The group behind plans for a 20-acre athletic and cultural center on Wilmington’s Northside is working to collect community feedback on their proposed project, called Optimism Oasis.

Organizers hosted a public meeting on Monday at the Wilmington Sportsman Club to discuss the project and say the next steps involve ongoing public engagement and forums as they gauge the community’s interest and needs. The group expects to host more events and increase its social media presence in the new year.

Conceptual plans for the project feature an indoor and outdoor track, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, multi-sport gyms and a National Museum of African American Athletes, among other proposed elements. But before those plans can move forward, the group needs input from those who live on the Northside, said Optimism Oasis board member Michael Long. 

“This is a community-based project, and this project will not come to fruition without each and every one of you,” Long told attendees at Monday's meeting. “You’ll see that there’s a lot of design … but nothing’s formalized until the community gives us the okay.”

Optimism Oasis founder Tracy McCullen developed the vision for the complex about five years ago. The project aims to bring athletic facilities to the Northside community and create a center that would draw sports competitions and athletes from across the region. The project would be located on land adjacent to the existing Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern North Carolina at 901 Nixon St.

Philip Brown, a former top physician at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, chairs the organization’s seven-member board. Brown said his decision to get involved with the effort stems from past community work on Wilmington’s Northside. On Monday, Brown encouraged attendees to keep an open mind when listening to the group’s plans.

“What we're going to present to you tonight is a concept,” Brown said. “None of this is a done deal, but these are people’s dreams and visions of what can be.”

Zena Howard, a principal with architecture firm Perkins&Will, worked on conceptual plans for Optimism Oasis that call for breaking up the project’s construction into four phases. Howard presented renderings of the proposed project on Monday.

“We envision this as a world-class facility designed to inspire wellness, inclusivity and healthy living for all of us,” Howard said. 

The first phase could include the construction of the Track of Optimism and the Field of Dreams – a tree-lined, 400-meter track surrounding a field containing a ninja obstacle course, a skate park and an amphitheater. A nearby entertainment center could house a day care center, makerspace, playground, esports arena, gift shop and cafe.

The project’s second phase could include a cultural arts center and the museum. The center could also include flex space and rooftop gardens, a hotel and a multilevel deck that would provide parking for the entire complex.

A third phase envisions a gym and swimming sportsplex, which could include a 10-lane Olympic swimming pool and three additional pools along with an indoor track, flexible gym space, a sports medicine clinic and rooftop pickleball and tennis courts. The final phase could expand the existing Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina with additional program space.

The timing and makeup of each project phase is flexible, Howard said, and would be determined based on several factors, including site limitations, financials and the community’s needs.

“Right now, we have the ingredients laid out, and they're beautiful, and they look good together,” Howard said, “and now we're going to take on the wonderfully beautiful and rigorous work of making this real.”

During Monday’s public meeting, some community members offered their support for the project while others raised concerns about how the facility would be funded and whether it would meet the needs of Northside residents.

Brown said it’s premature to estimate the total cost of the complex, but he expects the full build out could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take six to eight years. The site's tracts is currently owned by the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern North Carolina and New Hanover County Schools, according to Brown, and has been underutilized for decades.

“The idea to create an athletic-associated facility over in that unutilized parcel dates back at least 30 years, and like so many things, it has just kind of been frozen in time in terms of the action,” Brown said. “What we hope to do is get a closer gauge on whether it can become reality.”