The team behind a hotel that recently opened in a 70-year-old renovated fire station is hoping it will be a beacon of hope for Columbia, South Carolina, as well as the hospitality industry as a whole.
The Lantern Hotel Columbia opened at the end of January in the city's Vista District, in the heart of South Carolina's capital and adjacent to the University of South Carolina, which sets up the hotel to attract a diverse set of guests — from politicians and government-affiliated travelers and university students and family to visitors interested in a unique, historic stay.
"This is a smorgasbord of different segments of the population that will be traveling to the city of Columbia," said Rick Hayduk, general manager of The Lantern Hotel Columbia.
Transforming a fire station
Along with the prime location, the new Lantern Hotel has history in Columbia as the 1949 Central Fire Station site. David Tart, chief development officer and partner at Raines Hospitality, said Raines investors acquired the property in 2021.
The building was, and still is, in relatively good shape for something on the National Register of Historic Places, he said. The fire station operated until the '90s, and it was renovated slightly to become a first-floor restaurant before Raines took control.
The 59-key hotel now includes a few of the historic building's features. The main fire station building is where the hotel's lobby and restaurant concept, Ladder 13, reside. The six-story drill tower now has a handful of unique suites. The existing garage was also renovated to become guestrooms.
In addition to the historic buildings, Raines and its partners built a new building to connect the property, which houses a state-of-the-art fitness center.
The project wasn't without its challenges, but working with historic buildings has become a bit of a specialty for Tart. He said he wanted to — and had to, because of the historic register distinction — preserve as much as the building as possible.
"I love the creative approach, but to me, that is the biggest challenge. It's how you program something that was never, ever intended to be a hotel," Tart said.
Some of the preserved elements include the fire station's poles, located now in the lobby as decorative features.
Hayduk said they also worked with the Columbia Fire Department to display archive photo photography. The hotel even has an American flag made out of fire hoses.
The lobby lounge, which can open up to the restaurant, is known as "Columbia's living room," Tart said. Hayduk added that a unique aspect to the public area of the hotel is that it has an indoor-outdoor feel with each of the garage doors being able to be open for most of the year's nice weather.
"It really is an experiential hotel," Hayduk said. "You're dealing with a 70-plus-year-old building with great bones."
Tart credited the project's build-out partners, which included Mashburn Construction, Garvin Design Group and Resort Interiors, as well as the lender, First Horizon.
Ladder 13, too, is a unique experience with the brick oven, Mediterranean menu led by James Beard nominee, Kevin Johnson, who's based in Charleston. The name, of course, is a nod to the building's history.
The Lantern's 'secret sauce'
As novel of a history the hotel has, Hayduk says The Lantern's "secret sauce" resides in its staff. Raines tapped nearby University of Southern Carolina to attract students and alumni as well as students and local residents with special needs. The university has a program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities called CarolinaLIFE.
"From a labor demographic, 50% of our team is a USC student," Hayduk said, explaining that they come from different departments and majors, not just the renowned hotel program. "And about 35% have a disability, whether they're attending USC at the CarolinaLIFE program, or whether they are locals."
It's the second hotel project Hayduk has worked with that hired employees with developmental disabilities, and for him, it's personal.
"The change that flipped my switch was 20 years ago — my third daughter was born with Down syndrome," he said. "As a parent with a with a newborn with special needs, you go through three immediate questions: Are they healthy? What kind of life are they going to live? And what happens when I am gone?"
Hayduk, who later also adopted his son who has Down syndrome, said he knew the answer was in hospitality. Workers with disabilities may need extra onboarding, and in some cases, three times as long of a training period.
The training period for a housekeeper is usually about five days, he said.
"Someone with Down syndrome or autism, it could be 15 days, but you have to have the patience, tolerance, compassion and love to do that, to endure over those 15 days to get them to that certain point where they can work independently," Hayduk said. "But I tell you, once they're dialed in, they are dialed in.
"Rarely do you find someone who works in a hotel and restaurant who doesn't like people," he continued. "I mean, we're teed up for this."
The other part of the equation is the hospitality industry notoriously sees a dearth of workers to fill positions, and at the same time, the disabled population has an extremely high unemployment rate. Hayduk said that's not because they all can't work, but they just need the right type of job and environment.
With The Lantern's so-called "secret sauce," Hayduk said he hopes guests leave inspired by their stay and the service they experienced.
"Our thesis is you can get an incredible four star-ish food, beverage and lodging experience in this really cool building, and have it delivered to you by a team that really has authentic hospitality — of which 30% to 40% have a disability," he said. "You put that into the blender, and that's something really, really special."
Future for The Lantern
The Lantern Hotel Columbia — with its motto "lit by kindness, led with a purpose" — is primed for success due to its location, Hayduk said, and the momentum the city has as a whole.
"Columbia is on the rise. ... the business community, local government, development, growth, all of these factors are now in 2026 kind of coming together — a lot of cranes in the air," he said.
But Columbia won't be the only South Carolina city to have The Lantern and its secret sauce. Raines already has The Lantern Hotel Rock Hill under development with a 2027 opening slated. The two hotels will have similarities but speak to their individual markets.
"When you walk into Columbia and then perhaps walk into Rock Hill, you're going to see subtle consistencies with what we're trying to do with the name Lantern, and carry that forward," Tart said.