An engineering firm with a corporate office in Raleigh has set up shop in downtown Wilmington.

The Wooten Company, founded in 1936 by a native of Eastern North Carolina, is a multidisciplinary engineering firm specializing in water projects.

The firm opened its Wilmington office this month in about 2,000 square feet in Suite 401 at 272 N. Front St.

The plan is to fill the office with nine employees, said Walter Gross, a professional engineer and regional engineering manager for Wooten.

“It’s booming,” Gross said of the Wilmington area and The Wooten Company's reasoning for placing an office here. “It's a great place to live. It’s easily accessible in terms of the airport and the fact that, being on the river, we're right across from Brunswick County, which is growing so quickly as well. And so it made sense to be right here to straddle both sides and have easy access along the coast and the interior going up I-40.”

Local and nearby work by Wooten includes engineering support services for the Onslow County Water and Sewer Authority and H2GO (Brunswick Regional Water & Sewer).

Wooten has relationships with dozens of communities in North Carolina and South Carolina, according to a news release. Gross adds to that with a portfolio of experience on major civil engineering infrastructure projects in the greater New York City metro area, the release stated.

"Our tradition is designing with consideration for what's on the horizon, and Walter is spearheading that effort for our team on the coast," said Gary Hartong, president of The Wooten Company, in the release. "We're committed to the long game. That means building trust and delivering the highest-caliber projects for our clients in Wilmington and beyond."

While water is at the core of Wooten's service profile, its engineers based in Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Hickory, Greenville, Columbia and now Wilmington "are broadly equipped to provide their clients a full range of civil and mechanical engineering, architecture, and geomatics services," the release stated.