Sun-N-Sand Hotel Could Go Under the Wrecking Ball

Lawmakers continue to be unable to compromise and reach a solution on some of the big issues facing the state, including next year’s budget. Years ago, these types of negotiations could have taken place at a hotel near the capital: the Sun-N-Sand. MPB’s Stephen Koranda reports.

About a block west of the capitals sits the Sun-N-Sand hotel with its tacky 1960s style sign still standing outside the boarded up building. This session the legislature passed a bill giving the state the option to buy the property. For years the hotel was home to almost 100 legislators during the session, until it closed in 2001. Representative Steve Holland of Plantersville stayed there for more than a decade.

“And it brought us together as a legislative family. Not only did we have a good time, but the people of ms profited from our experience there, because we got things done.”

Many deals were worked out at poolside parties, inside the outdated rooms or at the hotel’s bar, known as the Sand Box. Holland says the atmosphere being out of the capital helped make some legislation happen.

“When you get informal, that’s when you really get to know somebody. That’s when you truly share your heart, share your ideas and the Sun-N-Sand was the nucleus for that.”

But not everyone looks back on the Sun-N-Sand with a smile. Representative Tommy Reynolds of Charleston lived there when he was new to the legislature. He says some of the activities, like a daily breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, were about keeping legislators in line with the party, and that didn’t appeal to him.

“When you went if you didn’t vote with the speaker well that was as a terrible thing and you were roundly castigated. When I got here I said ‘I’m going to vote like I want to vote.’”

If purchased, the hotel would likely go under the wrecking ball to make way for new offices… but because of the state’s tight finances, it’s uncertain if or when that might happen.