Who we are.
Kara Wilbur is a developer, planner, and urban designer with more than 20 years of national and local experience in both the public and private sector. Her work has focused on investing time and energy in Maine’s rural communities, including the revitalization of downtowns, redevelopment of retail corridors, and transportation plans that promote safety, public health, and economic vitality.
As a planning consultant, she spearheaded a new generation of comprehensive plans and innovative form-based codes that have helped invite high-quality investment. She also led the development of PlaceCode, a form-based code framework that improves development outcomes, simplifies zoning for easier understanding, and reduces the cost of administration.
Since transitioning to full time real estate development in 2019, she has undertaken both large and small scale historic projects, including a fire station redevelopment in Lewiston, a mill redevelopment in Rumford, and main street rehabilitation in Gardiner.
She became a licensed modular dealer in 2022 and developed a line of catalogue building typologies as a way to provide affordable new-construction infill housing that fits within existing neighborhoods. Her modular compnay Dooryard has completed 52 units of new housing, with 50 more units in the pipeline for 2026. In order to help reduce barriers to housing development, Dooryard provides a full ranges of development services, including pre-development consulting, general contracting, and property management.
In order to bring national best practices to the forefront of New England planning, Kara co-founded the New England Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2004 and served as the first president. She later moved home to Maine and in 2014 started Build Maine, a state-wide movement that works to strengthen Maine towns.
Uncommon, a Maine-based development and hospitality company, owned and run by brothers Nate and Tony Delois, currently operates four hotels, with two more in development. Their most recent project, the Longfellow Hotel in Portland, opened in 2024 to much fanfare, and has been recognized internationally as one of the best new hotels in the world. Prior to opening, Vogue included the Longfellow as one of its 36 most anticipated worldwide hotel openings of the year. Travel + Leisure editors included the hotel on the “It List” of best new hotels in the world. The Longfellow was ranked as the #6 hotel in the northeastern United States in Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers Choice Awards, and has been named a top new hotel by Forbes, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and Vogue.
In addition to the positive press and guest reviews, Longfellow Hotel has surpassed projections by a significant margin. In year one, room revenue was 37% higher and EBITDA was 25% higher than projected. Growth continues with room revenue now 43% higher and EBITDA 47% than projected.
Beyond The Longfellow, Uncommon’s other properties, including the Francis Hotel in Portland and The Colonial Inn and The Admiral’s Inn in Ogunquit, have reached similar success, both in guest reviews and financial performance.
Nate Delois, co-principal and CFO, joined Uncommon Hospitality in 2017 and is responsible for the financial well-being of the company’s portfolio. Nate has worked in real estate since 2001 and was more recently the lead developer on the historic preservation project that became The Francis Hotel and the new-build project that became Longfellow Hotel.
Tony Delois, co-principal and COO, has been running Uncommon Hospitality since it was founded in 2015. He oversees all hotel operations and works daily with on-property general managers to guide revenue management strategies and guest relations policies. A disciple of Danny Meyer at Union Square Hospitality Group, Tony has a long history in the hospitality industry.
