Thursday, July 23, 2026 · Past editions

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Wilmington Tallies Nearly 40 Bids for Downtown Master Plan

17 urban-design, 14 placemaking and 8 market-feasibility proposals arrived for 22+ acres on downtown's north end.

Wilmington officials are evaluating consultants to reshape more than 22 acres of undeveloped and under-developed land on downtown's northern end, a site planning director Linda Painter says could shape the city for decades. The city issued three separate requests for qualifications (RFQs) last month covering urban design, market feasibility and economic analysis, and placemaking and public realm services.

The RFQs also cover a separate 1.6-acre tract at 305-319 Chestnut Street, the site of a former city office building. Monday's submission deadline drew 17 responses for the urban design RFQ, 14 for placemaking, and 8 for market feasibility, according to city communications manager Amy Willis.

Painter said the city is taking a thoughtful approach to the site's future rather than relying solely on zoning to guide what gets built. Responses will be scored on qualifications, experience, track record on similar projects, and overall quality of the submission.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

Wilmington Council Tables $100K Ask From Film Workforce Group

The Film Partnership of North Carolina already has county funding but got nothing from the new state film-incentive budget.

Wilmington's city council held off Tuesday on funding two nonprofit requests: $100,000 for the Film Partnership of North Carolina, a group focused on building the region's film-industry workforce, and $100,000 for the New Hanover County Community Justice Center. Neither made it into the city's final budget.

City Manager Becky Hawke said council members want more clarity on how much each group will get from New Hanover County and the state before committing city money. The Film Partnership already secured $100,000 in recurring funding from the county's current budget but received nothing from the state budget passed in early July.

That state budget did expand film incentives elsewhere: the maximum state grant for a feature film shot in North Carolina rose from $7 million to $20 million, and the cap for a TV series or scripted streaming season rose from $15 million to $25 million. It also created a new roughly $1.2 million annual micro-budget production fund for in-state productions budgeted between $50,000 and $1.5 million.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

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New: Port Grant Covers $9.8M of $12.4M Access Project

NC Ports will fund the remaining $2.6M as part of a nationwide $1.73B USDOT infrastructure round.

North Carolina Ports says the $9.8 million federal grant announced last week covers most of the $12.4 million cost to build a new off-terminal access and parking facility, pedestrian bridge and shuttle connections at the Port of Wilmington, with NC Ports covering the remaining $2.6 million. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation's BUILD grant program, which awarded $1.73 billion across 127 projects nationwide. The project, meant to separate personal vehicles and pedestrians from cargo handling and rail operations, is still expected to finish in 2028.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

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