Downtown Fountain Inn is about to Get Its First Hotel in Decades

Grading equipment has been busy on Jones Street, and what was once an empty lot near The Mill at Fountain Inn is beginning to look like the start of something significant.

Construction is underway on a 109-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott at 300 Jones Street — a $20 million project that city leaders have described as the anchor downtown Fountain Inn has long been missing. The hotel, developed by Fountain Inn Hotel Partners LLC and managed by Vision Hospitality Group, will be the city’s first nationally branded hotel in its downtown core, and is expected to be completed by December 2026.

City Administrator Shawn Bell has been clear about what it means beyond room keys and continental breakfast. For the first time, Fountain Inn will be able to host its own conferences — meetings of the Municipal Association, Main Street SC, and other organizations that previously had to book accommodations in Simpsonville, Mauldin, or Greenville. The hotel is intentionally designed without an on-site restaurant or bar, nudging guests to walk the short distance to downtown shops and dining and keeping the economic benefit flowing into the broader community.

The project is expected to generate around 75 temporary construction jobs and 10 permanent hospitality positions. The city committed up to $1.1 million in infrastructure improvements and incentives, including sidewalk enhancements and stormwater work — investments it projects will yield nearly $2.3 million in returns over the next decade. A new 61-space public parking lot at Jones and Wall Streets is also slated to begin construction this spring, arriving just in time to accommodate the hotel’s guests and the growing downtown foot traffic.