By Megan V. Williams
Wilmington, NC – The word for Wilmington's convention center hotel is 'boutique' - small but, its developers hope, special.
The city had originally sought a 249-room facility. But both companies who submitted bids for the hotel contract said they couldn't turn a profit with such a large project.
So last night the council went with a smaller six-story facility. The hotel will belong to the Hotel Indigo chain, a new line of high-end lodgings designed specifically for business travelers. While the facility will have a full restaurant and be the region's first four-star stay, it'll be almost 90 rooms smaller than the city's original request.
Developer Jim Felds says to build such a large hotel, his company would have to charge impossible rates.
"Nobody's going to spend 400 dollars a night to stay on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, it's just not going to happen," Felds said. "And that's what you'd have to do in order to build this 240-room hotel."
Hotel Indigo will most likely be the region's most expensive stay, with rooms averaging $160 a night.
City Council member Laura Padgett says she'd hoped for a larger hotel, but accepts that it may be impossible in the current economic conditions.
"It's too bad that the timing has come down to this with so many years that we're having to take when we can get, when in three to four years, we may wish we had more," Padgett said.
The city has had trouble securing a hotel for its convention center site after the first developer it selected pulled out. Felds and his partners have agreed to a million dollar penalty if they abandon the project.
3 D Management, the group behind the selected bid, already operates two other hotels in the Wilmington area and Felds says his company will go forward with a Hotel Indigo in the region, whether or not it's affiliated with the Convention Center.
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Learn more about the Hotel Indigo proposal from the supporting documents on the City Council Agenda
(Item R1)
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