Plans submitted for new downtown hotel
Hotel Indigo would be built along riverfront near convention center
WILMINGTON -- The Port City's hotel boom is set to continue, with developers taking steps toward work on a Hotel Indigo near the Wilmington Convention Center.
Wednesday, Mayfair Street Partners and USA InvestCo submitted plans for a 10-story, 125-room hotel near the corner of Hanover and Nutt streets. The hotel will total 110,753 square feet, according to the plans.
The Hotel Indigo could open as early as next summer. Chuck Schoninger, the president and CEO of USA InvestCo, said he is excited to be part of a downtown hotel boom that will soon see the number of available hotel rooms more than double from the 350 in the area in 2010.
Since then, the number of available hotel rooms has increased to 478, with more in the pipeline. Tho total could reach 885 upon the completion of the Indigo, a 186-room Embassy Suites is underway behind the Convention Center, and a 96-room Hampton Inn at 225 Grace St.
"We think the Embassy Suites is a great addition and we hope to be the bookend on the other side of the convention center from them," Schoninger said.
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said another hotel would help bring more people downtown and boost the city's tourism industry. He also was optimistic about its impact on the convention center.
"Now these large conventions that were not coming here because of the lack of hotel space can start calling Wilmington one of their stops," Saffo said.
The plans also include a two-story retail building that will include nearly 26,000 square feet, which will likely include the headquarters of Schoninger's USA InvestCo.
Schoninger also expressed interest in working with the city to construct a parking garage on the north side of the 1.3-acre site.
In 2015, the city paid for a parking study that determined it generally needs more spaces downtown and specifically needs 150 more within walking distance of the convention center. That need will only be strained further in the coming years with the development of the North Waterfront Park, a $20 million project portrayed as a crown jewel of the city's park system that highlighted the city's 2016 Transportation Bond.
Saffo said he and other city officials are interested in continuing conversations about a potential parking garage, but would need to deem it a worthwhile project for taxpayers.
"That may be an opportunity for a good private-public partnership where he gets some parking for his hotel, and we get some parking for the park and our other amenities on that side of town," Saffo said.
Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or Adam.Wagner@StarNewsOnline.com.