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LORIS, S.C. (WMBF) - Two brothers are preparing to take over the management of a hotel their parents have owned in Loris for nearly two decades, following months of renovations.

Dillon and Ishan Patel’s parents have owned the Carolina Inn property since 2007, and after 18 years, they decided it was time for a facelift.

“We’ve been wanting to for years, we’ve just not had the money for it, so it’s kind of just we got the money and we decided to just finally hunker down and take care of it,” Dillon said.

The hotel is undergoing a complete rebrand, from its look to its name.

Moving forward, the property will be called the Coastal Comfort Hotel.

It’s a move the Patel family said they hope will excite people and put this hotel back on the map.

So far, Ishan said the community has been extremely supportive.

“The constant prayer and the love that we’ve gotten from multiple angles, the best way I can explain it is it’s humbling,” he said.

But the Patels’ hotel isn’t the only area of Loris being revamped.

City leaders are also working to revitalize the downtown area, from introducing new businesses to updating existing ones that have been there for years.

“We have been working on downtown for a couple of years now. It has changed quite a bit,” Samantha Norris explained.

Norris is the executive director of the Loris Area Chamber of Commerce. She said they’ve added new restaurants, shops, and of course, Loris has a medical center as well.

She said with Loris hosting many tournaments throughout the summer and the Loris Bog-Off festival a few months out, this is great timing for the hotel to be renovated.

“It’s perfect timing, and so we’re super excited that they’ll be open in that time frame,” Norris said.

When it reopens, Dillon will take on the title of manager, a full-circle moment for him, as he and his brother grew up at this hotel.

Ishan said they’re excited to continue their parents’ legacy.

“You know, being that next generation, it’s definitely exciting. But you know you can’t avoid that anxiousness that you feel because you want to do it justice. You know, you don’t want to bring it down,” Ishan said.

As renovations are set to take a few more weeks, Coastal Comfort’s new manager expressed his gratitude to everyone who has been a part of this project.

“They’ve been a god-send and without them this would have never happened,” Dillon said.

The Patel family hopes to have the hotel open by June.

WMBF News is also told the family plans to hold a grand opening celebration and hopes to get the community involved as the next generation takes the helm!

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LORIS, S.C. (WMBF) - With the population in Loris increasing, the city’s fire chief said his all-volunteer fire department is now looking to add some paid positions to its staff.

“Being as busy as we’re getting, we know the day is coming that we’ve got to be able to take that next step,” said Chief Jerry Hardee.

Hardee told WMBF News last year, his department ran around 1,400 calls, a number he said is high for an all-volunteer station.

Now, he’s looking to add one to two part-time positions to the team, ensuring someone would be at the station during the day when other volunteers, many of whom work for other departments, are working out of town.

“Naturally, it’s going to help with response time, but they would also have responsibilities of helping us maintain the equipment and doing some other duties that we could possibly do a better job at doing,” said Hardee.

This is an idea one Loris business owner said she’s in support of, especially because she’s noticed more people moving to town over the past few years.

“That’s more people for them to try and help and save and protect,” said Sherrie Keen, owner of Mattie Jane’s Coffee and Baked Goods.

Hardee said he would add the part-time positions soon if approved to do so, but also wants to apply for a grant that would allow him to add full-time positions sometime down the line.

“They have a lot of calls and they work so hard, and it would help the residents and the owners of the businesses in town, it would help everybody,” said Keen.

Chief Hardee told WMBF News he put together a presentation for city leaders about those part-time positions, and now it is up to the city council to decide if they’d like to go forward with the plan.

The Carolina Inn motel in Loris closed Jan. 2 to make way for a makeover.

When it reopens, under the new name Coastal Comfort Hotel, the decades-old motor lodge will be the new hotel that city business leaders have been hoping for.

“We need a nice hotel,” said Samantha Norris, executive director of the Loris Chamber of Commerce. And not necessarily to attract a share of the thousands of beach-bound tourists who stream by on the nearby Highway 9 bypass each summer.

Norris said the city has a “great” regional health-care facility in Loris McLeod Hospital, but nowhere to stay nearby when a loved one is hospitalized.

Sports tourism at the array of ballfields in the Loris Sports Complex is another reason a nice hotel is needed.

“We have softball and baseball tournaments nearly every weekend. They have nowhere to stay,” Norris said.

Same goes for persons visiting to attend family and class reunions, weddings and graduations, and events like the Loris Bog-Off Festival and the Small Town, Big Show Car Show, which will attract thousands of visitors from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 19.

And when Donald Gillard of Sweet Gillard’s Production brought a 50-member gospel choir and a trombone ensemble to Loris this winter for a local production of God’s Trombones, he lamented that his theater company was forced to stay in Conway instead of in Loris due to the lack of rooms.

Hotel owner Yak Patel is stepping up to solve that problem.

He said he purchased the 32-room, 16,000-square-foot inn on 1.2 acres of land in 2007. It was constructed in 2003.

Patel said he decided to upgrade the facilities after noting the growth in the Loris area. “There’s so many new houses going up,” he said.

He also commented on the growth of new businesses in downtown Loris.

“They’re bringing Main Street back to life," Patel said.

“It’s going to be more modern,” he said of the hotel, with short-term rentals — daily and weekly — only. He plans to hire four housekeepers, three front-desk staff and a maintenance employee, and offer continental breakfasts for guests in the lobby/dining room.

He said the hotel took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it became hard to keep the property maintained. “The property went downhill.”

Now they’re playing catch-up, and more.

Patel’s son Dillon, 25, a Loris High School graduate, is moving back to Loris and will manage the hotel. “I have a few years of business under my belt,” he said, noting he previously helped operate a family liquor store.

Yak Patel’s wife and another son will also assist with hotel operations, including working with booking sites to market the independent hotel.

“Dillon and my other son, they’re the computer-savvy ones,” the father said.

Dillon Patel said the two-story structure at the intersection of Highway 701 and Fox Bay Road is being renovated inside and out, with a goal of reopening in early May, or June at the latest.

There will be a new computer and reservation system, and new signage.

Guest rooms will have new paint, stucco, lighting, mirrors, flooring and furniture, Wi-Fi and cable, and microwave ovens and mini-fridges.

The outside will be repainted a “sandyish-yellow” color. The hotel will be non-smoking, but an outdoor smoking area will be provided at the rear of the property.

Extensive landscaping is also planned with bright, red mulch.

“We’re investing a lot of money in this effort,” Yak Patel said.

“I’m excited about it, helping out at the front desk, helping with housecleaning, lots of work,” Dillon Patel said. “I’m ready for it."

Reach Casey Jones at 843-488-7261 or casey.jones@myhorrynews.com.

LORIS, S.C. (WMBF) - More than a dozen Loris residents are banding together to promote what they call responsible growth in their city.

“I think the biggest thing to see from this meeting is that Loris shows up in a big way.” Jeanie Reaves Arrington said.

Arrington attended a community meeting on Tuesday night for residents around the Loris area who have concerns about a proposed plan to annex more than 350 acres of land near Loris High School.

The hope is to eventually build more than 500 homes on the property.

“There’s too much in that little area. We’ve got a lot of land around this area that would be perfect for something like that and would benefit Loris and the surrounding areas. But not there,” Arrington said.

Candice Grella lives in downtown Loris and said she’s heard so many of the community’s concerns that she said she decided to act.

“Get the residents together, talk about their concerns, and get them organized,” Grella said.

Seventeen residents came together in a coffee shop for a meeting that lasted around an hour and a half.

Residents said the area is already susceptible to flooding and traffic delays.

Arrington lives right against the land in question and mentioned in the meeting, knowing folks in the area who have had to canoe out of their homes before due to flooding.

Grella said there’s a trend she’s noticing.

“I do know that this is kind of igniting a fire in the community to make sure that we’re growing responsibly and that our leadership is looking out for the community,” she said.

According to Arrington, there’s one problem: they worry the city council won’t listen to those who would be directly impacted.

Because of this, they’re hoping those who live in the city will support the efforts and let their councilperson know their thoughts.

She said growth is good, but it has to be thought out.

“We want it to grow. Growth is good. We don’t want this town to die, I mean, it’s precious. But there’s a way to do it, and that piece of property is not it.” Arrington said.

The group said they want as many people as possible to show up for the public input hearing.

That hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 22, at 6 p.m. at the Loris City Hall.