Nov. 08–GREENSBORO — Construction on downtown’s new luxury hotel is planned to begin by March.

And Greensboro’s $40 million Wyndham isn’t just a Greensboro project.

Local developer Randall Kaplan has been the face of the Elm Street Wyndham. But in fact, the biggest investor in the project is Greg Dillon of Washington.

Dillon officially became an investing partner alongside the Elm Street Center in May, said George House, a Greensboro lawyer and one of the center’s four managing partners.

“Randall and I are really excited about having someone of his caliber and knowledge who has built as much as he has,” House said. “To a certain extent, Randall and I are selling Greg on investing in Greensboro.”

About the same time, construction on Roy Carroll’s hotel across from NewBridge Bank Park, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball team, is scheduled to begin.

Carroll has said his hotel will be closer to middle of the market. House said that could be an asset to the new Wyndham.

House is hoping to market the Elm Street Center to conferences hosting between 300 and 900 people — more than the 180 rooms in the Wyndham could hold.

Further, having a midmarket hotel within walking distance of the conference hotel would provide attendees a cheaper option.

“I think we need to be realistic about what kinds of conventions come to Greensboro, anyway,” House said. “We’re not the resort convention market.”

The Koury Center is ideal for major conferences with more than 1,000 people. But there’s room in Greensboro for niche conventions, he said.

“We’ve worked with market study groups and Wyndham to identify the opportunity based upon the existing space that the Elm Street Center has to offer,” Dillon said.

Greensboro will have a hotel to match the annual Wyndham Championship.

“The relationships that have been built with Wyndham over the years is obviously one of the reasons why Wyndham is considering the Greensboro market,” Dillon said.

“I do know Wyndham would like to use the hotel for the time that they’re spending here in Greensboro for the championship.”

Contact Kelly Poe at (336) 373-7003, and follow @kelly_poe on Twitter.