Following nearly eight years of delays, Windham’s first large-scale, brand-name hotel is scheduled to open in mid-February – that is, pending one final delay.

Wells-based Heyland Development is preparing to open a 58-room, three-story Microtel Inn & Suites on a 7-acre property across Route 302 from Seacoast Adventure in North Windham.

When construction began last spring, Erik Heyland, the owner of Heyland Development and the Microtel Inn & Suites in York, said the Windham Microtel would open by Jan. 1, at the latest.

But due to a backup of fabric and furniture orders, Heyland has pushed back the hotel’s “soft rollout” date by about six weeks. Heyland said he will initiate room sales on the Internet sometime between March 1 and April 1, “when we’re feeling more confident.”

“Nothing really happened, it’s just taken a little bit longer to get the fabrics and the furniture delivered,” Heyland said. “We might be a few weeks over, but not far over.”

Heyland first approached the town in 2007 with a similar project and received Planning Board approval. The 2008 financial meltdown affected the project’s financing, according to Heyland. But following a lengthy period of “non-business friendly financing,” Heyland said, he moved forward with the hotel, once again receiving Planning Board approval in January 2013.

Heyland described the imminent hotel opening as a “relief.”

“It’s been a long – too long – process,” he said.

The 35,000 square-foot hotel features an indoor pool and a business meeting room, and will offer customers free wireless Internet and free breakfast. Heyland said the building is considered a “hotel” since it has interior hallways that allow customers to access their rooms from indoors. The hotel will remain open every day, year-round. Room rates range from $80 to $200, Heyland said, depending on the room size and the time of year. Heyland said he plans to expand the 58-room hotel to 74 rooms within two years.

Heyland is in the process of hiring 15 full- and part-time employees. Heyland declined to provide details on employee salary and benefit packages. The hotel will eventually employ 20 to 25 full- and part-time employees, Heyland said.

Tom Bartell, executive director of the Windham Economic Development Corp. and the town’s economic development director, said the Microtel opening marks a new era for the Windham lodging market.

“I think it provides great opportunity for Windham and the region,” Bartell said. “It provides additional rooms on a daily basis, but, more importantly, it provides a different type of accommodations. We have some smaller motels and also cabins and also different options but what we didn’t have was a branded hotel where you could get reservations through the web, and we’re going to have that.”

North Windham business owner Martin Lippman, who has also expressed interest in building a brand-name hotel on property he owns near Sherwin Williams on Route 302, said he thinks Heyland’s plan to open the hotel year-round makes sense.

“You don’t fill it up in the winter,” Lippman said. “You fill it up all summer long for four to six months and then, during the winter, you’ll have weekends where you will be full.”

Lippman has not moved forward with his potential hotel project since his wife, Donnabeth, died nearly two years ago. Lippman predicted Heyland would be able to maintain a year-round occupancy rate above 80 percent.

Dick Dyke, who purchased the White Pines Inn motel on Route 302 in Raymond in 2013 at a bank foreclosure, said the ultimate question is not the occupancy rate, but the profitability of the new Microtel.

“Filling it up year-round will be a challenge,” Dyke said. “The question is, can you fill it enough to make a profit. As the newest motel in the area it should draw well.”

Dyke said he was not concerned about competition from the new hotel.

“Our price point per unit is very low compared to what others have to charge because of our small investment versus new construction, so it’s not really apples and apples,” Dyke said. “The area needs, certainly in the summer, a new large hotel and we’re glad someone has built one.”

The Windham Microtel will remain open all year, every day. Room rates range from $80 to $200, depending on the room size and the time of year. The Microtel will likely expand from 58 rooms to 74 rooms within two years.Staff photo by Ezra SilkThe Microtel Inn & Suites, located on Route 302 in North Windham, is set to open in mid-February, about six weeks later than expected.Staff photo by Ezra Silk