New North Carolina ballpark is unlike any other baseball stadium in the U.S.

The new baseball stadium in Wilson will be unlike any other professional ballpark in the country.

Kentucky real estate group Bryant Corp., working with NSV Development of Durham, is building a 116-room hotel that’s integrated into the Wilson Warbirds’ stadium downtown. The Warbirds, Wilson’s new Minor League team and an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, play their home opener Tuesday night at the $70 million stadium.

The hotel will be a Home2 Suites by Hilton situated along the third base line of the field. It is on track to open in the fourth quarter of this year with 30 employees.

The project is part of a broader push to transform downtown Wilson. Local leaders have positioned the ballpark and surrounding development as a catalyst for economic activity, hoping the venue — and unique additions like the hotel — will draw tourists, boost nearby businesses and energize the city.

Leaders of the project say that, currently, the only baseball stadium in North America with a hotel inside its structure is the Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Toronto Marriott City Centre opened in 1989 as the SkyDome Hotel and features 348 rooms, with several dozen having unobstructed views of the field.

Other ballparks in the U.S. have prominent hotels adjacent to the stadium, such as the Omni San Diego Hotel, which links to Petco Park via a walking bridge. And Durham Bulls Athletic Park has a restaurant and office buildings flanking the outfield — with a hotel just across the way.

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The new Wilson Warbirds baseball stadium will have a hotel integrated into the stadium structure.

Bryant Corp.Previous Slide

Developers say the idea of integrating a hotel directly into the Wilson stadium was intentional from the earliest design stages.

“We were really focused on trying to figure out how to incorporate private development not just near the stadium, but into the stadium,” said Michael Lemanski, founder and managing partner of NSV Development. “It was really more about how to help the public dollars go further.”

NSV Development has led the charge on the stadium in partnership with the city. In all, the public-private partnership could bring more than $300 million worth of investments to the downtown area.

The hotel concept took time to translate from vision to design. Lemanski said that architects originally drew the hotel next to the stadium.

“I was like, ‘no, no,’” he said. “I was trying to draw on a whiteboard about what I was intending, putting the hotel on top of the concourse and connecting it to the club level.” That approach allows the hotel and stadium to share infrastructure and spaces while creating new possibilities for events beyond baseball games, he said.

Developers said the design could allow meeting space inside the stadium to function similarly to a convention center, with club-level areas used for meetings and luxury boxes serving as breakout rooms.

For Bryant Corp., the project also represented an opportunity to pursue a type of development that few others would attempt. The group is behind Chatham County’s first hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites at Mosaic in Chatham Park, which opened in November 2024.

“There’s no risk profile for a hotel built into a stadium. It doesn’t exist,” Bryant Corp. President Dan Tracey said. “We are hotel developers who do projects that are interesting and take a longer-term view. And we love community integration.”

The Wilson hotel will feature oversized windows in every room, a double-height lobby and several corner suites with sweeping views. Those suites will overlook both the stadium and Wilson’s Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park.

“I would argue they’re as unique a hotel room as you’ll find in North Carolina,” Tracey said.

Wilson is a once-thriving tobacco hub that saw its population dwindle and commerce diminish in recent decades. Community and business leaders have high hopes that the Wilson Warbirds, and all of the ancillary development surrounding the stadium, can help spark a comeback for the city.

Tracey hopes that the Home2 Suites by Hilton plays a role in Wilson’s evolving story for years to come.

“We’re doing something that’s one of a kind,” he said. “I’m sure there’ll be another one someday — but right now, there isn’t.”