New Hanover High School wraps up $8 million renovation project

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — New Hanover High School is wrapping up a year-long renovation project ahead of the first day of class on Tuesday. 

Last year, the century-old high school began an $8 million renovation to save the historic main building on Market Street.  

16 classrooms and 10 offices were temporarily closed while the entire front half of the building was restored from the foundation up.  

In the meantime, offices were moved to the back of the school, and classrooms were moved to temporary trailers.  

“What’s been good about this whole process is we’ve really been able to coexist with the construction,” Principal Phillip Sutton said, noting the restoration is long overdue.  

“New classrooms, new sheet rock, new flooring, new paint, and so we’re excited about that to open that up to students to be able to learn in those environments,” he said.  

One of the biggest changes can been seen in the front office.  

Staff, visitors, and students will now need to be buzzed in before they can enter the school. 

Sutton says the improvements solidify the building as Wilmington landmark.  

“What’s great about it is just the pride and the renewed spirit that we’ve got at New Hanover High School,” he said. 

Though, the $8 million project was only intended to be a temporary solution.  

Over the next decade, the school district will have to decide whether to build an entirely new school, renovate the existing one further, or do a combination of the two.  

Those options range in cost from $137 million to $280 million. That funding would likely have to come in the form of a bond that voters approve.