WWAY gets first look inside Wilmington’s Skyline Center
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — After months of waiting, WWAY is getting our first look inside the new Skyline Center in downtown Wilmington.
The city purchased the 12-story building, its parking deck, and two adjacent lots for $68 million in July 2023. Since then, more than 300 city employees and their offices have moved into the building.
City services currently occupy seven floors in the building, with some of floors being split between the city and its private tenants.
Nine businesses moved into the building this year, taking up 80,000 square feet between them.
Jerod Patterson with the city of Wilmington said the goal of the center is to consolidate services and offset the cost of purchasing the building.
“We were able to move from seven different office facilities, consolidating into one office facility, which is really improving the efficiency of our operations, and then we’re able to sell of those surplus properties, take all of that money, and pay down the cost of acquiring the facility,” Patterson said.
Patterson added the center will also allow residents to complete city business faster.
“For the public, it provides a great opportunity to come in and have a one-stop-shop for customer service needs that used to be very difficult when you were spread across different facilities,” Patterson said.
A rendering of the future city council chambers in Skyline Center. (Courtesy: City of Wilmington)
In addition to city offices, the center will also house the Wilmington City Council chambers, though a timeline for the chamber’s completion is still in the works.
On the first floor, Civic Credit Union is among the first tenants in the building. The credit union serves members in local government.
CEO Dwayne Naylor said the credit union’s membership makes Skyline the perfect place to open a Wilmington location.
“We are led by our membership who tells us what to do. They said, ‘you need to have a branch in this area.’ What better place than going in partnership with the city, and not only serving the city employees in the building, but also serving all the members of this entire region,” Naylor explained.
A rendering of the planned customer service center on the first floor of the Skyline Center. (Courtesy: City of Wilmington)
The city will also be opening a customer service center for the public on the first floor, though that project is still in its initial stages, and does not yet have a timeline for completion.
The city is still negotiating four leases for 31,000 square feet, which would bring the city’s total lease revenue to more than $3 million—which the city said will account for roughly 80-85% of the building’s operating cost.
