Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo made two major announcements at a press conference at City Hall Tuesday regarding agenda items that city council will consider at next week’s meeting.
First, council members will vote on a resolution to explore a joint public and private partnership for a minor league baseball stadium in Wilmington.
The resolution would allow the city to enter into negotiations with Mandalay Baseball Properties and the Atlanta National League Baseball Club to explore that possibility.
“Council will consider a memorandum of understanding that basically says that the city, Mandalay, and the Atlanta Braves agree to work over the next six months to see if we can get to an agreement that will work for everyone and yield a baseball stadium and team.”
Council will also consider an agreement with a hotel developer to build a full-service, 194-room hotel at the downtown convention center site. Saffo says he believes the city has finally gotten a proposal from an experienced developer who can get the financing to see the project through.
“And very importantly, the agreement stipulates that the hotel land will not be sold to the developer until we all know that the major hurdles have been overcome and the construction is about to begin.”
The agreement would be with Harmony Hospitality out of Virginia Beach, and company officials project that the hotel would open in the summer of 2014.
