City breaks ground on $31M North Waterfront Park

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Exciting news for Wilmington Monday!

After years of waiting, the city broke ground on the $31 million North Waterfront Park.

“This isn’t just an opportunity for our citizens to enjoy the outdoors in the spring and summer months, but all year round,” Mayor Bill Saffo said.

The project adjacent to the Sawmill Point apartments is expected to be completed by Spring 2021.

“You’ll see a sloping beautiful park that will go down to the river with a beautiful amphitheater in the background,” Saffo said. “So you’ll be able to see concerts with the sun setting in the West and people will be able to bring their boats down and listen to the music.”

Saffo says Live Nation, the music and live events company, has invested $4 million dollars into this park.

He says this idea is by the people and for the people.

“We were looking to do a baseball stadium and we had contracted to for Atlanta Braves to bring a team here,” Saffo said. “The Atlanta Braves said they would bring a team here but we needed to build a baseball stadium. We put that up to the vote of the people, but the people voted it down 2 to 1. It lost in every precinct.”

A few years later, in 2016, all precincts voted to support using this area for a park.

“I’m going back to the 80s when the vision 2020 plan said there should be a large festival park in downtown Wilmington,” Saffo said. “We have finally completed that.”

But, the 6.6 acre property will be more than just a space for entertainment. The area has also attracted two development companies.

Graham Tyrrell, the senior vice president of Kettler, says his company plans to build 285 apartment units with a retail strip on the side facing Nutt Street. He says there will be a mix of single and two bedroom units.

“We came down and saw the great things happening with the riverfront and the downtown area …and thought it was a good fit with the way we do our developments,” Tyrrell said.

Tyrrell says Kettler is no stranger to the Cape Fear. The company currently owns the St. Andrew’s Reserve in the Monkey Junction area. He says the company has owned properties in North Carolina since 2013, but he says this is the first new development for the company here.

“Our property will actually be two buildings and then it will have the pedestrian promenade in between the two buildings that will lead into the park,” Tyrrell said. “So it really will be the entrance into the park. One building will be a parking garage, but the garage will actually be wrapped on two sides with apartments.”

DJP Residential is also a developer in this project. The company plans to build 273 apartment units in the “Flats on Front.”