A formerly planned surgical center in Autumn Hall has a new tenant.

Wilmington-based Cape Fear Commercial announced Tuesday that it completed a lease agreement with New Hanover Regional Medical Center for a 40,000-square-foot surgery center built by Novant Health on Eastwood Drive.

Brian Eckel, co-founder of Wilmington-based Cape Fear Commercial, executed the recent lease transaction for an undisclosed amount.

Eckel said the lease was signed last week.

Carolyn Fisher, a spokeswoman with New Hanover Regional Medical Center, said in an email Wednesday afternoon no agreement has been finalized, and hospital officials have no details to release. 

State regulators in July 2012 gave the local health providers the required permission for New Hanover Regional to acquire Novant’s interests in the surgical center project.

The state first issued its certificate of need approval to Winston-Salem-based Novant Health in 2007 for the medical facility located at Autumn Hall, a mixed-used development now under construction.

The approval was given to a limited liability corporation that Novant officials created for the project called Same Day Surgery Center New Hanover, or SDSC New Hanover, according to the state ruling.

In 2010, Novant Health stopped construction on the surgery center and put it on hold indefinitely, citing the down economy. Only an outer shell for the facility, intended to include two operating rooms, was built.