Hotel, retail and office buildings planned for former Miller Cadillac site in Mount Pleasant – Charleston Post Courier

Six years after Miller Cadillac drove into the luxury automobile fold of Baker Motor Co., a hotel with separate retail and office buildings could park on the former Mount Pleasant car dealer's parcel.

Atlanta-based Rio Partners LLC wants to build a 122-room hotel on the high-profile vacant 5-acre site near Mathis Ferry Road and Johnnie Dodds Boulevard.

Plans also call for 20,000 square feet of office space and 25,950 square feet of retail/restaurant use through a long-term ground lease from the Miller family. The developer has already received letters of intent for some of the space.

Miller Cadillac operated near the corner of Johnnie Dodds Boulevard and Mathis Ferry Road in Mount Pleasant for more than 30 years before being absorbed by Baker Motor Co. in 2011. The dealership was demolished in 2013 after the business was moved to West Ashley. The Miller family still owns the property. File/Staff

Rio Partners plans to start construction later this year on the retail and office component first. The first phase will include a two-story retail structure and a three- or four-story building with merchants' space on the ground floor and offices upstairs, according to Rick Patton, the company's managing member.

"We are getting a lot of interest in retail, though I'm not at liberty to say which ones," Patton said. "We have some letters of intent from both local and national retailers."

The former Miller Cadillac dealership was demolished in 2013 on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard near Mathis Ferry Road in Mount Pleasant. A developer is now eyeing the site for a mix of uses, including a hotel, retail and office space. File/Staff

Construction on a six-story hotel would follow immediately after completion of the retail and office structures, which is expected to take about a year, Patton said. The brand has not been determined, but Patton has helped develop well-known flags such as Hilton, Marriott and Intercontinental Hotel Group, which includes Holiday Inn.

The firm's hotel management company, NorthPointe Properties, of which Patton is a principal, oversees the nearby Holiday Inn at 250 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. in Mount Pleasant as well as the Holiday Inn Express at 250 Spring St. on the Charleston peninsula.

The company chose the vacant site because of its visibility and proximity to the Ravenel Bridge, as well as the demographics of Mount Pleasant.

"We really like what's happening in Mount Pleasant," said Atlanta-based Patton, who has family in the Charleston suburb. "It's rare to have nearly 5 acres remaining in that particular area that close to the bridge. That's why we are seeing such great interest from the retail end of it."

Since the site was home to a car dealership for 33 years, where oil and other substances could have leached into the soil, the site must undergo testing for possible environmental hazards.

Under an agreement with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, Rio Partners will analyze the site and pay for any cleanup, if necessary.

An assessment shows the former automotive repair section of the property housed ground-based hydraulic lifts whose shafts are still in place and show residues of oil. The site also held above-ground storage tanks for motor oil and antifreeze. The main building included a floor drain system connected to an oil water separator. Paint thinner was also used in the auto body shop.

Patton said no chemicals are known to have contaminated the property, but the developer has agreed to conduct a well survey within a one-half-mile radius, take soil samples, assess groundwater quality, evaluate effects on indoor air of vapor intrusion, and be responsible for any contamination control measures.

"We're doing it not really knowing if there is anything there or not," he said. "But it allows us to move forward."

Site testing is expected to be wrapped up in about three months.

The Miller family still owns the property. They include sisters Ronnie Miller Maddray, Clydie Miller DeBrux and Shannon Miller Hammond, as well as Nadine Miller, wife of the late Walt Miller, their brother.

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Hotel, retail and office buildings planned for former Miller Cadillac site in Mount Pleasant - Charleston Post Courier