The purchase of a portion of the Coastline Conference and Event Center property and the Best Western hotel in downtown Wilmington is complete.

Poteat Hospitality bought the existing hotel and the portion where the Laurinburg-based, family-owned company plans to build a new, 125-room Aloft Hotel franchise on Nutt Street on Wednesday. The firm paid previous owner Charles J. Carver more than $7.3 million for part of two parcels, according to a deed recorded Thursday in New Hanover County.

"We feel like we're going to be able to build a hotel that's going to serve a good purpose, and it will extend the reach of development on that end of town," said Reg Poteat of Poteat Hospitality. 

The Best Western will remain in operation while the Aloft Hotel will be the first venture in Wilmington for Poteat Hospitality. The company had submitted a proposal to the city of Wilmington in 2014 to redevelop the Water Street parking deck by building a hotel there, but city officials chose to negotiate with with Chapel Hill-based East West Partners for a residential-commercial development instead.

Poteat said that did not discourage the company, which operates other hotels in North Carolina, from continuing to look for a suitable new hotel site in Wilmington.

"I've been trying to get something down there for about seven or eight years. We're pleased that we're now able to accomplish that and look forward to serving the people," he said.

He said the company hopes to start construction on the Aloft Hotel before the end of this year. The plan is to incorporate the older portions of the property with the new, keeping space for events such as weddings and business meetings.

According to current plans, the lobby will be located in the former Atlantic Coast Line warehouse building, which has been used as a conference center, and the six-story hotel will be behind that, Poteat said.

Broker Jim Quinn of Wilmington-based Creative Commercial Properties represented Poteat in the transaction.

"Wilmington is fortunate to have a family-owned firm that provides excellent service in the markets they're in," Quinn said Thursday. "They're first-class operators and we'll have an excellent addition to our waterfront when [the hotel is] done."

The Aloft Hotel brand is part of Starwood Hotels, which in news reports Thursday is expected to be acquired by Marriott International Inc. in a more than $13 billion deal. Starwood shareholders are expected to vote on the merger April 8. Poteat said his company has other hotels that fly under the Marriott brand.

Poteat and Quinn announced that the new hotel for Wilmington was in the works in December last year.

In February, Harmony Hospitality broke ground on a 186-room Embassy Suites hotel next to the Wilmington Convention Center and a Hampton Inn is also under construction in downtown Wilmington.