Although staffed at a level higher than anticipated, Pacon Manufacturing in Brunswick County has requested a state extension because it is technically short on a hiring goal tied to a $700,000 public grant.  The contract manufacturer has 203 full-time employees as of this week, according to senior vice president Lawrence Shannon, and 135 temporary employees also wo ...

New Hanover County is taking steps to accept a 50-acre land donation to kickstart a new business park off Holly Shelter Road.  Monday, commissioners authorized the execution of a contract with the property owner, Sidbury Land & Timber, and allotted Wilmington Business Development $145,000 to oversee a master study plan for the new park.  “With eas ...

Though land is limited and industrially zoned property is scarcer yet, New Hanover County is in the process of developing not just one, but two business parks in the northern end of the county.  Commissioners will consider an agreement at their Monday board meeting that entails the creation of a new business park on Holly Shelter Road, roughly 4.5-miles from anothe ...

The Local Government Commission on Thursday squashed New Hanover County’s long-planned hopes for its public-private partnership, Project Grace. However, county officials maintain the effort will continue in some fashion. The exact scope and structure of Project Grace 2.0 are unknown at this time, but county officials have said they intend to proceed at a minimum w ...

The N.C. Local Government Commission did not approve Project Grace's lease agreement during a meeting Thursday afternoon, taking a planned public-private partnership off the table for New Hanover County.  One commission member of the state board, Vida Harvey, made a motion to approve the project that failed because no one seconded it. At least seven other LGC m ...

Republican and Democratic candidates for local and state offices gathered Thursday morning at the Wilmington Convention Center, answering questions on issues from how to spend state funds to abortion laws. The candidates spoke to an audience of local business, government and organizational leaders at Wednesday morning’s Power Breakfast, hosted by the Gre ...

Candidates for the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners participated in a forum hosted by the Greater Wilmington Business Journal at its Power Breakfast Thursday morning.  North Carolina House of Representatives and Senate candidates also spoke in a separate discussion during the event.  Two seats are open for the county board. Commissioner Rob Zapple ...

The Pender County Board of Commissioners this week unanimously declined a special use permit request for a utility-scale solar farm proposed on the western end of the county. The applicant, a subsidiary of California-based Birch Creek Development, proposed to build a 200-megawatt solar farm spanning 2,360 acres. Through a proposed power purchase agreement with Duke Ener ...

New Hanover County has updated its memorandum of understanding with the developer planning Project Grace, the public-private partnership that could deliver a new museum and replacement library to downtown Wilmington.  N.C. State Treasurer Dale Folwell first aired concerns with several aspects of the project when county officials presented the deal at the Local Gove ...

For the next six months, no new commercial building activity can start in the tiny village community of Bald Head Island.  In late June, to confront a supposed “surge” of commercial development and population growth, according to the ordinance language imposed, the village council instituted a 60-day commercial building moratorium. On Sept. 6, council e ...