 133 E. Main St. in Kingstree has a new name. Jamison Dail has purchased the building, and recently announced that his new hotel project will be called The Fitz.
“I got the name from President John F. Kennedy.” Fitzgerald was the middle name of the United States’ 35th president. “I am a collector of his memorabilia and admirer of his,” says Dail.
The history buff most recently purchased and restored 137 N. Academy Street, home to Mia & Beau’s boutique. After seeing his work on that project, Kingstree’s Main Street Director Katie Wheeler encouraged him to purchase the Marcus building.
When he saw the upstairs of the old building he was sold. “It was like a time capsule from the early 1900s,” he says. All 12 upstairs rooms were still intact, including original doors and transom windows. The copper ceiling was still in place, and though bricked over, doors and windows from a recessed balcony remained.
“We are trying to save and keep as much of the original building as possible. If you notice in the rendering this balcony over hangs. The original balcony was recessed into the building. The original balcony space will now be a sitting room and or sun porch that leads out onto the new overhanging balcony,” says Dail.
Before the holidays, crews worked to clean out the old building. Lowcountry Grounds and Services handled the demo and cleanup. They removed anything that wasn’t original to the structure. The city laid new sidewalks in front of The Fitz as a part of the city’s downtown project to repair roads and make the downtown more pedestrian friendly.
His original plan did not account for necessary office space needed to run the business. The revised interior includes one lounge and an office, and six rooms with en suite bathrooms. The lounge and office will have balcony access and will overlook the depot and Main Street.
Dail based the design on a 1910 exterior photograph of the hotel. A courtyard is planned for the back of the building. The original staircase was found tucked away upstairs, and will be restored to its original place in the building.
Former The News Editor Linda Brown documented the history of the Marcus Building in her blog Royal Town Rambles. The brick building was constructed by R.H. Kellahan after a downtown fire burned several structures at the corner of Academy and Main in 1907. The building held three storefronts and was named the Marcus building. Jenkinson Brothers dry goods store moved into the left side in 1910. Milhaus & Jennings grocery store opened in the right side. The Nettles Hotel occupied the second floor from 1910-1912 with stair access to between the two stores. When the hotel closed, the rooms were rented as apartments.
After a massive fire in early 1913, Kellahan rebuilt the second floor as a hotel and opened the doors to The McIntosh House. In 1916, the owners, moved to North Carolina and the hotel closed again.
Jenkinson’s store moved to another location on N. Academy Street in 1921, and S.J. Deery opened Williamsburg Furniture in the buildings that once held the dry goods and grocery stores.
In 1933, Harry Marcus opened his general store in the building and ran it until 1960. Family continued to run the store until 2010.
During that time, Marcus’ son and daughter-in-law, David and Anita, ran a travel agency from the old entrance to the hotel. They sold tickets for the train there. Anita also used the building to teach dance lessons.
The Marcus Building was purchased by the city in 2017 and has been empty since. Dail hopes to bring the property back to life.
Clay Wine with Berenyi Construction out of Charleston created the rendering of The Fitz and will be in charge of the restoration project. Dail aims to finish the building by December 2024.
