Developers plan to build a Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites on Medical Center Drive in Wilmington, a partner in the development group said Wednesday.

Kismet Wilmington LLC recently bought 2 of the 3.42 undeveloped acres (shown below) up for sale next to Delaney Radiologists, 1025 Medical Center Drive, for $650,000, according to the deed. The seller was a limited liability company, Delaney At MCD, managed by doctors at Delaney Radiologists.

Hotel developer Steven Arp said Wednesday that he and his partners in Kismet Wilmington hope to break ground soon on the 109-room Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, with an opening estimated around March 2018. The group is currently working on plans for the hotel that will be subject to city approval and require county building permits.

Arp said the hotel will incorporate a Holiday Inn Express design concept called Formula Blue.

“It’s a whole new fresh interior and exterior,” Arp said. “It’s really nice. It’s really appealing and quite comfortable.”

The development site, at the corner of Medical Center Drive and Silver Stream Lane, is a three-minute drive from New Hanover Regional Medical Center's main campus on South 17th Street.

“We think that’s definitely a premier location. It’s close to the hospital – they continue to add on and build and expand their services and all of the things they do so well . . . they’re the largest employer in the community,” Arp said. “And plus, Wilmington’s just such a great market anyway. It’s not all hospital-driven; people come to the city and need a really nice place to stay.”

The only other Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Wilmington is at 160 Van Campen Blvd. near South College Road. There is also one in Leland and another in the Southport-Oak Island area.

The new Holiday Inn Express in Wilmington could employ up to about 30 people, Arp said.

Nicholas Silivanch, vice president of retail, leasing and sales at Eastern Carolinas Commercial Real Estate, represented Kismet Wilmington in the purchase, while John Hinnant, a broker with Maus Warwick Matthews & Co., represented the seller.

To read about the current uptick in area hotel construction, pick up the Feb. 10 issue of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal.