Plans to open the new Holiday Inn Express & Suites under construction behind the New Bern Mall have been pushed back until at least October, according to the developer.
The change marks the second time the opening date for the new hotel on Newman Rd. has been extended.
In September 2022, Vimal Kolappa, CEO of East Coast Hospitality, said the original opening date of December 2021 had been pushed to the spring of 2023 due to supply chain issues and labor shortages.
During an April 5 interview, Kolappa said those challenges have forced East Coast Hospitality to delay the opening for another six months.
“If people don’t want to work, what do we do?” Kolappa said. “It’s very difficult to find people to work these days. And then with the problems getting supplies, it’s very hard.”
Kolappa said labor and supply issues have also impacted the cost of the project. While initial estimates called for a price tag of $15 million that has now risen to $20 million, he said.
“The price of everything has gone up,” Kolappa commented. “It’s killing business this way, so that’s the problem that we are fighting.”
Kolappa estimated that approximately 40% of the work remains to be finished at the hotel. He said inspections have been completed for the first three floors and the majority of the building’s electrical, plumbing and insulation work has been done.
According to Kolappa, the new Holiday Inn Express & Suites will feature 100 rooms, 22 of which will be suites. It will also come equipped with an HVAC system unlike most other hotels. He said the unit will regulate humidity levels by pumping in fresh air through two units on the roof, which will then be heated or cooled and circulated through the building.
Kolappa said East Coast Hospitality chose the Newman Rd. location due to its access to U.S. 70 and the New Bern retail district along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. He said despite the setbacks, he was still optimistic about the hotel’s future.
“It’s a good site and it has a lot of exposure from the highway. That’s the happening place,” he said. “And New Bern is very good in the sense that it’s a self-sustaining growth town and it’s very business friendly.”
The Washington, NC-based East Coast Hospitality owns 18 hotels, 15 of those in North Carolina. The company owns both the Comfort Inn and the Holiday Inn Express in Havelock.
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites is the first new hotel in New Bern to be built since the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in 2008.
By Todd Wetherington, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.