Local officials and transportation leaders gathered this week to cut the ribbon on the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (WMPO) new offices – a project that’s been nearly 20 years in the making.

The two-story brick building at 525 N. Fourth St., which once housed Thomas Grocery, underwent a significant investment in recent years to accommodate plans for the office space. With a price tag of nearly $5.5 million, the project used funds from the city of Wilmington, New Hanover County and the N.C. Department of Transportation.

At a ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday, Mike Kozlosky, the WMPO’s executive director, acknowledged the challenge of preserving the North Fourth Street building, which was built in 1894. 

“It’s not been easy, but historic preservation is no small feat,” he said. “This has been both a challenging but a rewarding project to be involved in.”

Kozlosky pointed to other nearby examples of historic preservation, including the Brooklyn Arts Center and the building occupied by Edward Teach Brewery. The completed office building is part of the first phase of the Multimodal Transportation Center, which also includes the nearby Padgett Station.

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo recalled the 20 years it’s taken to bring the project to fruition. Saffo said he remembers studies on the building's feasibility, a push to secure funding for the project and debates over the final location of the office building. The Department of Transportation conveyed ownership of the building to the city of Wilmington in 2017.

Design work on the office building wrapped up in late 2021 with construction getting underway the next year. Improvements included roof repairs, new exterior windows along with new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and interior office upfits and finishes.

Through the upfit process, the cost has climbed “in large part due to cost increases over the past couple years, in addition to the intricacies of rehabbing a historic building,” WMPO Public Information Officer Tessa Jones wrote in an email to the Business Journal.

In addition to dedicated offices for WMPO employees, a conference room in the 7,120-square-foot building will host regular board meetings. The WMPO serves seven municipalities, including all of New Hanover County and parts of Brunswick and Pender counties.

Hank Miller, the current WMPO board chair and Wrightsville Beach mayor pro tem, called the new offices a “significant milestone” for the local planning organization. 

“We are opening the doors to a historic, yet state-of-the-art facility, purpose-built to support our mission and accommodate our team,” Miller said on Wednesday. “This journey from vision to reality has been a testament to our commitment to quality, functionality and forward thinking.”