Sept. 20–Wilmington’s lengthy city campaign to recruit a hotel next to the convention center seems headed closer to a resolution.
An agreement between a developer angling to build the hotel and the city will be on the agenda for the city council’s Oct. 1 meeting.
The agreement would pave the way for the city to sell less than 1 acre of riverfront land to the developer for the hotel. Sotherly Hotels Inc., which owns the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, challenged the sale price last month, a maneuver that delayed a vote on the matter planned for Aug. 20. After the delay, attorneys have sent letters back and forth regarding the challenge.
Yet on Friday, the city announced the agreement is being finalized for a vote.
“Finalizing these agreements is a significant milestone in our progress toward the private building of a high quality hotel for our convention center,” said City Manager Sterling Cheatham, according to a news release.
The agreements are among the last items to be approved by the council before Harmony could begin construction, according to the city. Work could begin early next year.
The city has proposed it will sell the land, which is about three quarters of an acre, for $579,000.
Sotherly Hotels has alleged the sale price violates a 2006 court ruling, which stipulates no public funds can be used to subsidize the convention center hotel.
Matthew B. Davis, a Wilmington attorney representing Sotherly Hotels, has written the amount is “well below the property’s fair market value.”
In the Friday release, the city contends the amount is the “established market value.” According to county records, the land is valued for taxes at $875,500.
Final sale of the land is contingent on Harmony funding the construction for the hotel. In the past, Harmony has asked for delays while it secures financing.
Separately from the land, the agreement will include a provision that would reserve 250 spaces in the convention center parking deck for the hotel. The hotel would have to pay $100 per space, per month. The parking deck has about 580 spaces.
The city has been trying to attract a full-service, upscale hotel to the property next to the convention center since 2007. Harmony Hospitality has plans to build a $33.6 million, 186-room Embassy Suites on the site, sandwiched between the convention center, the Cape Fear River and the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. The 163,000-square foot hotel would also include a full-service restaurant on its second floor and 6,600 square feet of meeting space.
Julian March: 343-2099
On Twitter: @julian_march
