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CALVIN R. PECK, JR.
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Tab 9
Morning Star (Wilmington, NC)
September 4, 2002
Carolina Beach hopes hotel boosts Boardwalk area
Author: Todd Volkstorf and Gareth McGrath
Work has begun on Pleasure Island's first chain hotel.
Last week crews began demolishing a go-cart track and arcade to make room for the 144-room
Courtyard by Marriott hotel. The hotel, which also is expected to have a 250-person conference
facility, should be finished by midsummer 2003.
"They told us to get your reservations for the Fourth, 2003," said Calvin Peck, town manager,
referring to the Independence Day holiday.
Town officials will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 6 p.m. today at the site, which occupies
the southern end of the boardwalk.
Town officials hope the hotel is the catalyst for the long-needed revival of Carolina Beach's
Boardwalk area.
"The Marriott will draw a different clientele," said Calvin Peck, town manager. "But it's not
about money or class. It's a group of people that might otherwise not have come to Carolina
Beach."
Mr. Peck said the hotel shouldn't adversely affect the older motels. People who have come to the
mom-and-pop motels for a long time are still going to come, he said.
Local business owners are just as optimistic about the hotel's potential to revitalize the
Boardwalk and help put the popular beach resort even more on the national map.
"I think it's good for the town that a major chain is coming in," said Yvonne Allen, a sales
assistant at Sterling Craft Mall, which sits across Woody Hewett Avenue from the site. "It's
something else that people can relate to."
While the Courtyard represents the first corporate chain hotel in Carolina Beach, two other hotels
have expressed interest in building there.
The Holiday Inn Express, which has been eyeing a site at the new Snow's Cut Crossing shopping
center, and the Microtel Inn and Suites, which is eyeing property along Lake Park Boulevard.
Mr. Peck, however, said while both companies have conditional use permits, they have yet to
apply for building permits.
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