Wilmington’s Riverfront now has a place for visitors to stay with opening of the new Westin Wilmington Hotel.
The $40 million, 180-room hotel is connected to the south side of the Chase Center. The hotel is expected to help the facility book more events and functions. The two combined offer over 92,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
The hotel has 2,000 square-foot of event space, a law center, indoor swimming pool, and a restaurant called the River Rock Kitchen.
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The Westin Wilmington is the first newly constructed hotel to open in Wilmington since 1980 and is the latest piece in ongoing efforts to revitalize of Wilmington’s Riverfront - efforts which have used $250 million in public money to date.
Governor Jack Markell says that the progress seen in both the Riverfront and Market Street over the past decade is incredible.
“Places that were all boarded up are now fully occupied," said Markell. "You see what’s happened here and all the companies that have moved in here on the riverfront and when I go to the Riverfront Market. It’s hard to find a place to sit these days. All of us want to be part of a winner and I think there is so much progress that has been made and it’s incumbent upon all of us to continue to do what we can.”
The Westin was built and is owned by a joint venture between the Buccini/Pollin Group and Westport Capital.
Co-Founder of the Buccini/Pollin Group Robert Buccini says that the hotel will be a major economic engine for the city of Wilmington and has already been helping the city’s economy before it opened it’s doors.
?“270 plus construction jobs, $39 million budget, and what is really impressive here is of the 123 jobs that we will hire, we’ve already hired 111 of them and 74 percent of them are city of Wilmington residents,” said Buccini
The Westin Wilmington is the 199 Westin hostel to open and is within walking distance of all of the Riverfront’s main attractions.
The hotel is already booking events and currently has no vacancies.