The owners of a pet boarding and daycare business recently expanded their territory with a purchase in northern New Hanover County.

Phil Miller and his wife, Amanda, owners of Scotts Hill-based Pawville and its multiple locations, bought The Pet’s Pal Inn at 3417 Merchant Court for an undisclosed amount. According to property tax records, Pawville paid a little over $1 million for the real estate alone on Feb. 1. 

“Pet’s Pal Inn will be renamed North Chase Pawville upon completion of an extensive remodeling project,” Phil Miller said in an email. “The intent is to modernize the building with services on par with other Pawvilles, including indoor/outdoor boarding townhomes, indoor/outdoor daycare yards with webcams and an updated grooming room/lobby.”

The sellers were John and Chris Ponton, who opened Pet’s Pal Inn in 2003.

“Over the last twenty years many of our clients have become our friends (human, canine and feline friends). It was a very difficult decision to sell our kennel and retire,” the previous owners stated on the Pet’s Pal Inn Facebook page. "We had several parties interested in purchasing it, but we felt that we could not sell it to just anyone. When Phil Miller and his wife Amanda of Pawville approached us about buying The Pet’s Pal Inn, we knew we had found the right buyer.”

The Millers started their Pawville empire in 2007 by converting a 5,000-square-foot pet store in Citrus County, Florida, into a pet boarding and grooming facility. Their latest acquisition marks Pawville's eighth facility in operation, with a ninth under construction in Clayton.

“Phil and Amanda have been in the kennel business for many years and both John and I are confident that they will continue caring for your precious pets as we have over the past two decades,” the Pontons wrote in their Facebook post.

Phil Miller said he and Amanda “enjoyed working with Chris and John during this transitional period and have already gained a lot of insight that came from their 20 years in business. We also fell in love with the existing team at Pet’s Pal Inn and we intend to retain all the staff.”

He said the facility will remain open during the remodeling process, which will likely begin later this year and end sometime next year.

“We intend to follow the same playbook that we did when we acquired Scotts Hill Pawville (formerly Pups Play & Stay) in June of 2021,” Phil Miller said. “That location was fully remodeled within 18 months and renamed Scotts Hill Pawville.”

The Millers opened Midtown Pawville in 2021 at 3532 Carolina Beach Road with a 10,500-square-foot facility.

In 2022, Pawville landed on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. for the second year in a row, with the business ranking No. 3,602 after recording 143% growth in three years.