A new commercial building could be coming to downtown Wilmington's central business district.

Developer Gene Merritt and his partner John Sutton are looking at the possibility of building a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building on the site of a parking lot at 200 Market St.

The proposal is slated to go before the city of Wilmington's Historic Preservation Commission at the panel's meeting 5:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

"I don’t like surface parking lots where buildings should exist; I think they’re ugly," Merritt said Monday. "I’m very much an advocate of infill development, and this is infill development."

The proposal calls for retail on the first floor of the building, with facades on Market and Second streets, and an open-air restaurant on the second story. 

"We believe there's a need for that in the downtown area," Merritt said, referring to more space for small, specialty retail shops. 

The restaurant would have partially a hard roof and partially a "soft" roof that could open for night or day open-air dining, Merritt said about the concept.

"We think that would be a pretty big hit," he said.

Ted Trzos, who works in design, drafting and project management, has completed preliminary conceptual drawings, included in the Historic Preservation Commission's meeting documents, of the proposed building for Merritt and Sutton. 

One of the founders of Wilmington Downtown Inc., Merritt has been involved in 125 development projects in downtown Wilmington since 1978, but the 200 Market St. project would be the first for he and Sutton since they built Water Street Center.

"I think we’re doing great, and I love to see this new construction going on. It's very exciting," Merritt said of downtown's current climate.

Merritt and Sutton have the property, currently owned by Wells Real Estate Holdings LLC, under contract for an undisclosed amount. 

In addition to Historic Preservation Commission approvals, the project would also be reviewed by the city's Technical Review Committee, Merritt said.

According to the Historic Preservation Commission's documents on the item, the city staff recommends approval with conditions for the infill development request.