The streets of downtown Wilmington have been part of a shifting landscape through the years as businesses come and go, new buildings pop up, and aging structures see investment and upgrades.

Over the past nine months, two separate incidents have raised concerns about a need for a closer look at historical buildings in the downtown area. In March, the brick facade of a 1950s-era Grace Street building that’s home to businesses Taco Baby, RumCow and Kat 5 Kava collapsed onto the sidewalk below.

Another downtown building on Princess Street partially collapsed following a deluge caused by Tropical Storm Debby in August. The recent events have prompted New Hanover County officials to consider putting in place a program that would periodically inspect aging buildings countywide.

The issues aren’t an anomaly in the aging downtown area. In September, the Wilmington City Council approved an ordinance directing a building on Front Street that housed a Waffle House to be vacated, closed and repaired.

City code enforcement has documented code violations dating back to 2021, including broken exterior windows, roof defects, crumbling walls and rotting and decaying floors. The building’s owners have submitted engineered plans and have approximately 90 days to make repairs.

According to an initial proposal presented to New Hanover County leaders last month, the program would involve the inspection of nonresidential buildings over 100 years old every five years to ensure they meet the county’s standards. If a baseline inspection shows problems, a building could see an inspection once every three years, New Hanover County Inspections Director Hans Schult said.

There are currently about 400 structures over 100 years old throughout New Hanover County, according to Schult. Officials are working to build out the parameters of the program, which they aim to put in place during the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2025.

Although downtown’s historic structures are inside Wilmington’s city limits, they’re subject to inspections from New Hanover County officials. The city and county have a long-standing interlocal agreement, which allows county officials to “provide building trade inspections in the city under the county Chief Building Official,” a city spokesperson wrote in an email to the Business Journal.

New Hanover County officials perform building code inspections and building permitting functions, but the city is still involved in the permit approval process to ensure zoning code compliance, and the city’s code enforcement division enforces its minimum housing and nonresidential structure codes.

There is no periodic inspection program currently in place. Instead, building and trade inspections happen after permits are issued for new construction or after building alterations and repairs. The county’s 32-person inspections department can also issue stop-work orders for sites without the proper permit, according to Schult.
 

Responsibility

James Goodnight owns several commercial buildings in downtown Wilmington and along Castle Street. Goodnight’s buildings were built between the 1870s and the 1930s, except for two of his Castle Street properties.

When considering buying a downtown building, Goodnight said he typically looks for a historical structure with a low price per square foot.

“This often means getting involved with under-maintained buildings that need some love,” he wrote in an email to the Business Journal.

Because Goodnight’s projects in the downtown area have been “value add renovations,” they go through the same review process from New Hanover County as a new construction building. Beyond that, according to Goodnight, the buildings see frequent visual inspections, and its systems have service contracts in place for regular maintenance.

“After the expense and headache of improving historic buildings, I’ve always been pretty serious about preventative maintenance and keeping everything polished,” Goodnight wrote.

Goodnight believes the only solutions for buildings in disrepair and absent landlords in the downtown area are inspections and penalties, which he says will disrupt the “economics of owning and renting out a derelict building.”

Ultimately, the building’s owner is responsible for maintaining downtown Wilmington’s aging structures. But that maintenance can be pricey, according to Christina Haley, president and CEO of Wilmington Downtown Inc. (WDI), an economic development organization focused on Wilmington’s downtown area and emerging districts.

The group has two programs aimed at encouraging investment in downtown buildings. The Facade Improvement Grant Program can provide up to $2,500 for single-facade projects and $5,000 for two-facade projects. The group’s Microloan Program also provides business owners with lower-interest loans of up to $20,000 for various costs, including equipment purchases, inventory expansion and building renovations.

However, according to Haley, neither program was designed to cover the substantial costs of maintaining and repairing downtown’s aging structures. Some downtown property owners qualify for federal and state historic tax credits, but following the recent structural issues, WDI is working to identify local resources to help incentivize downtown maintenance and preservation.

That includes looking at expanding the organization’s grant programs to “address aging buildings more comprehensively,” according to Haley.

Work is ongoing to repair the buildings that renewed interest in downtown structures. Records show the owner of the building in the 100 block of Grace Street secured a permit in August to replace the brick veneer on the building’s facade.

Shortly after the roof collapsed on Princess Street, records show New Hanover County issued a permit for emergency repairs. Subsequent work will require another building permit with engineered drawings.

As local officials work to incentivize investment in existing buildings, downtown stakeholders are also watching new projects rise across the area. Project Grace, New Hanover County’s redevelopment of the downtown library branch and Cape Fear Museum, is likely the most significant example.

The project broke ground earlier this year. County officials have said the library portion is expected to open in late summer or fall of 2025, while the museum’s opening could come in 2026. The county’s partner in the project, Cape Fear Development, plans to build private development on the existing library site.

In addition to Project Grace, Haley said WDI sees potential in other projects, including Chow Town, a food truck court currently under construction on a long-vacant site in the Brooklyn Arts District. The group is also monitoring plans for a proposed 340-room hotel on Harnett Street, along with renovations and ongoing investment at the Old Wilmington City Market, 119 S. Water St.

The vacant buildings and other undeveloped tracts dot the downtown area and are ripe for future redevelopment and infill, according to Haley. Some key sites with infill potential include the former Wachovia Building, the Bailey Theater site, a lot at 208 Market St., and the old Ice House lot.
   

‘Vital to the fabric’

For WDI, the physical structures and commercial real estate in the downtown area are “vital to the fabric of downtown.”

“They provide the foundation for corporate entities and businesses that sustain the local economy and contribute to the downtown employment base. A well-occupied network of commercial spaces also becomes a destination that draws patrons to explore downtown’s variety of retail shops, restaurants, attractions, and services,” Haley wrote in a statement.

“Additionally, many downtown commercial structures feature above-ground residential units, collectively creating a mixed-use environment where people can live, work, and explore.

“This balance fosters placemaking, which is essential for creating an attractive urban space that attracts tourism and supports downtown’s long-term economic vitality.”