Mehul Patel’s company bought 1 Hanover St. for $3.75 million in October with plans to build two hotels in downtown Wilmington.

Patel, CEO and president of Savannah-based Ideal Hospitality, said his firm fell in love with the city while developing a Home2 Suites by Hilton next to The Pointe 14 movie theater in midtown.

“There's a lot of similar traits that we see in Wilmington that Savannah had less than a decade ago, and that growth is on a very similar pattern,” Patel said Wednesday, speaking as part of a panel at Wilmington Downtown Inc.’s economic development luncheon. The event was held at the Wilmington Convention Center, a short walk from the vacant land where Patel's hotels are planned.

He told the audience the new hotels could have 300-350 rooms and at least a few food-and-beverage components.

“One of the hotels is going to be dual-branded with extended stay because we see that's going to be a great demand generator … especially in downtown with corporate travelers,” Patel said.

Wilmington-based Cape Fear Commercial brokers Keith Austin and Paul Loukas represented Ideal Hospitality in its purchase of 1 Hanover St. The seller was Circle Marina Car Wash Inc., which bought the 1.27-acre property in 2019 for $2.85 million, according to tax records.

The WDI session, Driving Economic Impact: The Power of Placemaking Through Hospitality, featured Patel and other hospitality industry leaders. Before the panel discussion, the audience heard a consultant’s study results that included the need for more hotel rooms downtown. According to an analysis by the global hospitality consultant, HVS, the downtown area has “few existing hotels with enough guestrooms to cooperate with the WCC without sacrificing revenue.” It also noted “frequent lost business at the WCC and/or group fragmentation among several hotels.”

Courtney Vris, vice president and leader of the HVS Atlanta office, said, “Our recommendation is for a full-service, upper-upscale hotel with 300 guest rooms.”

Turning to a different niche, Jonah Dicker, of Arrive Hotels, said there’s also no shortage of demand for the 34-room Arrive Wilmington at 101 S. Second St. downtown.

“For us, it's one of our best properties, as far as the emotional sort of component for people that are very drawn to it. It's had a great response," he said. "We currently have plans to expand across the street." 

Dicker said they want to build another 44 rooms, giving up some guest room space for another identified need: conference rooms.

In addition to hotel demand, HVS studied the economic impact of the convention center and concert venues Live Oak Bank Pavilion and Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, finding that they generate nearly $47 million in spending, 340 jobs and $700,000 in revenue for the city.

The convention center itself has hosted hundreds of conventions since its opening in 2010.

Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau, said during the panel discussion, “On average, each one of those conventions has an economic impact of over $1 million.”

Zach Brigman, general manager at the convention center hotel Embassy Suites by Hilton Wilmington Riverfront, told the luncheon's audience, "While I'd love to sit here and say my hotel can accommodate it all, it can't."

The Embassy Suites at the WCC has 186 rooms.

Brigman said, "We have a lot of demand out there that we are still trying to figure out how we can accommodate the best we can by ... working with the CVB and the convention center to get creative and see how we can make it happen."